– Rev José Mario O Mandía
God’s rescue plan involved not only Jesus Christ. There was another important character that God foretold when He announced His plan. In Genesis 3:15, we read about the Woman, Mother of the Redeemer, who was not going to be under the devil’s influence: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
MOTHER OF GOD
Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. She is the Mother of Jesus, who is both man and God. That’s why we believe that “Mary is truly the Mother of God because she is the Mother of Jesus (John 2:1, John 19:25). The One who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and became truly her Son is actually the eternal Son of God the Father. He is God himself” (CCCC 95).
This fact was acknowledged by Saint Elizabeth: “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43).
IMMACULATELY CONCEIVED
Genesis 3:15 also explains that the Mother of the Redeemer is the enemy of the serpent. This is why the archangel Gabriel calls her “full of grace” (kecharitomene): she is free from the devil’s influence, she is sinless.
Thus, the CCCC (no 96) tells us: “God freely chose Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of his Son. In order to carry out her mission she herself was conceived immaculate. This means that, thanks to the grace of God and in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception.”
EVER VIRGIN
Furthermore, we are told that this woman is a virgin. Isaiah 7:14 says: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
And Matthew 1:22-23 confirms that what Isaiah had foretold actually happened: “All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel’ (which means, God with us).”
What do we mean when we say that she is “ever virgin”? “Mary is ever virgin in the sense that she ‘remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin’ (Saint Augustine). Therefore, when the Gospels speak of the ‘brothers and sisters of Jesus,’ they are talking about the close relations of Jesus, according to the way of speaking used in Sacred Scripture” (CCCC 99).
ASSUMED INTO HEAVEN
We do not know if Mary died or not. Some believe that she just fell asleep before being taken up to heaven. But many, including Pope John Paul II, say that she probably died, just as Christ, her Son, died.
What the Church does confirm is that she was taken body and soul into heaven after her earthly life. The CCC (no 966) declares: “‘Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death’ (Lumen Gentium 59). The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.”
MOTHER OF ALL
As Jesus hung on the cross, He entrusted all men, represented by Saint John, to His Mother. John records the scene in chapter 19 (vv 26-27)
“When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” It is her “second annunciation” (John Paul II, 13 April 2003).
She thus becomes the mother of all. “Mary had only one Son, Jesus, but in him her spiritual motherhood extends to all whom he came to save. Obediently standing at the side of the new Adam, Jesus Christ, the Virgin is the new Eve, the true mother of all the living, who with a mother’s love cooperates in their birth and their formation in the order of grace. Virgin and Mother, Mary is the figure of the Church, its most perfect realization” (CCCC 100).
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