Sect. 213Mary the Mother of GodMary the Mother of God
I. In Holy Scripture, and still more in the language of the Church, the title “Mother of Jesus” is given to Mary as the distinctive character of her dignity, as the fountain-head of all her other privileges. Who is Mary? “She is, by Divine election, the Mother of the Saviour.” This description defines her personality, accounts for all her exceptional gifts and graces, and marks her unique position in the economy of salvation (supra, § 185). Stress must be laid on the Divine election by which Mary was made the Mother of Jesus; for, as maternity presupposes matrimony, the act by which the Logos from all eternity decreed that Mary should be His partner in the work of the Incarnation, may be considered as analogous to human marriage: a virgin is chosen to be the Divine Bride, and to become, by Divine operation, the Mother of Him who chose her. The eternal decree is Mary’s eternal title to the dignity of Mother of God. In the fulness of time the Bride is conceived immaculate, and filled with grace in consequence of her eternal predestination; in the Conception of Christ the union is consummated, and Mary is actually invested with a dignity only excelled by that of its prototype, the Hypostatic Union of Christ with the Logos.
II. The grace of Divine Motherhood originates, like all supernatural graces, in election and predestination by God. But, unlike ordinary predestination to glory, it is unconditional and irrevocable. As integral part of the plan of Redemption, the Virgin’s election to Divine Motherhood is antecedent to any act of hers. Her union with God for the purpose of man’s salvation is as indissoluble as God’s purpose itself, and much more so than human marriage. In the Creator’s idea, Mary is “the Mother of the Saviour” as much as Eve, her type, is the “mother of mankind.” Her maternity unites her personally to God after the manner of the Hypostatic Union of Christ with the Logos; not, indeed, so as to constitute one person with God, but so as to elevate her personality to the highest sphere of created perfection and dignity, above and beyond all mere creatures. The gratia unionis in Christ is a substantial grace, viz. the Logos Himself anointing His human nature with Divinity. Similarly, the grace of Divine maternity is substantial, viz. the Divine Being of the Son infused in the Mother. Again, in Mary, as in Christ, the Substantial grace dwells “corporally,” and in both the union is organic. The grace of maternity existed from all eternity in God’s idea of Mary as an element of her being and a condition of her coming into existence, exactly as the gratia unionis in Christ. Lastly, both unions are analogous in their sanctifying effects: both Christ and Mary, although each in a peculiar form, are “consecrated” by the indwelling Divinity. It deifies Christ, it fills Mary with grace, and makes her the κεχαριτωμένη, full of grace, and ἡ Θεόπαις, the Child of God, in an eminent sense. It also perfects in Mary the antitype of Eve, making her the Bride of the new Adam, and to Him a “helper like himself.” For as Eve came from the substance of Adam, and was endowed with a soul like his and a personality of her own, so Mary receives her supernatural life from the substance of her Divine Son, inasmuch as the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the Logos, and is one with Him, dwells in Mary as in His sanctuary, and so gives her a personality analogous to that of Christ. Again, this indwelling of the Holy Ghost constitutes Mary “the type of the Church,” which is “the spouse of Christ,” inasmuch as its members are sanctified, raised to the rank of adopted sons, by the outpouring on them of the Holy Spirit.
III. As the grace of union secures to the humanity of Christ the highest excellence attainable by a created nature, so the grace of Divine Motherhood secures to Mary the highest excellence possible to a created person. It associates her in the closest manner with the Divine persons; without giving her divinity, it draws her to the Divinity as near as the finite can be drawn to the infinite.
1. She is the Daughter of God the Father: first, in common with every rational being; secondly, in common with, but immensely above, all the adoptive children of God through sanctifying grace; thirdly, in common with the humanity of Christ only, as being jointly conceived and jointly willed in the eternal mind, and organically associated in the temporal manifestation, ad extra, of the Logos. Hence so many titles properly belonging to Christ are bestowed by the Church, in a duly modified sense, upon Mary: she is our Lady (Domina), our Life, our Sweetness and Hope, our Queen, etc.
2. She is, next to Christ, the noblest and most exalted of human beings; through her, mankind is mystically connected with Christ and with God. The Mother of Christ is also, through Him, the Mother of His mystical body, the Church. When she conceived and brought forth Christ, she also conceived and brought forth the Light and Life of the world, wherefore her maternity of the adoptive children of God is not purely mystical, but has an organic foundation in fact.
3. Lastly, having been made a participator in Christ’s eternal generation, and in His Fatherhood (Headship) of mankind, Mary in a manner and degree participates in His office of Mediator between God and man. She is the Mediatrix who leads us on to the true Mediator, Christ; for through her Christ received the existence and the flesh in which He carries out His mediation, and is the Head of mankind. Mary’s mediation, however, essentially differs from that of her Son: He, being God, gives of His own; she, being but a creature, distributes what she receives.
IV. The peculiar exaltedness of the Mother of Jesus above all that is great and holy in creation (except her Son), entitles her to a peculiar worship, differing in degree and in kind from that due to the Saints. The technical name “hyperdulia” given to this worship implies that it is above the dulia (service) offered to ordinary saints.
When we thus honour Mary, we honour in her the gifts of God and Christ. The worship of the Mother implies and completes the worship of the Father and the Son.
I. In Holy Scripture, and still more in the language of the Church, the title “Mother of Jesus” is given to Mary as the distinctive character of her dignity, as the fountain-head of all her other privileges. Who is Mary? “She is, by Divine election, the Mother of the Saviour.” This description defines her personality, accounts for all her exceptional gifts and graces, and marks her unique position in the economy of salvation (supra, § 185). Stress must be laid on the Divine election by which Mary was made the Mother of Jesus; for, as maternity presupposes matrimony, the act by which the Logos from all eternity decreed that Mary should be His partner in the work of the Incarnation, may be considered as analogous to human marriage: a virgin is chosen to be the Divine Bride, and to become, by Divine operation, the Mother of Him who chose her. The eternal decree is Mary’s eternal title to the dignity of Mother of God. In the fulness of time the Bride is conceived immaculate, and filled with grace in consequence of her eternal predestination; in the Conception of Christ the union is consummated, and Mary is actually invested with a dignity only excelled by that of its prototype, the Hypostatic Union of Christ with the Logos.
II. The grace of Divine Motherhood originates, like all supernatural graces, in election and predestination by God. But, unlike ordinary predestination to glory, it is unconditional and irrevocable. As integral part of the plan of Redemption, the Virgin’s election to Divine Motherhood is antecedent to any act of hers. Her union with God for the purpose of man’s salvation is as indissoluble as God’s purpose itself, and much more so than human marriage. In the Creator’s idea, Mary is “the Mother of the Saviour” as much as Eve, her type, is the “mother of mankind.” Her maternity unites her personally to God after the manner of the Hypostatic Union of Christ with the Logos; not, indeed, so as to constitute one person with God, but so as to elevate her personality to the highest sphere of created perfection and dignity, above and beyond all mere creatures. The gratia unionis in Christ is a substantial grace, viz. the Logos Himself anointing His human nature with Divinity. Similarly, the grace of Divine maternity is substantial, viz. the Divine Being of the Son infused in the Mother. Again, in Mary, as in Christ, the Substantial grace dwells “corporally,” and in both the union is organic. The grace of maternity existed from all eternity in God’s idea of Mary as an element of her being and a condition of her coming into existence, exactly as the gratia unionis in Christ. Lastly, both unions are analogous in their sanctifying effects: both Christ and Mary, although each in a peculiar form, are “consecrated” by the indwelling Divinity. It deifies Christ, it fills Mary with grace, and makes her the κεχαριτωμένη, full of grace, and ἡ Θεόπαις, the Child of God, in an eminent sense. It also perfects in Mary the antitype of Eve, making her the Bride of the new Adam, and to Him a “helper like himself.” For as Eve came from the substance of Adam, and was endowed with a soul like his and a personality of her own, so Mary receives her supernatural life from the substance of her Divine Son, inasmuch as the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the Logos, and is one with Him, dwells in Mary as in His sanctuary, and so gives her a personality analogous to that of Christ. Again, this indwelling of the Holy Ghost constitutes Mary “the type of the Church,” which is “the spouse of Christ,” inasmuch as its members are sanctified, raised to the rank of adopted sons, by the outpouring on them of the Holy Spirit.
III. As the grace of union secures to the humanity of Christ the highest excellence attainable by a created nature, so the grace of Divine Motherhood secures to Mary the highest excellence possible to a created person. It associates her in the closest manner with the Divine persons; without giving her divinity, it draws her to the Divinity as near as the finite can be drawn to the infinite.
1. She is the Daughter of God the Father: first, in common with every rational being; secondly, in common with, but immensely above, all the adoptive children of God through sanctifying grace; thirdly, in common with the humanity of Christ only, as being jointly conceived and jointly willed in the eternal mind, and organically associated in the temporal manifestation, ad extra, of the Logos. Hence so many titles properly belonging to Christ are bestowed by the Church, in a duly modified sense, upon Mary: she is our Lady (Domina), our Life, our Sweetness and Hope, our Queen, etc.
2. She is, next to Christ, the noblest and most exalted of human beings; through her, mankind is mystically connected with Christ and with God. The Mother of Christ is also, through Him, the Mother of His mystical body, the Church. When she conceived and brought forth Christ, she also conceived and brought forth the Light and Life of the world, wherefore her maternity of the adoptive children of God is not purely mystical, but has an organic foundation in fact.
3. Lastly, having been made a participator in Christ’s eternal generation, and in His Fatherhood (Headship) of mankind, Mary in a manner and degree participates in His office of Mediator between God and man. She is the Mediatrix who leads us on to the true Mediator, Christ; for through her Christ received the existence and the flesh in which He carries out His mediation, and is the Head of mankind. Mary’s mediation, however, essentially differs from that of her Son: He, being God, gives of His own; she, being but a creature, distributes what she receives.
IV. The peculiar exaltedness of the Mother of Jesus above all that is great and holy in creation (except her Son), entitles her to a peculiar worship, differing in degree and in kind from that due to the Saints. The technical name “hyperdulia” given to this worship implies that it is above the dulia (service) offered to ordinary saints.
When we thus honour Mary, we honour in her the gifts of God and Christ. The worship of the Mother implies and completes the worship of the Father and the Son.
Seção 72% da obra, de A Manual of Catholic Theology (Wilhelm & Scannell, sobre a Dogmatik de Scheeben). Ver o original.