Tomorrow, January 1, the Church celebrates universally both the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and the World Day of Peace. What relevance does this solemnity have at the kick-off of a new year?
The first Marian Dogma which proclaims that Mary is the Mother of God was declared by the Church at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Confronted by the heresy of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, which held Jesus to be two distinct persons, closely and inseparably united, the Church defined that in Jesus there were two distinct natures, human and divine, in one person and that Mary, Jesus's mother, is the Mother of God, Theotokos, or "God-bearer".
The Council Fathers, headed by Pope Celestine I's representative, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, declared, as noted in the third letter of Cyril to Nestorius: "Therefore, because the holy virgin bore in the flesh God who was united hypostatically with the flesh, for that reason we call her mother of God, not as though the nature of the Word had the beginning of its existence from the flesh (for 'the Word was in the beginning and the Word was God and the Word was with God', and he made the ages and is coeternal with the Father and craftsman of all things), but because, as we have said, he united to himself hypostatically the human and underwent a birth according to the flesh from her womb". Furthermore, this was confirmed by the first of the 12 anathemas issued by the Council. "If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God in truth, and therefore that the holy virgin is the mother of God (for she bore in a fleshly way the Word of God become flesh), let him be anathema."
Both the Church's biblical and apostolic teachings clearly affirm that Mary is the Mother of God, Theotokos. She bore the Son of God in her womb and from her the Eternal Word of the Father took His humanity. Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother, acknowledged this reality when she called Mary, "the mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43). Whereas Mary herself said in her Magnificat, "For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed" (Luke 1:48).
In 1970, Pope Paul VI instituted January 1 as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. The Holy Father enlists five reasons why he did so. Firstly, the Pope wanted to highlight Mary's role in Salvation history. She was the woman chosen by God to become the Mother of His beloved Son. Through her Immaculate Conception Mary gave life to Jesus, God's Son, thus becoming His Mother. Secondly, through Mary we received the Author of life. Jesus Christ is the Author of life in two senses; humanly, because He is its Creator (John 1:3) and spiritually since He is the origin of our life of grace and have restored us to divine life. Thirdly, by adoring Mary's Son, who is "our peace" (Ephesians 2:14), we adore the Newborn Prince of Peace. Fourthly, Mary's divine Motherhood helps us meditate on the Angel's Message at Betlehem: "I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people" (Luke 2:10). By being the Mother of God, Mary is the cause and model of our joy. She gave us Jesus, the "good news of a great joy". In her Magnificat, Mary declared: "my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:47). Lastly, through this solemnity of God's Mother, the Church implores Mary to intercede in front of her Son Jesus for peace to reign in our world.
I propose this extraordinary theological depiction of Mary's divine Motherhood by Saint Francis of Assisi in his Salutation of the Blessed Virgin.
"Hail, holy Lady, most holy Queen, Mother of God, Mary who are ever Virgin, chosen from Heaven by the most Holy Father, whom He has consecrated with the most holy beloved Son and the Holy Paraclete, in whom was and is all the fullness of grace and all good. Hail you His palace! Hail you His tabernacle! Hail you His house. Hail you His garment! Hail you His handmaid! Hail you His Mother..."