Madonna With Child by Bellini Jacopo |
We must start
with the fact that Mary was fully human; as Charles Dickens says in the opening
lines of A Christmas Carol, “This must be distinctly understood, or
nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.” Just as Marley’s death is an essential
element in Dickens’ tale, the Incarnation’s meaning for mankind is directly
connected to the Blessed Mother’s humanity, because if Christ isn’t born of a
human woman, He’s not fully human himself, in which case how can He die and
redeem humankind? Mary is the guarantor that Jesus, while He truly is God, is
truly one of us.
Both truly God,
and truly one of us . . . it’s hard for us to reconcile both of those things in
our finite minds, but both must be true if Christianity is true. At the same time, the title “Mother of God”
is alarming: some people claim that it seems to say that a mortal woman has
brought God into existence, but we don’t really think that even about ordinary
mothers and their ordinary human babies. Mothers and Fathers are agents in a larger
process, and the soul, of course, comes from God. The original Greek term Theotokos, literally
“God-bearer”, while a little less difficult, still challenges us. It tells us
that, just as the original Arc of the Covenant carried Manna from Heaven, along
with Tablets of the Decalogue and Aaron’s staff, Mary carried the Second Person
of the Trinity in her womb, and so she is called the Arc of the New Covenant
(see Revelation
11:19-12:1).
But the first Arc
was merely a container, it contributed nothing to its contents; even before
anyone knew anything of genetics, however, it would have been obvious that, in
some way, Jesus’s fleshly body owed something, at least, to his mother. In his face, the color of his eyes, the shape
of his nose, or some other physical feature, the familial relationship would be
manifest. Through the Motherhood of Mary Jesus, that is to say God, takes on
our humanity in an utterly tangible, direct and personal way.
The Motherhood of
Mary, like the Incarnation itself, is a mystery. It is something that we can really understand
(although never fully understand) through experience. As the last day in the Octave of Christmas, the
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God it invites us to start looking not only at the
Child lying in the manger, but to start looking further at what that Child
means for us as men and women.
O
God,
Who through the fruitful
virginity of Blessed Mary
Bestowed on the Human
race the grace of eternal salvation,
Grant, we pray, that
we may experience the intercession of her,
Through whom we were
found worthy to receive the author of life,
Our Lord Jesus Christ,
your Son.
Who lives and reigns
with You in the unity of the HolySpirit,
One God, for ever and
ever.
-Amen
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