Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Yesterday, though due to its falling on a Saturday it was not a Holy Day of Obligation this year, we celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. How is Mary the Mother of God, we might ask? After all, if God has existed since the very beginning & will always exist, how can we say that Mary is His mother?

This was a debate in the early Church around the year 431. ear There was an ecumenical council held at Ephesus that year focused on that question, what was the appropriate title for Mary. There was a group led by a Bishop named Nestorius of Constantinople who proposed that Mary should have the title Christotokos (Christ
bearer). They argued that there were two separate natures, two separate persons (human & divine) conjoined in Jesus Christ & Mary only gave Jesus his human flesh. There was another group, this one much larger, led by St. Cyril of Alexandria who proposed that Mary should be given the title of Theotokos (God-bearer). After debate at the council, St. Cyril’s side was the one that was accepted by an overwhelming majority & Nestorius was stripped of his title of Bishop.

When we say that Mary is the Mother of God, we are not saying that she brought God into the world or that God didn’t exist before her. What we are saying & what the Church is teaching is that the human & divine natures of Jesus cannot be separated. And since Jesus is always both human & divine, both human & God, when Mary gave birth to Jesus, she in turn could be said to also have given birth to God.

Thank you too to everyone who helped us to worship so well in our Christmas & New Year’s celebrations! A lot of work & time goes into making our celebrations the beautiful ones that they are & all the time & effort that was put in by many people is greatly appreciated!

Have a blessed week!