The remarkable reason Catholics call Mary the ‘Mother of God’

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Madonna
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It’s good to begin each new year remembering our ancient faith, to remember it well, so we can go well on our pilgrim way. It focuses us on the proper spiritual foundation of Catholic truth, a truth that enlivens our souls, giving us the true Christ in true dogma. It sets everything else in order — our prayer, our theology, our hope. I’m talking about the feast that falls on the first day of the new year, a Sunday this year, a beautiful feast, as beautiful as any — the solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.

As I said, this feast celebrates an ancient truth of the Catholic faith, truth central to Christianity, without which there is no Christianity at all. To be ignorant of this truth is to be ignorant of the Gospel entirely, to be something other than a Christian. I’m talking about the truth of the Incarnation, that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14). I’m talking about the faith we profess each Sunday in the creed, that Jesus “was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” That Jesus is both fully God and fully human, as I said, is central to the Christian faith; to reduce either claim, to hold either claim disproportionately against the other, is to ruin the whole truth of the Gospel, to ruin the Catholic religion entirely. For only God can save, which is why we need a Savior who’s fully God; and (as St. Gregory of Nazianzus famously put it) what God has not assumed he has not healed, which is why we need a Savior who’s fully human, too.

January 1 – The Octave Day of Christmas, Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

Nm 6:22-27
Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
Gal 4:4-7
Lk 2:16-21

Which is why what we believe about Mary is so important. It’s ancient theology. As St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote early in the second century, “There is one physician, fleshly and spiritual, begotten and unbegotten, God in the flesh, true life in death, both from Mary and from God.”

Mary and the Incarnation

Mentioning Mary here is not merely some historical detail; it’s theologically necessary. To put it simply, what we believe about Mary guards what we believe about Jesus — that he’s fully God and fully man. Mary protects our belief in the Incarnation, so to speak.

Today’s feast celebrates our belief, our ancient acclamation that Mary is Theotokos, Meter Theou, Mater Dei, Mother of God. Now the drama behind these Marian titles is its own interesting story — those ancient theological battles between Antioch and Alexandria, Nestorius and Cyril, and the Council of Ephesus — but the essential theological point is really very simple.

Calling Mary “Mother of God” holds in place for us the mystery of the Incarnation — that is, Jesus is fully human, like us in all things but sin (cf. Heb 4:15). Jesus has a mother just like us. As Paul writes to the Galatians, Jesus was “born of a woman” (Gal 4:4). But, as Paul also taught, Christ is God, the power and wisdom of God, the fulness of God (cf. Rom 9:5; 1 Cor 1:24; Col 1:19). That’s the simple, radical claim of Christianity: that Jesus is both man and God, that the Son and Father are “consubstantial,” as we say in the creed. And that’s what calling Mary “Mother of God” does for us, that’s the point: It preserves — in our minds, our prayers, our liturgies, and devotions — this saving, essential Christian truth.

Venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary, the Mother of God, reminds us who her Son is; venerating her, we adore him. Here we should note how essential this belief is, how essential Marian piety is not just to genuine Catholicism but genuine Christianity.

St. John Henry Newman made this point. Responding to conventional Protestant criticism of Catholic Marian devotion, that it puts “Our Lord into the shade,” Newman said, “But I should like the fact to be proved first.” In point of fact, he said, evidence suggests otherwise: “that just those nations and countries have lost their faith in the divinity of Christ, who have given up devotion to His Mother.”

That’s where Christian belief gave way to the cold deisms and atheisms of modern Europe: in precisely those countries where the Catholic faith and Marian piety were destroyed. Marian devotion reminds us who Jesus really is — the incarnate Son of God. This link between Marian piety and orthodoxy can hardly be overstated. And again, this all matters a great deal, because our belief in Jesus is saving belief — that is, knowing who Jesus really is matters. Which is what Mary, the Mother of God, does — she teaches us who her Son truly is.

Now this is all theology; I get it. My point, though, is that this is what you’re doing when you’re praying the Rosary or the Memorare or lighting a candle before an image of the Blessed Mother — you’re doing good Catholic theology. Or, better put, when Marian devotion is part of healthy Catholic experience, one’s Catholic experience is theologically sound. In other words, the more Mary is properly in your spiritual life, the way you encounter Christ will be more biblical and enriching. Which — step back for a moment — makes perfect sense; for, of course, Mary wants to invite you closer to her Son. Because she wants us, with her, to adore him, too. So, may your devotion never cease.

Father Joshua J. Whitfield

Father Joshua J. Whitfield is pastor of St. Rita Catholic Community in Dallas and author of “The Crisis of Bad Preaching” (Ave Maria Press, $17.95) and other books.