THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
This is what the Catholic Church teaches and what we Catholics believe.
In a previous post, “On Loving Mary, Mother of God, Our Mother” in https://www.facebook.com/CatholicsstrivingforHoliness/photos/a.428483947328608.1073741828.428443983999271/506180559558946/?type=3&theater which I shared to another group, someone commented, reprimanding me for calling Mary, the Mother of God. The commentary is as follows:
“WRong [sic] Mary is not Mother of God XXX bcoz [sic] Jesus has two nature divine & human. so naging ina lang c Mary ni Cristo sa katawang tao… [so Mary is just the mother of Christ in his bodily person] Dapat Mother of Jesus, not mother of God, huh? may ina ba po ba ang Dios? maling pagtuturo [It should only be Mother of Jesus, not mother of God, huh? Does God have a mother? It is a wrong teaching].”
I don’t know if he is a Catholic…but if so and to clarify his erroneous comment incompatible with what the Catholic Church teaches, and to all other Christians, I responded:
“Do mothers give birth to natures? No, right? Mothers give birth to persons and not natures. In Our Lord Jesus Christ, both human and divine natures are united and inseparable in one person (hypostatic union): He is Perfect God and Perfect Man. Two natures inseparable in one person. So if Mary is the mother of Jesus, and Jesus is one Person with two natures and mothers give birth to just one person, and the person of Jesus is both divine and human at the same time, ergo, Mary is the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Perfect God-Perfect Man, who is just one person! This is what the Christian Catholic Church teaches since the Council of Ephesus (431 AD), based on the Scriptures and against the Nestorian heresy which is the same as your stand. Mary is the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ who is just one person. This is what the Catholic Church teaches and we Catholics believe. If you’re not a Catholic, just respect our freedom to believe what the Church founded by Jesus teaches. God bless!”
Mary is rightly called the Mother of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in n. 495 and 509:
495 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).
509 Mary is truly “Mother of God” since she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, who is God himself.
Thank God that in another commentary, a convert commented the following eloquent words which bespeak of the fact that loving Our Lady leads us closer and faster to Her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mother of God and our mother.
“Sadly learning to love our Mother Mary was slow coming for this convert. But, I understand how we can’t love her too much as she always leads us more to her Son. I believe the Rosary is Mary leading us through the gospels. I learned the statement my Baptist parents warped “to Jesus through Mary” wasn’t a warped way to divert us from Christ, but the deepest of truth, Mary leads us to her Son it is her best accomplishment. Once I found Our Mother, my faith grew in leaps and bounds. I found that Pope means Papa. I found a treasury of prayers written by spiritual heavyweights. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.”
Hope this post clarifies the doubts of some our Christian brethren on the Catholic teaching based on the Scriptures that Mary is the Mother of God.
Have a great week ahead! God bless!
-Fr. Rolly Arjonillo, priest of Opus Dei, CATHOLICS STRIVING FOR HOLINESS.
PHOTO SOURCE: Ruby Rodriguez, Our Lady of Fatima pilgrim image (blessed by Blessed Pope Paul VI) during her visit to Colegio Adharaz, October 22-24, 2015.
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