Mary, mother of God

Most of the Filipino devotees need no explanation about the role of Mary, our Blessed Mother in their lives. We seem to have grown up in the Marian psyche without any explaining or convincing. For centuries, generations of Filipinos have related to the Blessed Virgin Mary as Ina. They have sung her praises in the traditional Santa Cruzan: "Dios te salve, Maria, Ilena eres de gracia; el Señor es contigo bendita tu eres, entre todas las mujeres, y bendita es el fruto, de tu vientre Jesus." Children and their elders sing this song everytime they set up the Holy Cross in some yard where the Rosary is prayed and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin ends with a procession. Families from neighboring homes join singing the salutation to Mary in Spanish.

The words "Hail Mary" resound in the evening air ending with the expression of a belief which they did not learn from any catechism but with the devotion kept alive through centuries of Filipino custom: Santa Maria, MADRE DE DIOS, ruega por nosotros, pecadores ahora en la hora de nuestra muerte . . . Today, modern youth call her "Mama Mary". Perhaps we would like to relate more intimately with one who has been privileged to bear Christ in her womb, the reason why we feel closer to her when we relate to her as our Mother. But the mystery which defies all other denials of the truth is that Mary because she is the Mother of Christ, is Mother of God. We would rather evade this because our limited minds do not simply grasp the why’s and wherefore’s of this mystery. We would readily take to something we can grasp. That’s the reason why we need that much faith, "the substance of things we do not understand, the evidence of things we do not see".

If the divisions in Christendom are to be overcome, it can only be through a frank discussion of such issues about Mary as Mother of God. How then is the Blessed Virgin presented in the mysteries of the Rosary which we Filipinos pray so avidly? We contemplate mysteries which are very much a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the annunciation, the visitation, the birth of Jesus, the purification in the temple, the finding of Jesus in the temple after Mary and Joseph lost him in the crowd. These are the joyful ‘mysteries’, from where we are carried through the via crusis, i.e. the way of the cross. Mary followed all the way up to Calvary where Jesus breathed his last, consummating a sacrifice for the salvation of humankind. Mary played an indispensable part in the Christian drama of the incarnation and our salvation. This accords to her a certain priority in the Church, i.e., the people of God.

Mary conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit and the virgin birth of Jesus. This principally stresses the initiative of God. Incarnation takes place through the action of the Holy Spirit. As in the case of Mary, as she was the bearer of the Christ, so we, too, as the body of Christ and His bearer brings Christhood into the world. But the point to be stressed is that in the Church, the body of Christ, as in Mary, God is at work. What is distinctive, here, is that we are the instruments of God’s acting by which He incarnates Himself in the world. This is the presence of God in His Church just as His presence in the womb of Mary, that gives the Church whatever authority it has.

God’s action is personal, and the unifying action of the Spirit is not an automatic cosmic process. Mary’s words, "Let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk. 6:20) are a great expression of dependence and obedience, freely accepted. It is only through this free and complete submission and cooperation that incarnation can take place through us; through our cooperation with the action of God that we can give flesh to God in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word, whereby He dwells among us.

Mary then is "blessed among women". The person she conceived in her womb is God Himself to whom she gave flesh so that in His humanity God could dwell among us. Today, we celebrate not just her motherhood of Jesus, Son of Man, but also of Jesus, Son of God. This is Mary’s divine motherhood; and we continue praying to her to the very end, Holy, Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Luke 2:16-21.