Visitation, from Altarpiece of the Virgin (St Vaast Altarpiece) by Jacques Daret c. 1434 - 1435. Staatliche Museen, Berlin.Thy birth, O Virgin Mother of God,
heralded joy to all the world.
For from thou hast risen the Sun of justice,
Christ our God.
[From the Divine Office - Matins]
September 8 is a special day for the Church because it is the day that we celebrate the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary has been traditional among apostolic Churches. In the Greek Church and in the Eastern Orthodoxy as well as Anglican and other churches, she is venerated as the Theotokus [God-bearer]. The Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus never hesitated to call Mary the Mother of God, if only to emphasize that the child borned by her was God. This formula was arrived at in order to correct and reproved the heresy of Nestorius. In the same manner in the Roman Rite Church, Mary has occupied a very important role as evidenced by the deep devotion of the its adherents.
There is a scanty information about her personal life. Even the Bible does not supply any concrete information, except that the genealogy presented by St. Luke in the gospel tells us that she was from the lineage of King David. And this fulfills the phrophecy that the Messiah shall be born from the House of David. David being the lineage of kings. Thus Jesus Christ is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. Mary was described as the cousin of Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah who belonged to the Priestly Tribe of Levi of the lineage of the house of Abijah. But despite of this the scantiness of information does not mean that she was not important. In fact this scantyness of personal information is a sign of her greatness. That is why today we do not hesitate t call her the Great Mother of God. Like John the Baptist who said, "He must increase and I must decrease....", so Mary was likewise quietly showed us the real meaning of humility. For Adam and Eve doomed humankind to perdition because of pride and disobedience, Mary as the New Eve and Christ our Lord as the New Adam restored life and brought redemption to humankind by their obedience and humility. Thus we call Jesus as our Only Mediator - the mediator between God and Man. That in his person he bridged the great divide between Humankind and God Almighty. That is why Jesus told his disciples, "Today I call you friends...there is no greater love than this, than for a man to lay down his life for his frineds." That was what Jesus did. He restored friendship between God and Man. The feeling of hostility was restored. And there we call Mary the co-redemptrix. Not because she is a redeemer. Far from it, because there is only one redeemer-Christ Jesus Our Lord. But Mary is co-redemptrix because she cooperated perfectly in the plan of God. She surrendered her freewill to God and made possible the bringing forth of the Son of God to the world. Indeed, today we honor Mary as the greatest and exalted creature. She stands above the choirs of Angles and Saints and when we call upon her intercession she will never deny our request, if that is in complete harmony with the will of God. She continually pray for us and intercede with us to his Son. Thus we pray, "show us the fruit of thy womb, Jesus". Amen.
There is a scanty information about her personal life. Even the Bible does not supply any concrete information, except that the genealogy presented by St. Luke in the gospel tells us that she was from the lineage of King David. And this fulfills the phrophecy that the Messiah shall be born from the House of David. David being the lineage of kings. Thus Jesus Christ is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. Mary was described as the cousin of Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah who belonged to the Priestly Tribe of Levi of the lineage of the house of Abijah. But despite of this the scantiness of information does not mean that she was not important. In fact this scantyness of personal information is a sign of her greatness. That is why today we do not hesitate t call her the Great Mother of God. Like John the Baptist who said, "He must increase and I must decrease....", so Mary was likewise quietly showed us the real meaning of humility. For Adam and Eve doomed humankind to perdition because of pride and disobedience, Mary as the New Eve and Christ our Lord as the New Adam restored life and brought redemption to humankind by their obedience and humility. Thus we call Jesus as our Only Mediator - the mediator between God and Man. That in his person he bridged the great divide between Humankind and God Almighty. That is why Jesus told his disciples, "Today I call you friends...there is no greater love than this, than for a man to lay down his life for his frineds." That was what Jesus did. He restored friendship between God and Man. The feeling of hostility was restored. And there we call Mary the co-redemptrix. Not because she is a redeemer. Far from it, because there is only one redeemer-Christ Jesus Our Lord. But Mary is co-redemptrix because she cooperated perfectly in the plan of God. She surrendered her freewill to God and made possible the bringing forth of the Son of God to the world. Indeed, today we honor Mary as the greatest and exalted creature. She stands above the choirs of Angles and Saints and when we call upon her intercession she will never deny our request, if that is in complete harmony with the will of God. She continually pray for us and intercede with us to his Son. Thus we pray, "show us the fruit of thy womb, Jesus". Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment