The highest dignity ever bestowed on any human, was given to a young virgin of Nazareth named Mary. Upon her, God bestowed the singular privilege of being the Mother of God, when she conceived in her womb and gave birth to the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ, and who himself is God. It is fitting then, that Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, declares her, “Most Blessed among women.”
Even demons tremble greatly at the sight of this glorious Queen of Heaven. And we waste no time, in bestowing upon her those titles that reveal her singular privilege; Mater Dei, Mater Misercordiae, Mater divinae gratiae, Salve ad Caeli Reginam. We call her, the Mother of God, Mother of Mercy, Mother of Divine Grace, Hail, to the Queen of Heaven.
Countless sons and daughters of the Legion of Mary never cease to sing her praises in this delightful phrase of the Catena; “Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fairer as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?” She is certainly the glorious woman reported in the book of Revelation, who “appeared in heaven, clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” The Second Vatican Council Fathers summarized this dogma of Mary Mother of God so beautifully when they said, “it is in view of her mission, as the Mother of God, that Mary is immaculately conceived; and, it is due to her motherhood, that she remains ever-virgin, and, it is a result of her motherhood and consequent relationship to the Christ, that Mary is assumed, body and soul, into heaven.”
At the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, in 431 AD, was the clash of the titans, when the great Cyril of Alexandria faced off with the conceited Nestorius of Constantinople who had denied Our Lady, the title Mother of God. In the end, the Council declared and proclaimed Our Lady the Mother of God, and Nestorius was excommunicated. If Mary is denied the title, Mother of God, it means that Christ’s divinity is questioned. Christ has two natures, the divine and the human. And since Christ is consubstantial with us, as regards his humanity, and by that solemn declaration of Christ on the Cross, “Behold your son,” we are, as a result, Spiritual Children of Mary as well, brothers and sisters of Christ. And so fittingly has our Lady exercised her supreme motherhood, taking good care of all her Children across the globe, generation after generation.
For example, in the sixteenth and seventh centuries, when the Moslem invasion of Europe threatened Christendom, when the Turkish navy laid siege to the city of Vienna, Pope Pius V ordered a Christendom – wide Rosary prayer campaign for victory. The Polish navy, under King Jan Sobieski, carrying the Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, came to the rescue and won victory for Christendom. King Sobieski had entrusted his whole kingdom to the protection of Our Lady of Czestochowa. After the victory, Pope Innocent XI extended the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary to the universal church. In 1917, when Communism and the First World War threatened Christendom, Our Lady descended on the small village of Fatima in Portugal and ordered the recitation of the Rosary for protection. Today millions of people find refuge in our Lady’s mantle through the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary.
Mary, we greet you, Mother and Queen, all Merciful: Our life, our sweetness, and our hope, we hail you. When this earthly life shall be ended, show us the most blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Given on the 1st of January 2023 by Fr. Wasswa
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