Understanding the Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Understanding the Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

By John A. Hardon, S.J. - The website- cinops be gone – Monday, Dec. 22, 2008

There is no subject in Catholic devotion more extensive than the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is only to be expected, since the Mother of God is so basic to a correct understanding of her Divine Son.

With the break in Catholic unity which took place in the 16th century, the Western world was deeply affected by those who considered themselves Christians, but had reservations about the Mother of Christ. Faith in her Divine Son is logically dependent on faith in His mother as the Mother of God.

This has deeply affected the Western world, which has been so deeply infected by what I may call “non-Catholic Christianity.” After all, it is one thing to believe in Jesus Christ. It is something else to believe that He is the Living God who became man as a child conceived by a human mother. Already in the earliest centuries of Christianity, faith in the real Jesus Christ meant faith also in His Mother as the mother of a human child, but also, the Mother of God.

This truth is essential to Catholic piety. We are only as truly devoted to Jesus Christ as we believe that He had a human mother, who is also the Mother of God.

In some ways, this is one of the most important truths of our Catholic faith. We believe that the Son of Mary is the Son of the Eternal God. Christ is a divine person. But Jesus has two natures. He is the Eternal Son of God, who has also been the Son of the Eternal Father. But He also became the Son of Mary when she conceived Him at Nazareth as the God-man. The moment Mary said, “Be it done to me according to thy word,” the Eternal God took a human nature who was conceived in time and who will continue to exist as the God-man for all eternity.

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of seeing Mary as the true mother of Jesus Christ, who exists from all eternity, but also became man at the moment of His Incarnation in the womb of Mary. This is the heart of our Catholic faith. We believe that the same Jesus Christ who always existed as God, began to exist as man the moment His mother accepted the invitation to become the Mother of the Most High….How this needs to be stressed today! Jesus Christ is truly man.

He shares our human nature, our human soul and body, our human life and mortality. But He is the everlasting God who never came into existence and who always was and will be forever more. Out of love for us, He became man so that we might become more and more like Him.

It was the Blessed Virgin Mary who was chosen by God to change the meaning of creation. She became the Mother of the Eternal God, the model for all of us to imitate in her deep faith, by believing that our destiny is also to join her in heaven.

George H. Kubeck