The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
by David Deston

The situation before the Incarnation was bleak. Ever since the fall, God had been reaching out to His people, asking them to return to Him. Love, flowed like a river out of the Godhead. Occasionally, the response to God’s call was positive, but soon God’s people would fall away. In the main, salvation history from the Fall to the Incarnation is a long story of God’s love for His people, and His people’s rejection of Him. The river, in short, flowed over barren rock.

In the second reading for today, St. Paul tells the Galatians that because Christ became like us and redeemed us, we have been freed. St. Paul’s argument is that before the Incarnation and Redemption, we were slaves to sin. He says that our relationship to God until Jesus came to us was one of slave to master. Our relationship with God after Jesus, however, is one where we are brothers and sisters with Jesus. We have received adoption as sons. St. Paul says elsewhere that if we are sons, we are also heirs, heirs with Christ to the Kingdom of God.

The first reading reflects this state of slavery in which we found ourselves. After Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, they journeyed to Sinai where they were to commune with God before traveling to the Promised Land. The story is a familiar one. While Moses is receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the Israelites make for themselves a god of gold. Obviously, God is not pleased by this turn of events. The unique intimacy that God and Israel, wherein the head of each household was the family priest before God, was smashed by Israel’s infidelity. The priestly family, the Levites, replaces the family priest. The Levites would be the shepherds, the overseers, if you will, of Israel.

This situation changes drastically with the birth of the Messiah. Here, at long last, is the One who will free Israel, and indeed, all of humanity from our bondage to sin and who will make us sons of God. On that last day of Hanukkah in the year 3761 Jesus is born. With the Incarnation, when the Word became flesh and began to dwell among us, there was finally a man who could adequately respond to God’s call. In giving of Himself totally on Calvary, Jesus said ‘yes’ to God in a way that no other man could have, and in that ‘yes’ that river of God’s love which spilled fruitlessly over barren rock was stopped dead in its tracks. The river, the source of life and love now flowed over fertile ground and returned back to God whence it came. It returns to God only to return to us, setting up a wondrous exchange, an admirabile commercium of love between Creator and created.

How, then, does the Blessed Virgin Mary fit in to all of this? As in all things, Mary’s role is to lead us to Christ. Indeed, all of her titles, all of her feast days, prayers, everything is there for one purpose, and one purpose only – to point to Christ. The feast we celebrate now is a perfect example. We celebrate today the feast of Mary, the Mother of God. Aside from ‘Virgin,’ which is applied to her by Scripture, this is the first title given her by the faithful. It was given, not because Mary has some power aside from God, but because in calling Mary the Mother of God, we recognize that Jesus is both human and divine. Jesus, who is human and divine, is one person, and that one person is the Son of God.

The Gospel reading illustrates Mary’s role in revealing Christ. Prior to the beginning of the reading, Mary had given birth to Jesus and laid him in the manger. Angels appear to shepherds in the area. “Glory to God in the highest!” they exclaim, “and on earth, peace to men of good will.” The shepherds have been told where they can find the Messiah, so off they go.

When they get to the manger, they meet Mary and Joseph and tell them what they have heard. Although the Scripture does not mention in specifically, it must have been Mary who showed Jesus to the shepherds. Only a few hours old, the infant savior would still be nursing and/or bonding in the arms of His virgin mother. The shepherds have come to Bethlehem, the City of David, and it is through the action of the Virgin Mary that they meet the Christ child. It is a course of action that will be repeated when the Magi show up to offer their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Let us consider again the words of Paul. Follow my logic here. He says that we are sons and heirs to the Kingdom with Christ. We are essentially brothers with Him. If we are brothers, then, and Mary is Christ’s mother, then she is our mother as well. If she is our mother, then she is the mother of the whole Church, the Mystical Body of her son.

All of this means two things for us. Firstly is that Mary is our mother too. We can go to her and ask for her help and prayers. Mary is near to us and loves us. She will intercede for us and help us as any good mother would. Secondly, this means that in whatever she does, she points to Christ, as we must. We do not honor Mary for her own sake, but because she is constantly pointing us to her son. In our dealings with the world and with each other, we need to lead others to Christ. God’s love needs to so fill us that in all that we say and do we point to Christ, and do so with an open and generous heart. This is the way to sanctity, the way to happiness, the way to love, the way to the new and eternal Jerusalem.