Feast of Mary Mother of God

January 1: Mother of God

Today it is January 1 st. Another day and another year has begun. 2014 ( MMXIV) will be a common year strarting on wedneday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2014th year of the common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 14th year of the 3rd millennium, the 14th year of the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2010s decade. The United N ations designated 2014 as the International year of family farming and crystallography.

Prologue

Mary’s divine motherhood broadens the Christmas spotlight. Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and our Lady’s greatest title.The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God is a liturgical feast of the Blessed Virgin mary honoring her divine motherhood to Jesus Christ and the day that the birth of Jesus is publicly announced. It is celebrated by the Latin rite of the Catholic church on 1 January, the Octave(8th) day of the Christmas season. For Roman catholics, this day is designated as a Holy day of obligation. It’s also considered the the feast of the circumcision of Christ as well.

The feast was celebrated in the East before it was in the West, but by the 5th century, it was celebrated in France and Spain on the Sunday before Christmas. In Rome, even before the 7th century, 1 January was used as a celebration of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the feast of the circumcision of Christ had come to replace the Marian feast on 1 January. This feast is still observed by the Angelican Church and the Luthern Church.

The celebration of the Feast of the Circumcision on 1 January was expanded to the entire Catholic Church in 1570 when Pope Pius V promulgated the Missal. In 1914, the feast of the “Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary” was established in Portugal, occurring on 11 October. In 1931, this feast was extended to the entire Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI and maintained on 11 October.

Second Vatican Council

Following the Second vatican Council in 1974, Pope Paul VI removed the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ from the liturgical calendar, and replaced it with the feast of the “Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.” In the Extraordinary form of the Roman rite, Catholics continue to celebrate this feast day with the old name “The Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary” on 11 October, and 1 January is the Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord.

Mariological and Christological

The feast is a celebration of Mary’s motherhood of Jesus. The title “Mother of God” is a western derivation from the Greek: Theotokos, the God-bearer. The term was adopted at the First Council of Ephesus as a way to assert the Divinity of Christ, from which it follows that what is predicated of Christ is predicated of God. Therefore, if Mary is the mother of Jesus, she is the Mother of God. Therefore, the title “Mother of God” and the “Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God”, which celebrates her under this title, are at once both Mariological and Christological.

A day of prayer for world peace

Our remembrance of Mary’s divine motherhood injects a further note of Christmas joy. It is a day of prayer for world peace: Mary is the mother of the Prince of Peace. It is the first day of a new year: Mary continues to bring new life to her children—who are also God’s children.

Who is Mary?

The Gospel of Luke tells us about the Annunciation — when the angel Gabriel appeared to a young Jewish woman named Mary in the small village of Nazareth. Although the Gospel does not tell us Mary’s age, it is believed that she was probably no more than fourteen or fifteen years old. Even though she was betrothed to a pious carpenter named Joseph, it is also possible that Mary had consecrated herself as a virgin to the Lord. Undoubtedly, Joseph understood this and respected her wishes, as he was an exceptionally devout Jew. The reason for this assumption is that even though Mary was a young girl, she lived in a village around farm animals daily.

Aware of the “facts of life,”

She certainly was aware of the “facts of life,” yet when the angel Gabriel told her that she would conceive and bear a son, she was amazed. Since she was engaged to be married, it should not have surprised Mary for the angel to tell her that she would conceive and bear a child. However, if she were planning to remain a virgin after her marriage, then she would have cause to ask the question, “How can this be since I know not man?” (Lk 1:34).

Her husband Joseph, the just man

Joseph knew Mary to be very devout and naturally was surprised when he found out she was pregnant, but it is very unlikely that Joseph, knowing Mary as he did, suspected that she had been with a man. Rather, it is more likely that Joseph believed Mary when she told him about Gabriel’s message, and because of his humility and not realizing that God had a place for him in this plan, he decided to send Mary away quietly. However, God revealed to Joseph in a dream that he was to take Mary as his wife and the prophet Isaiah had foretold that all that was happening. When Joseph awoke, he took Mary as his wife. In addition, as the prophets had foretold, the babe was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among men.

Anne and Joachim taught her to always believe and trust in God.

Mary was three years old when her parents, Anne and Joachim, took her to the Temple in Jerusalem so that she could be blessed. The blessing was a sign that she would love and serve God. Anne and Joachim raised Mary according to Jewish tradition and they taught her to always believe and trust in God.

Angel Gabriel

When Mary was a young woman, the angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her that God had chosen her to be the mother of his only Son. The angel said that God wanted Mary to name her son Jesus and that he would be holy because he was the Son of God. Mary said, “Yes” to God, even though she did not understand how all of this would happen. She said, “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

The Holy Spirit

Long ago, the Holy Spirit guided our Church leaders to understand that Jesus was true God and true man. He was both divine and human. He was the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity and a child who grew up to suffer on the cross and rise from the dead. After much prayer and debate, our Church leaders said that Mary was not just the mother of Jesus. She was also the Mother of God, since Jesus is truly God.

She is the “blessed among women” (Lk 1:42)

Long before our Church leaders officially declared Mary the Mother of God, her cousin Elizabeth knew what a special privilege Mary had been given. When Mary went to visit Elizabeth, Elizabeth called her “the mother of my Lord” (Luke1:43). Elizabeth said to Mary “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb”. Mary is our greatest saint, so it is not surprising that we begin every year with a celebration in her honor.

In the words of the liturgy:

“Without losing the glory of virginity, [she] brought forth into the world the eternal light, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Preface I of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

The Doctrine of the Catholic Church

In the Apostles’ Creed, which in substance dates from the first century, the Church professes her belief in the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary. Apostles’ Creed affirms that she is the Mother of God.

The prophet Isaiah (Is 7:10-14) foretold that a virgin would conceive and bear a Son, and His name would be Emmanuel. Literally the word, also spelled Immanuel, means in Hebrew, “with us [is] God.” This is the explanation given by St. Matthew, when he described the event of Joseph’s angelic message: not to be afraid to take Mary as his lawful wife, after she was found to be with child (Mt. 1:23).

Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

The evangelist Luke is equally clear. When Mary asks how she can become the Mother of the Messiah, the angel answers by telling her, “the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you. And therefore also the Holy One who shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

Mary has an important role to play in the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. She consents to God’s invitation conveyed by the angel (Luke 1:26-38). Her humility made her great.

Elizabeth proclaims, “Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43). Mary’s role as mother of God places her in a unique position in God’s redemptive plan.

Saint Paul without naming Mary, Paul asserts, “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Paul’s further statement that “God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’“helps us realize that Mary is mother to all the brothers and sisters of Jesus.

Some theologians also insist that Mary’s motherhood of Jesus is an important element in God’s creative plan. God’s “first” thought in creating was Jesus. Jesus, the incarnate Word, is the one who could give God perfect love and worship on behalf of all creation. As Jesus was “first” in God’s mind, Mary was “second” insofar as she was chosen from all eternity to be his mother.

Theotokos

“She gave birth to her first-born son” (Lk 2:7 there is no higher title by which we can venerate Mary than to address her as the Mother of God.

The precise title “Mother of God” goes back at least to the third or fourth century. In the Greek form Theotokos (God-bearer), it became the touchstone of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation. The Council of Ephesus in 431 insisted that the holy Fathers were right in calling the holy virgin Theotokos. At the end of this particular session, crowds of people marched through the street shouting: “Praised be the Theotokos!” The tradition reaches to our own day. In its chapter on Mary’s role in the Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times.

“God bearer,” not “God generator.”

The word Theotokos also helps us to understand this teaching a little better. The word literally means “God bearer,” not “God generator.” To “generate” God would imply that one is His origin, but this cannot be true because God exists from all eternity. To “bear” God means to hold him in one’s womb. The title “Mother of God” is offensive to some Protestant Christians because they believe that this title raises Mary to an inappropriate, even idolatrous, level — the level of God Himself. There is also genuine confusion on the part of others — including Catholics — about how a finite creature (Mary) could be the “mother” of an eternal being. “Wouldn’t Mary have had to exist before God in order to be His mother?”

“The Word made flesh”

Referring to Mary as “Mother of God,” however, does not imply that she existed from all eternity (like God) or that she is the source of Jesus’ divine nature. Mary was and is a human being. She is the Mother of God because she gave birth to the God-Man, Jesus, “the Word made flesh” (John 1).

The Council of Ephesus proclaimed the reality of Mary’s divine maternity in 431, and this teaching contains two important affirmations:

1) Mary is truly a mother. Since Jesus had no human father, Mary contributed all genetic material to the formation of His human nature. As Pope John Paul II states in his encyclical Redemptoris Mater, “[Jesus] is the flesh and blood of Mary!” (see Catechism 485)

2) Mary conceived and bore the Second Person of the Trinity. Echoing the Nestorian heresy (which denied the inseparable unity of two natures of Christ in one Person), some Protestant Christians hold that Mary was the mother of Jesus’ human nature only. However, a mother does not give birth to a nature; she gives birth to a person. Since Jesus is a divine Person, it is logical that Mary be called the “Mother of God” (in Greek, Theotokos), even if this mystery has aspects that exceed our human understanding. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994) teaches 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). [CCC 495]

“The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined,

Mary was predestined, in conjunction with the incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. By decree of divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving mother of the divine Redeemer, an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord’s humble handmaid. She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ” (Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 61).

When Pope Paul VI, after the Second Vatican Council, established January 1 as the solemn feast of Mary, the Mother of God; he gave his reasons for this dramatic change. Recall that for centuries January 1 had been the feast of Christ’s Circumcision, as we read in St. Luke’s Gospel. “And at the end of eight days, when He was circumcised, He was called Jesus, the name given Him by the angel before He was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21).

“Truly the Mother of God and of the Redeemer…not merely passively engaged by God, but freely cooperating in the work of our salvation through faith and obedience.” (Lumen Gentium, 53, 56)

The principal reading for the feast, from St. Luke’s gospel, describes the shepherds coming to Bethlehem where they “found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.” (Luke 2, 16-21).

“Only in the mystery of Christ is her mystery made clear.” (Redemptoris Mater)

In its chapter on Mary’s role in the Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution “Lumen Gentium” (“Light of the People”) calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times.

History of Mary’s Divine Maternity

The early Fathers of the Church were unanimous in venerating Mary as God’s Mother. St. Ignatius of Antioch said, “Our God, Jesus Christ, was carried in Mary’s womb.” He was, according to Ignatius, “from the seed of David, it is true, but by the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 53). Not surprisingly, by the third century, the Greek writers coined the name Theotokos (Theos = God, and tokos = mother) to describe the Mother of Jesus. And before the end of the fourth century, St. Gregory Nazianzus boldly declared, “If anyone does not recognize the Holy Mary as the Mother of God, he is separated from God” (Letter 101, 4).

Heresies

In the meantime, however, a number of heresies had arisen, all somehow questioning the true divinity of Christ. Cerinthus and the Ebionites in the first and early second centuries, the Monarchians in the second and third centuries, the Arians, Macedonians, and Apollinarians of the fourth century denied, from a variety of angles and for different specious reasons, that Jesus of Nazareth was true God become man.

Thus, the stage was set for the heresy of Nestorius, bishop and patriarch of Constantinople. Nestorius had been a monk in the monastery of Antioch. He was also a famous preacher when the emperor insisted that Nestorius fill the vacant see of Constantinople.

Soon after his elevation to the episcopacy, Nestorius got himself into a quarrel with his people because he supported his chaplain in opposing the use of the term Theotokos for the Blessed Virgin Mary. The faithful in his diocese were scandalized and soon Nestorius’ position aroused anger and opposition all over the Near East. The lay people appealed to their respective bishops who, by then were led by St. Cyril of Alexandria. Finally, both Nestorius and his opponents appealed to the Pope for a decision.

On December 7, 430, Pope St. Celestine condemned Nestorius’ teaching as heresy and ordered St. Cyril to pronounce sentence of de-position on Nestorius, if he would not submit. Given his sympathies to Nestorius, it was not strange that the emperor should urge a general council that might have exonerated the patriarch. Instead, the Council of Ephesus on June 22, 431, reconfirmed the condemnation of Nestorius and, eventually the emperor agreed with the council’s decision.

Let me first briefly quote four saints in their apparently but not really extravagant statements about this dignity of Our Lady.

 St. Eusebius says that to understand the greatness of Mary’s dignity as Mother of God, we would have to understand the greatness of her Son, Jesus Christ.

 St. Thomas Aquinas says that Mary’s dignity, as Mother of God is so great; it partakes of the infinite, something of God.

 St. Bernard calls her the miracle of miracles, the marvel of divine omnipotence.

 St. Bonaventure says that God could have made a world more beautiful, greater, and more wonderful than the one He has made. However, He could not make a greater mother than the Mother of God.

In Islam calls Mary as Miriam

There was a rapid growth in Islam, two hundred years later, when Mohammed proclaimed a new religion in 622 A.D. It is no wonder that, when he came to write the Koran, Mohammed showed great respect for Miriam, the mother of Isa (Jesus). But Mohammed insisted that she was only the mother of a human being; that Jesus was not divine. Mohammed defined a Christian as one who, erroneously, claims that Jesus is more than Ibn Miriam, the son of Mary; that He is actually Ibn Allah, the Son of God.

The circumcision of Jesus

According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the Solemnity of Circumcision of Our Lord.

The Gospel passage finishes with a mention of the circumcision of Jesus. According to the Law of Moses, eight days after birth, baby boys were to be circumcised and then given their name. Through his messenger, God himself had said to Mary – as well as to Joseph – that the Name to be given to the child was “Jesus” (cf. Mt 1:21; Lk 1:31); and so it came to be. The Name, which God had already chosen, even before the child had been conceived, is now officially conferred upon him now of circumcision. This also changes Mary’s identity for the last time: she becomes “the mother of Jesus”, that is the mother of the Saviour, of Christ, of the Lord. Jesus is not a man like any other, but the Word of God, one of the Divine Persons, the Son of God: therefore, the Church has given Mary the title Theotokos or Mother of God.

God as a god of promise and god of fulfillment

Do we keep our promise or cheating or false promises? is given, as today’s Gospel tells us, the Name of Jesus eight days after his birth (cf. Lk 2:21). God fulfills all that he promises on due time.

As we begin a new year today, resolutions are probably on our minds. Promises made to us, promises made to others, maybe even promises made to God. So what are our resolutions? Mary knows how hard promises can be. She lived in a world of many broken promises, much as we do today. Broken relationships, broken treaties. Conflict in families, elusive peace among peoples. Yet, Mary placed her faith and hope in the God who saves- the very meaning of her son Jesus’ name- “God

Mary, the queen the peace

On this day the Catholic Church also celebrates the World Day of Peace, a tradition established by Pope Paul VI and confirmed by Pope John Paul II. The Holy See shares the profound aspirations of man for peace. Since 1967, 1 January has been designated “world day for peace”. Beginning in 1967, Pope Paul VI requested that this day be set aside as a day of prayer for world peace. The fact that the octave of Christmas coincides with a day of hope, New Year’s Day, we have assigned to it the observance of the World Day of Peace (Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, Feb. 2, 1974. Pope Paul VI states, “Mary gave birth to the Prince of Peace and she becomes the queen of peace. Through her we have received the Author of life.” New Year greetings also include an expression of hope for a peaceful New Year.

The popes have been issuing messages each January 1 for the World Day for Peace for 45 years.

The “quality of peace” has always been invoked throughout history by all men, and especially during violent and destructive times of war.

The Holy See shares the profound aspirations of man for peace. Since 1967, 1 January has been designated “world day for peace.”

May Mary show us, in her Son, the Way of peace, and enlighten our vision, so that we can recognize Christ’s face in the face of every human person, the heart of peace!”

Pope Benedict XVI, Message for World Day of Prayer for Peace, 2007

“In the heart of every man and woman is the desire for a full life, including that irrepressible longing for fraternity which draws us to fellowship with others and enables us to see them not as enemies or rivals, but as brothers and sisters to be accepted and embraced.” Pope Francis, Message for World Day of Prayer for Peace, 2014

“Blessed are the Peacemakers”.

We need peace and liberty, fraternal solidarity, the dignity of the human person, respect for nature, the right to work, the sacredness of human life, and the denunciation of injustices which trouble the conscience of man and threaten peace;

Man is made for the peace, which is God’s gift. All of this led me to draw inspiration for this Message from the words of Jesus Christ: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’ (Mt 5:9)” (Message, 1). This beatitude “tells us that peace is both a messianic gift and the fruit of human effort … It is peace with God through a life lived according to his will. It is interior peace with oneself and exterior peace with our neighbors and all creation” (ibid., 2, 3). Indeed, peace is the supreme good to ask as a gift from God and, at the same time, that which is to be built with our every effort.

We may ask ourselves: what is the basis, the origin, the root of peace? How can we experience that peace within ourselves, in spite of problems, darkness and anxieties?

The absence of peace: some symptoms

Although the world is sadly marked by “hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism,” as well as by various forms of terrorism and crime, I am convinced that “the many different efforts at peacemaking which abound in our world testify to mankind’s innate vocation to peace. In every person, the desire for peace is an essential aspiration, which coincides in a certain way with the desire for a full, happy and successful human life. In other words, the desire for peace corresponds to a fundamental moral principle, namely, the duty and right to an integral social and communitarian development, which is part of God’s plan for mankind

“Mother of God” is the highest honor

Calling Mary “Mother of God” is the highest honor we can give to her. Just as Christmas honors Jesus as the “Prince of Peace”, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God honors Mary as the “Queen of Peace”. New Year’s Day is also designated as the “World Day of Peace”, further acknowledging the role of Mary in our hearts and in our world.

Mary is the mother of Christ, she is also our mother. We turn to her in our needs and ask her to intercede for us, not because God won’t listen to us too, but because every good son considers his mother’s requests.

We have a special prayer intention, which we entrust to Mary on this solemnity. The Church considers today the “world day for peace”.

Pope Benedict invited us to work especially to help young people be agents of peace. That means helping them to know the truth about themselves and about the world, and to make a responsible use of their freedom to transform the world. Only with God’s help can we hope to bring about a society of love, justice, and peace.

Let us become the builders of peace and agents of hope

“Peace is not a blessing already attained, but rather a goal to which each and all of us must aspire. Let us look with greater hope to the future; let us encourage one another on our journey; let us work together to give our world a more humane and fraternal face; and let us feel a common responsibility towards present and future generations, especially in the task of training them to be people of peace and builders of peace. […] Let us pool our spiritual, moral and material resources for the great goal of “educating young people in justice and peace”.

Christ birth brings us a Birth of Hope

The birth of a child is a sign of hope – hope not just for the parents and immediate family, but also for the whole community. The life of Mary of Nazareth is a sign of hope – not just, because her faith made her holy, but also because it says something to us all. “As mother of all, she is a sign of hope for peoples suffering the birth pangs of justice.” (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, No. 286)

The vision of Jesus in the world

The Solemnity of Mary is a sign of hope to the world. It is a sign that we can give birth to a new vision: the vision of Jesus in the world, a vision of justice and peace, a vision of freedom and liberation from oppression, a vision of social change and concern for the common good, a vision of a world without racism and prejudice, a vision of a world that respects ethnic and racial diversity, a vision of a human community that respects the planet, a vision of a world that can move beyond war and terrorism, a vision of God present in the poor child and the young woman of Nazareth, a vision of God to be found in all the people and things of our world and especially among the poor.

Jesus as a sign of contradictions

In the Gospel, the shepherds come to see the child lying in the manger. This child, just by being there, speaks to us of the peace to which God calls us – a peace that contrasts with all the forces of power, greed, selfishness, weaponry, and violence that prevail in our world. “The grave financial and economic crises of the present time – which find their origin in the progressive distancing of man from God and from his neighbor, in the greedy pursuit of material goods on the one hand, and in the impoverishment of interpersonal and community relations on the other – have pushed man to seek satisfaction, happiness and security in consumption and earnings out of all proportion to the principles of a sound economy.” (Pope Francis, Jan. 1, 2014)

Pope Paul’s Message for the first World Day of Peace in 1968 reminded us that“Peace is the only true direction of human progress – and not the tensions caused by ambitious nationalisms, nor conquests by violence, nor repressions which serve as mainstay for a false civil order – We do so because Peace is part and parcel of the Christian religion, since for a Christian to proclaim peace is the same as to announce Jesus Christ: “He is our peace” (Eph. ii. 14) and His good news is “the Gospel of peace” (Eph. vi. 15).”

Pope Benedict, in his Message for the World Day for Peace in 2008, titled “The Human Family, A Community of Peace,” reminded us that “the peoples of the earth are called to build relationships of solidarity and cooperation among themselves, as befits members of the one human family: ‘All peoples’—as the Second Vatican Council declared—‘are one community and have one origin, because God caused the whole human race to dwell on the face of the earth (cf. Acts 17:26); they also have one final end, God’.”

Pope Francis’ Message for the World Day for Peace in 2014, titled “Fraternity, the Foundation and Pathway of Peace,” reminds us that“… effective policies are needed to promote the principle of fraternity, securing for people – who are equal in dignity and in fundamental rights – access to capital, services, educational resources, healthcare and technology so that every person has the opportunity to express and realize his or her life project and can develop fully as a person.

Queen of Peace. On Christmas morning, the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will” (Luke 2:14). Thus the shepherds reported to Mary what they had heard the angels promise, and thus Our Lady understood that her Son was to be what His Name Jesus implied, namely Prince of Peace.

Why Prince of Peace? Because as Savior of a sinful humanity, He restored peace between an offended God and the offending human race. Because, even as naturally people are at enmity with one another through their selfishness, so by the grace of Christ they rise above their selfishness and thus live with one another in peace.

However, if Christ is the Prince, that is, the Source of Peace, Mary His Mother is Queen of Peace.

Rebuilding lives through peace education

In the light of the new born Prince of Peace, it reserves this day for intense prayer for peace, education towards peace and those values inextricably linked with it, such as liberty, fraternal solidarity, the dignity of the human person, respect for nature, the right to work, the sacredness of human life, and the denunciation of injustices which trouble the conscience of man and threaten peace. Excerpted from the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.

Why is this “challenge”?

For “Educating Young People in Justice and Peace” is a task for every generation and thanks being to God, after the tragedies of the two great world wars.

Lessons learnt from Mary

Mary was filled with the three virtues. There is Humility, purity divine love

MARY said “Yes”

Mary, our Blessed Mother, was only a young girl when she learned that she was going to be an important part of God’s plan for the whole world.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

Mary as the “good soil”

Mary is the mother and model of the Church, who receives the divine Word in faith and offers herself to God as the “good soil” in which he can continue to accomplish his mystery of salvation. The Church also participates in the mystery of divine motherhood, through preaching, which sows the seed of the Gospel throughout the world, and through the sacraments, which communicate grace and divine life to men. The Church exercises her motherhood especially in the sacrament of Baptism, when she generates God’s children from water and the Holy Spirit, who cries out in each of them: “Abba, Father!” (Gal 4:6).

Like Mary, the Church is the mediator of God’s blessing for the world

Like Mary, the Church is the mediator of God’s blessing for the world: she receives it in receiving Jesus and she transmits it in bearing Jesus. He is the mercy and the peace that the world, of itself, cannot give, and which it needs always, at least as much as bread.

This Catholic doctrine is based on the doctrine of Incarnation, as expressed by St. Paul: “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4).

In its chapter on Mary’s role in the Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution “Lumen Gentium” (“Light of the People”) calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times.

On this day the Catholic Church also celebrates the World Day of Peace, a tradition established by Pope Paul VI and confirmed by Pope John Paul II.

John Paul II implores women

He told “bring the richness of your sensitivity, your intuitiveness, your generosity and fidelity” into the heart of the family and all of society, in our various roles, as mothers, wives, sisters and friends, employees, and consecrated religious.

Mary was only the mother of Jesus’ human nature, but not his divine nature. Not only is Mary the Mother of God, but also she is the foremost disciple of Jesus. She, therefore, is the perfect example of both Mother and disciple.

Mother Mary is sensitive and helpful to the needy

At the marriage feast in Cana in Galilee, where Jesus worked his first miracle, Mary is “the Mother of Jesus” who manifests at Cana in Galilee there is shown only one concrete aspect of human need, apparently a small one and of little importance (“They have no wine”) Mary’s care for humanity and its needs would not limited to her earthly life; it lasts “without interruption until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. (Lumen Gentium, 62)

Whether in her own lifetime or from her place in heaven, Mary’s solicitude for human beings looks, above all, to making known the messianic power of her Son. At Cana in Galilee, she told the servers at table, “Do what he tells you.” (John 2, 5) In all her care for others, she points out Jesus to them.

Mother Mary’s role in the life of Jesus

Throughout her life, then, Mary was a follower of her Son. Mother Mary is the first disciple of the Lord, nurtured him in her womb, embraced him her bosom. At the foot of the cross, her motherhood reached a new maturity when Mary experienced her Son’s redeeming love for the world. Her spirit was touched and refined by the mystery of his death and resurrection.

Children’s duty towards their parents: Love & Care.

From his cross, Jesus, seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, said to Mary, “Woman, behold your son.”(John 19, 25-27) ‘Woman, behold your son.’ ‘Behold, your mother.

Mary as a model for obedience

She is the obedient servant of the Lord. With her words in the mystery of the Annunciation (I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said. Luke 1, 38), Mary responds to God with an act of conscious self-abandonment to his will. So Mary, she who is “full of grace”, proclaimed herself the “servant of the Lord”, personally pledging to perfectly perform the service that God expected of her, fully assuming her maternal role with respect to Jesus, and accompanying him on her mission as his Servant .

A thought for today

Did you know that God has a plan for each one of us?
Have you accepted God’s will in your life? Pray for an understanding of what God is calling you and me to do?

Action plan: Speak out against violence to Indian women. Protect children and fight against all sorts of dangers.

Emancipation and empowerment of women is an urgent mission of the religious today. Appreciate the dignity of marriage.

Defend the poor and the widow. Educate the women children. Respect them. Give their rights and protect them from all form of modern slavery and injustice. What a mother can do?

Mother’s day is celebrated every year on 12^th of May. Mother’s day is special to all of us. Isn’t it? All of us look forward to this day to let our mummy dear know how special she is to us. Today, the feast of Mary, the Mother of God is a day of honoring mother of Jesus, celebrated around the world. It is the day when we acknowledge our mother’s contribution in our life.

Feast of Mary Mother of God

**1. The housewife is the light of the family ucanews.com**

2. Families ‘can transform Church‘ ucanews.com

“You’re mothers, not spinsters,” Pope says in warm and cordial meeting.

3. Pope comes face to face with women religious ucanews.com

Heaven and Hell

A BLIND, ILLITERATE SOULWINNER

The Blessings

‘Titanic’ faith?