Mary, Mother of God and Our Mother

I once read the touching story of a mother and her two young children who wandered through the forest for three days during the French Revolution trying to survive on roots, berries, and leaves. On the third day, when she heard some soldiers approaching, she quickly hid herself and her children behind some bushes.

The army officer noticed some rustling in the bushes, so he parted them and saw the starving woman and her children. He immediately ordered his men to give them a loaf of bread. The mother took it eagerly, broke it into two pieces and gave one piece to each of her kids.

The officer whispered to himself: “She has kept none for herself.” Overhearing this, one of his soldiers asked, “Because she is not hungry?” “No, because she is a mother.”

Such is the heart of a mother – selfless, filled with love, caring, and compassionate.

Motherhood of Mary

We start another new year with the celebration of the Solemnity of the Motherhood of Mary on January 1^st, and we are reminded to be like those two children who clung to their mother for protection. We are asked to stay close, not only to our earthly mothers, but also to our Blessed Mother – Mary, Mother of God.

The first person to refer to Mary as Mother of God was her cousin Elizabeth who said:
“Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43).

There are, of course, some sectors (most of them Christians unfortunately) who object to Mary being called the Mother of God. They ask that if God exists in all eternity, how can Mary, born within a specific period on earth, be called the Mother of God?

We find the answer to this question in a quote of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, who said: “Do mothers beget bodies or persons? Do our mothers merely give birth to our bodies or to ourselves as persons? As persons, of course.” And so, Mary conceived the Son of God in her womb, not just His human nature but His divine nature as well. If Christ is God, Mary, the mother of Christ is also the Mother of God.

Among us Filipinos, we can cite a familiar example in the person of the late President Cory Aquino and her daughter Kris (who is a well-known TV personality in my country). We say Cory was Kris’s mother who bore her as an ordinary woman/citizen. But within Cory’s personality and future was her being president of the land. Her being a mother and president were in one persona. So Kris is Cory’s daughter and is a daughter of a president, though Cory was not yet president when Kris was born.

Mary, the Perfect Mother and Disciple

No one can dispute a mother’s endearing qualities, and Mary, as the perfect mother is also the prime example of the perfect disciple whose qualities we Christians should emulate – obedient, faithful, forgiving, persevering until the end.

One way to emulate her is to remember what she said at the wedding feast at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5).  And because the servants did exactly what the Lord had told them to do, a miracle took place: plain water was turned into the best-tasting wine!

We don’t know what this New Year will bring. It may bring us great success or great sorrow and suffering. Perhaps it will be another year of the same routine – dealing with the drudgery of daily work (which I’d personally take anytime because it’s a blessing to be alive and well today amidst a pandemic). Maybe we’ll encounter some failures at work. Others may continue to deal with loneliness, ill health, or the loss of a loved one.

But despite any or all of these setbacks, Mary, our Mother, has only this to tell us: “Do whatever He tells you.”