January 1st: Feast of Mary the Mother of God.

How could Mary, a human being born in time, possibly be called the Mother of God, a God who has existed from all eternity, and is not human but a spirit?

The answer lies in her Son Jesus, who claimed to be God, and was accepted by his followers as "The Christ, the Son of the Living God".   Yet even in the early Church there was great dispute over this.   Yes, Jesus Christ is human, but his divinity, surely that is something implanted on the Body.   There were many disputes over the early Years, until a heresy came that almost destroyed the Church.   It was called Arianism, and it became popular among many bishops.   It taught that Jesus as God did not exist until the Father created him in the womb of Mary.   He was a Divine creation, though separate from God.   At the Council of Nicea in 325AD all the bishops of the Church met in the first great Ecumenical Council to discuss the matter.   The decision was that Jesus was one person with two natures, the Nature of God and the Nature of Man, and it was this person both God and Man that Mary had given birth to in Bethlehem.     But he was not a new Divine creature created by the Father, he was, as we recite every Sunday at Mass when we say the Nicene Creed, that is the teachings of the Council of Nicea, 'God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God,  Begotten not made, CONSUBSTANTIAL with the Father, and through Him all things were made, and without him there was nothing that was made....'

So we can see that the Fathers of that Council were adamant that Jesus was no divine creation but God Himself becoming Man.     So Mary was the Mother of 'God made Man'.   And we have praised Mary ever since and rightly called her the Mother of God.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.               

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