Mary is the mother of Jesus. I know all agree to that. But is she the mother of God? How can Mary the Mother of Jesus, a mere human being, be the Mother of God? Many people question Catholics and do we have the right answers to them?

First, we are going to  provide enlightenment to those who are in doubt or completely do not believe that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. Second, for those who believe in Mary’s Divine Motherhood — To you we provide the necessary insights needed to be able to answer the questions of those who doubt, particularly our non-catholic brethren.

The Nestorian Heresy

Many of our non-Catholic brethren question the dogma of the Divine Motherhood of Mary by inadvertently reechoing the Nestorian heresy which was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431. Nestorius claimed that in Christ Incarnate, there are two distinct persons — one divine and the other human. With this premise, Nestorius concluded that Mary was mother only of the human person of Jesus. Thus, according to Nestorius, Mary cannot be considered “Mother of God”.

The Council, attended by around 150 bishops and presided over by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, condemned the teachings of Nestorius. Specifically, the council argued in clear terms that in Jesus is one person (the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity) with two natures (Divine and Human). The union of the two natures of Christ is called hypostatic union since one cannot be without the other.

Because of the hypostatic union, the inseparable union between the two natures of Jesus, Mary is rightfully the Mother of God. She is the Mother of Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

The Catholic Church teaches what she received from the Lord through the Apostles, that Mary the mother of Jesus was a virgin before and after giving birth to Jesus. Furthermore, that Mary was ‘full of grace’ from the moment of her conception and that every grace received by Christians passes somehow through her hands.

Watch the video clip – - – Mother Mary Video

Is Mary Above God?

Some say that Mary cannot be the Mother of God because it is inconceivable for a mortal human like Mary to be “above” God. How can the Creator “come from” Mary, a mortal? Motherhood, somehow, gives a certain degree or perception of superiority on the part of the mother over her child, for the reason that the child has to rely on the mother for its conception. Therefore, how can Jesus “rely” on Mary for His conception and birth?

The answer, I think, lies in the word “Immanuel”. Jesus wanted to be truly “one with us” and the only way for Him to do that was to become human himself by being born of a Mother. In other words, the Divine Motherhood of Mary was an essential element of God’s plan to come into the world and restore the intimate relationship between God and Man, by becoming human through the Person of Jesus.

Mary’s Motherhood does not mean that Mary is “superior” to Jesus. Because Jesus is both God and Man (hypostatic union of the two natures), Jesus still retained His Divinity, and therefore superiority over Mary, even if He had to rely on a human vessel in Mary to come into the world.

The Way of Mary

Jesus could have chosen other ways of coming into the world. He could have come in all His glory, bearing with all His Divine Power and coming down from the clouds. But the fact is that He chose to go through Mary, and to be born into the world as a helpless little infant in the arms of Our Lady. He chose to have a Mother. He chose to give His all to Mary: to rely on her for His safety, for His food and nourishment, for His upbringing and growth.

And perhaps herein lies the best answer to the question on whether Mary is truly Mother of God. Mary is Mother of God because God wanted it to be so! Dare we question this Divine decision?

Mother of God, Mother of All Christians

In the same way as the woman who bore you is called your mother and not the mother of your body only, Mary is the mother of the whole person of Jesus Christ, who is God (cf. Colossians 2:9). The Church proclaimed this truth in the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. – - -

Therefore, because the holy virgin bore in the flesh God who was united hypostatically with the flesh, for that reason we call her mother of God, not as though the nature of the Word had the beginning of its existence from the flesh (for “the Word was in the beginning and the Word was God and the Word was with God”, and he made the ages and is coeternal with the Father and craftsman of all things), but because, as we have said, he united to himself hypostatically the human and underwent a birth according to the flesh from her womb. - (Third letter of Cyril to Nestorius)

Similarly, the body of believers, the Church, are Christ’s body (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31; Ephesians 4:1-6, 15-16; Colossians 1:18; etc.) and since Mary is the mother of Christ, she is also the mother of all us believers. And, as if these facts would not be enough, Jesus himself gave us Mary as our mother as he hung dying on the cross (cf. John 19).

Virgin Mary Pictures *** Mother Mary Wallpapers *** Rosary

Charity -  The charity of Christ – Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”  But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Reflection:-

The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace.

“After earth’s exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for your love alone. In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.” -  (St. Therese, Story of a Soul) “

Christ has given us a share in his own life through death on the cross and Resurrection, and so we must be as Christs for one another and give in the same way. “To whom much is given, much is expected.” To those who call themselves Christian has been given more than to anyone else in the world.

“By charity, we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of God. Charity, the form of all the virtues, binds everything together in perfect harmony (Col 3:14).” The charity of the Samaritan made him pleasing in God’s eyes, though to Jews he was a heretic and an outcast, judged condemned. The priest, a leader and holy man among the Jewish people fell short in God’s eyes, for he was without charity.

“Christ died out of love for us, while we were still enemies. (Romans 5:10) The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies, to make ourselves the neighbor of those farthest away, and to love children and the poor as Christ himself. Why charity? To share in Gods life and love and thus be happy. Living the virtue of charity bears the fruit of divine love and a foretaste of heaven which is the state of perfect fulfillment and eternal happiness in the presence of the living God.

“The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.” (CCC 1829)

How is charity lost? God has given us free will, and therefore we must cooperate with his grace and freely choose to do His will. If we choose to break his law with sufficient reflection and full consent of the will, we loose the virtue of charity having sinned mortally. Venial sins weaken charity and can lead to mortal sin. Charity is our greatest gift and our greatest call. St. Pauls hymn on charity mught be the most beautiful in all of Scripture.

“If I . . . have not charity,” says the Apostle, “I am nothing.” Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, “if I . . . have not charity, I gain nothing.” Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: “So faith, hope, charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity.” We must love all, including our enemies, and must pray for them or we are without charity and therefore without God’s love. Let us begin now the regular practice of prayer for our enemies as well as for those who love us that the doors of heaven may not be shut against us.

Our burden and privilege as Christians is to be held to the very highest standards of conduct in thought, word and deed: Christ Jesus Himself. We desire to live abundantly, that is forever, and only in Christ is found such abundant life. If we would live forever we must begin now to live in Christ and persist in this life until the end.

- – – reflection by Fr Abraham Muruppel

“Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him”- (John 14:21)

Love is at the center of Jesus’ farewell discourse: the love of the Father for the Son, our love for Jesus, which means keeping his commandments. Those who were listening to Jesus could easily recognize in his words an echo of Jewish wisdom literature such as, “Love of her [Wisdom] means the keeping of her laws” (Wis 6:18; see Prov 8:15-17; Sir 24:22-23) and, “She is readily perceived by those who love her” (Wis 6:12). In particular, revealing himself to those who love finds another parallel in Book of Wisdom 1:2, where it says that the Lord will manifest himself to those who believe in him.

The point of this Word is: the Father loves those who love the Son, and the Son in turn loves them and reveals himself to them. Such a revelation of Jesus, however, requires love. We cannot conceive of Christians who do not have this dynamism, this driving force of love in their hearts.

A clock doesn’t work, it doesn’t tell the time – we wouldn’t even call it a clock – if its batteries are dead. It’s the same with Christians. If they are not constantly striving to love, they don’t deserve the name of Christian. The reason for this is that all of Jesus’ commandments can be summed up in one: love of God and love of neighbor in whom we recognize and love Jesus.

Love is not just a matter of feelings. Love needs to be expressed in concrete terms, in serving our brothers and sisters, especially those who are near us, beginning with the little things, the most humble acts of service. When we love in this way, the light of Jesus makes its way into our hearts, just as he promised: “Whoever loves me … I will … reveal myself to him” (John 14:21).

Love is the source of light. By loving we have a greater understanding of God who is Love. This leads us to love even more and to deepen our relationship with our neighbor. This light, this loving knowledge of God is therefore the seal, the proof of true love. And we can experience it in different ways, because light takes on a particular color or shade in each one of us. But it also has some common characteristics: it helps us to understand the will of God, it gives us peace, serenity, and an ever-new understanding of the word of God. It is a heart-warming light that encourages us to walk along our way of life with growing confidence and determination.

When the shadows of life make our way uncertain, when darkness threatens to stop us, these words of the Gospel will remind us that a light is turned on by loving and that even one small gesture of concrete love (a prayer, a smile, a word) will give us enough light to go forward.

Some bicycles have headlights that work as long as the riders keep peddling. If they stop, they find themselves in darkness, but when they start peddling again, the dynamo will provide the light one needs to see the way to go. We can apply this to our lives: we only need to set love in motion again — our true love, a love that gives without expecting anything in return — in order to rekindle in us faith and hope.

What is Love