ΜΡ ΘΥ = Μήτηρ Θεοῦ (Mother of God)
Today is the Octave of Christmas: eight days
have passed since December 25, when we celebrated the birth of Jesus. The
gospel informs us that, on this day, according to the custom of the Jews, the
child was circumcised and, in conformity with the directions of the angel, he
was named Jesus.
Moreover, today is the New Year’s Day. I do not
know whether the first reading has been chosen because it mentions the name of
God to be invoked upon the Israelites—and so it would be a reference to the
naming of Jesus—or because it is a blessing—and, on the first day of the year,
we need a special blessing from the Lord.
The New Year’s Day, since 1968, as a result of
a decision of Pope Paul VI, has become the World Day of Peace. And we, who live
in a war-torn country, have every reason to pray for this intention. Also in
the first reading we find a wish of peace: “The Lord look upon you kindly and
give you peace!”
However, the title of this celebration is
“Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God (Sancta Dei Genetrix).” The liturgy, on the Octave of
Christmas, wants to remember the role played by the Blessed Virgin in the
mystery of the incarnation. In the Creed, we say that Jesus Christ “by the Holy
Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” It is not an unimportant
role that of Blessed Mother: it is through her that the incarnation came about.
But this does not mean that Mary is the protagonist of this liturgy; the main
character is still Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man. Look at the title,
whereby we venerate today Our Lady: “Mother of God” (in Greek, Theotokos).
It is the title given to her by the Council of Ephesus in 431. The Fathers of
that Council did not proclaim Mary “Mother of God” because of their special
devotion to her, but because they were condemning the heresy of Nestorius, who
maintained that in Jesus there were two persons—the human person and the divine
person. So, when Mary conceived Jesus, according to Nestorius, she conceived
only a man, who subsequently would have become the Son of God. On the contrary,
the Council says: the man conceived by Mary was already the Son of God, God
himself. Mary truly begot God, and so, we can say that she is the Mother of
God. But you can see that, while we honor the Virgin with this wonderful title,
we are actually professing our faith in the divinity of Jesus. That is why at
the center of today’s liturgy there is Christ. All others are just minor
characters, who play an important but subordinate role.
That said, we can learn a lot from these minor
characters. From the shepherds we can learn the quickness with which they
responded to the announcement of the angel, the sharing of what they had
experienced with others, and the spirit of praise with which they gave thanks
to God. Of the people who heard the witness of the shepherds we should imitate
the amazement. Finally, from Mary we should learn the spirit of recollection
with which she was reflecting in her heart on what was happening in her and
around her. May she get for us the same contemplative aptitude, so that we too,
like her, may understand the mystery of the incarnation.
Q
