Having just celebrated the Nativity the Church concludes the octave of Christmas by honoring Mary under her greatest title, the Mother of God. Upon the fact of her divine Motherhood depends all her dignities and prerogatives. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 509) teaches, “Mary is truly ‘Mother of God’ since she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, who is God himself.” The solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, is a holy day of obligation, and we celebrate this feast every year on January 1 in honor of her.
We hope that this special resource will help remind you of a different aspect of our Mother, opening your heart and drawing you closer to her maternal arms and also to her Son, Jesus Christ. We trust that the following pages will bring your heart closer under her mantle, as we share a few of the beautiful and befitting names bestowed upon the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Yes, but only because it is the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, on the Church’s liturgical calendar. On many civil calendars, those which adopted the Gregorian Calendar, it is also New Year’s Day.
Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the mother of my Lord." In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
The Gospels teach that He whom we call Jesus Christ was true God and true man (Jn. 1:14). St. John tells us that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14), and thus of the Church. St. Ignatius of Antioch, on his way to his martyrdom in Rome in 107 A.D., wrote to the Ephesians insisting on it,
“For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Spirit” (Ignatius, Eph. 18)
As with most Church dogmas, the teaching is already present in Revelation, enters ordinary teaching, but becomes a dogma only when there is serious opposition to believing it, or error in expressing it. In this case, the Council of Ephesus declared the dogma in 431, to settle the Christological controversy created by Nestorius.
"We never give more honour to Jesus than when we honour His Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honour Him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek - Jesus, her Son." - St. Louis Marie de Montfort
The Greek word Theotokos used by the Council of Ephesus means "God-bearer." In the period leading up to the Council in 431, Nestorius, the Archbishop of Constantinople, tried to argue that Mary was only Christotokos, meaning “Birth Giver of Christ.” This implied that Jesus could be divided—with Mary as the mother of Christ as man, but not the mother of a Divine Person who became man. The Council rejected this notion and declared Mary the Theotokos, the “God-bearer,” and not merely the Christotokos.
Even though it might sound like a slight difference, the titles Christotokos (“Birth Giver of Christ”) and Theotokos (“God-bearer”) indicate completely different views of Jesus. With Christotokos, we are saying that Christ can be divided (part Man, part God), but with Theotokos we see that Jesus is fully God and fully Man.
“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” - St. Maximilian Kolbe
No, Catholics only worship the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It would, in fact, be sinful to worship Mary. Theologians call divine worship latria, or the adoration due only to God.
However, in English the word worship is equivocal. In Britain it is often used of high personages, with the meaning of revering or honoring them due to the dignity of their office. David gave such honor to Saul, for example, because God had placed him as king over Israel. Such “worship” is derivative, sourced in the Father, as St. Paul taught (Eph. 3:14-15), analogous to that which the Decalogue commanded for parents (Ex. 12:20; Dt. 5:16).
Unfortunately, the English word “worship” doesn’t convey the subtlety of the Latin used by the Church, and in the United States is reserved for God. The Church’s theological term is dulia, from the Latin word for service. It is the reverence and respect owed to all the faithful servants of God (Mt. 24:21-23), the angels and saints whom God Himself honors with crowns of glory (Prov. 16:31; 1 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet 5:4; Rev 4:4). We honor them and, in turn, join with them in honoring God, the source of all holiness (Rev. 4:9-11).
Yet, Mary is not just any other saint. She is the Theotokos, the God-bearer, or Mother of God (Luke 1:43; Council of Ephesus, “Against Nestorius”). She is the true Ark of the Covenant who carried the Word Himself, the Bread of Heaven, and the Good Shepherd (Heb. 9:3-5; Rev. 11:19-12:1). The Archangel told her that she was “full of grace” (Luke 1:28), and Elizabeth, moved by the Holy Spirit, called her “blessed among women” (Luke 1:42).
For all these reasons and more, the Church renders to Mary an honor that is greater than is given to all the saints and angels, termed hyperdulia, or the greatest honor. Yet, it is not still that adoration, latria, which we give to God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
