Daily Reflection: Monday, January 1
Solemnity of Mary, the Blessed Mother of God
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law,
to ransom those under the law,
so that we might receive adoption. (Gal 4:4-5)
The greatest feasts of the Church last for eight days, an octave. The Christmas octave concludes with this solemnity of Mary. Emotionally, it is natural to honor Jesus’ mother, but the feast is really about who Jesus is or maybe what he is, true God and true Man. If the divinity of the Word is truly wedded to humanity in the person of Jesus, he had to have had a human mother. So, Mary is the Mother of God. That title, Theotokos, was definitively accepted by the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431. Up until then, it was controversial.
Theology aside, it is just good to know that Jesus’ mother is our mother, too.
John Frambes, ofm
Read also:
This week’s Letter from the Pastor
