This morning I celebrated the Solemnity of Mary at Holy Mass and then stopped by Hamilton's for breakfast. So far, it has been a very good year.
Mary, Mother of God
January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. This feast finds itself on the octave day of Christmas and celebrates Mary as the Mother of Jesus. Theotokos, is the Greek word which we translate as Mother of God. It means God-bearer. The title has often been criticized or rather misunderstood and applied. To the Catholic it simply means that Mary is the Mother of God in his Incarnation, not that Mary is the Mother of God in Eternity. The importance of this term really comes from the time when it was first coined. Debates in the early church over Christology, the theology centered on the nature of Jesus Christ, caused some division in the Church. Some believed that Christ was God and others that He was only a man or a creature; others that He was not a man but a spirit. The point of Theotokos was to state that the child of Mary was God, and that he was truly a child of flesh, human. Fully God and Fully man.
5 comments:
I celebrated this holy day at the Vigil last night so that I could be in company with my BFF and daughter-in-law. It was joyous, as it always is when I am with her.
Dear Annie,
I am raised into a Lutheran Protestant church as were 91% of the children when I grew up.
We learned the Nicene Creed by heart in school, which was later transformed into the First Council of Constantinople (381) creed. The one we use today.
First time I ever was in a Catholic church was in Dublin in 1982. When I word by word heard my own creed read by the whole congregation, I knew I was among friends.
When our creed is the same, which is the base for our belief, the rest is only superficial.
Mother Mary, how I admire her. She was chosen by God to carry his son into the world, and she obeyed.
I have many pictures, carved sculptures and icons and of her and baby Jesus.I don't gather them, they just keep coming to me. I don't pray to Mary, but I talk with her. She knows what mothering is like, she understands like no one to give up herself, and even the child she gave birth too that God's will may be done.
What a great allied in life.
What a heart-warming story. We are, indeed, sisters in faith and in our love of Mary. Like you, my prayers to Mary are more like conversations, reports, requests for intercessions. She is always listening. She does have a way of finding us, doesn't she? I'm always on the lookout and recently discovered five of Mary statues at a thrift store. In fact I think you saw the post. She is like a warrior woman but gentle and yielding. Her strength to endure is a model for us all.
Steadfast. That's what I like the most, and yes, endure, but as a woman it's the steadfast aspect of Mary that I find the most compelling.
What a lovely image. I enjoyed your explainations as well.
Darla
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