St. John Damascene (also known as John of Damascus), one of the Church Fathers, once wrote that the title “Mother of God” (Theotokos) “encompasses the whole mystery of the dispensation” (i.e. the mystery of salvation). “We preach the Holy Virgin as Theotokos especially and truly… and we call her by that name. This name encompasses the whole mystery of the providence. For if the one who bears is Theotokos (Mother of God), perfect God is the One born from her and perfect man…” (Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, St. John Damascene)
“encompasses the whole mystery of the dispensation”! This assertion is astonishing, but it should prompt us to explore the matter more deeply. How and why does this expression—or better, this reality, “Mother of God”—contain the whole mystery of salvation? Let us examine this more closely.
The expression “God,” in “Mother of God,” refers to Christ Himself, who is God; it refers to the Person of Christ, the Person of the Eternal Word of God who becomes incarnate in the womb of Mary. This virginal motherhood of Christ presupposes a relationship between two persons: that of the incarnate Word of God and that of Mary, His Mother. All in Mary refers to and points towards Christ. But this does not yet explain why and how this expression encompasses the whole mystery of salvation.
Mary bears Christ, who is God, within her. She is therefore Mother of God. Through her “Yes” at the Annunciation, through her response to God, through the total gift of herself, through her faith, she brings forth Christ God within her.
We too, to our measure, are called to bring forth Christ within ourselves. Towards the end of his spiritual journey, Saint Paul himself says: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). The new man in Saint Paul—that is, Christ who dwells in him, who lives in him—has reached such stature, such fullness, that Christ lives and acts within him. This is what Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus says: “Here is my prayer: I ask Jesus to draw me into the flames of His love, to unite me so closely to Him that He may live and act in me” (MsC 36r). “Yes, I feel it when I am charitable: it is Jesus alone who acts in me” (MsC 13r). Therefore, Saint Paul, Thérèse, and all the saints, to their measure, were Mothers of God. They participated in their own salvation. “God does not save us without our participation” (St Augustine); it is an active and decisive effort to welcome God within us, to be His Mother. Without this effort, we cannot bring forth God within us.
Our Christian faith therefore contains two poles, not just one: an objective pole of our faith, the object of our faith, Christ God; and a subjective pole, the subject who believes, who receives: Mary, the Mother of God. We need not only an object for our faith—Jesus, who is God and man—but we also need the divine modality to know Him, to love Him, to bring Him forth within us: Mary. The Divine Motherhood of Mary is participable by us (“to all who received Him, He gave power to become children of God” [John 1:12]). It is offered to us.
During Mass, we receive Christ God in Communion. But let us ask ourselves: is it sufficient to receive Him in this way? Or do we also need, in order to receive Him, a divine capacity? This point is crucial and decisive for our faith, for our Christian life, for our life of prayer. If, for us Christians, it were only a question of agreeing on the objective Person of Christ who is God, it would be entirely insufficient. Christian faith actually gives us not only the object of our faith, that is, Christ, but also the subject of faith, the capacity to receive Christ, a divine capacity: Mary. It is not enough to have Christ passively. It is necessary to know and love Him actively, to bring Him forth within ourselves. But do we love Him humanly, with our human strengths, or with the divine modality, which is that of Mary, the Mother of God?
God therefore gives us both Christ God and His Mother. Both the object of faith and the perfect subject of faith. And this is the mystery we celebrate today: Mary, Mother of God, a mystery which contains within it the whole mystery of salvation.
God asks us to watch over the way we receive Christ, and He gives us the best means to do so: Mary. (One may for this read True Devotion to Mary by Grignion de Montfort.)
Mary belongs to us; she gives us her faith and her love, her eyes and her heart. She gives us her eyes so that we may look upon her Son as she does and through her, deeply, in a divine manner, a manner that surpasses our own human narrowness. She gives us her heart so that we may love Christ her Son not with the still too human powers of our own heart, but with those of her heart. Thus, this mystery of the Divine Motherhood is offered to us; we can participate in it. God invites us to participate.
This is the mystery we celebrate today. So when we hurry with the shepherds to see this good news, when we go to see the manger and there find the Mother and the Child God, let us know that the whole mystery of Salvation is present there. Both the Mother and the Child. They are inseparable for our Salvation.
Let us therefore ask Mary, Mother of God, to give us her eyes and her heart so that we may know and love Jesus God, with her eyes and with her heart.
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus asked Mary, at Communion, to come receive Jesus into her heart, so that He would believe He rests in Mary! Beyond a rather gentle way of a pious Carmelite, there is something very profound here to meditate upon. May we also be able to say: “Jesus, I love You with the Heart of Mary,” and thus, many things can change and become divine.
JK, Bordeaux, 1st January 2002