The title of today’s solemnity reminds us who is Mary. She is called not the mother of Jesus but the mother of God. Elizabeth already implied this truth when she exclaimed at Mary’s visitation, “Why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” From the moment of conception, Mary carried in her womb the Son of God. Jesus was not chosen or anointed as the Son of God after birth. God the Son took flesh in Mary’s womb. This truth of faith may sound so familiar and obvious to us. But it was not so for the earliest Christians, who saw Jesus and his families. They accepted Jesus was very specially gifted with power but had a hard time acknowledging the divinity of Jesus because they saw how helplessly he died on the cross. The title, the Mother of God, is not just about Mary but more about the nature of Jesus. It is a question about the Incarnation. Is Jesus truly God and man as well? Only when we have the answer to the question about the Incarnation of Christ Jesus, we can meaningfully have the title for Mary. And the gospels show that the Son of God took flesh and became man at the moment of his conception as announced by Gabriel the archangel.
It is a wonder that God took flesh and became man. We may accept this because God is all-powerful and does marvellous things. But it might be more remarkable that a human being bore the true Son of God in her womb. The incarnation was a lowering down of God to the level of his creation. On the other hand, it was a lifting up of human beings to the divine. Mary demonstrated that human beings can be elevated to the divine community of God by the union, as she was united with Jesus by giving her flesh to him. She showed that human beings could be united with God not only mentally or spiritually but also bodily and physically. In a sense, by the conception of Christ Jesus, Mary received the first Holy Communion among all men. She is a God-bearer. Like Mary, we may become God-bearers as we receive the body and blood of Christ Jesus at Holy Communion. Thus, today celebrates not only the honour of Mary to become God’s mother at the Incarnation but also the joy of all Christians to become God-bearers at the Holy Communion. Let us be thankful to our Lord and joyful that we now carry our Lord in our flesh!
