Inang Maria (Mother Mary)

Mary Mother of God
January 01, 2007

We, Christians have always honoured Mary as the Mother of God. The Church defines her divine motherhood, as a truth clearly contained in Scripture[1] and in the tradition of the Church. The Council of Ephesus (430) affirms the validity of the divine truth that “Mary is the Mother of God.” Mary is predestined to be the Theotokos. It is a Greek term which expresses the title of Mary as the Mother of God or a God bearer.

The testimonies of the Gospel writers bear witness for us to Mary, as the one chosen by God to be the mother of his Son. We highly regard Mary’s divine motherhood because of her obedience and free cooperation with God’s plan of salvation.[2]

Luke’s Gospel tells us, that among all the women, Mary is the blessed one who was hailed by an Angel of God as “full of grace” (highly graced or favoured one)[3] from whom the awaited Messiah is to be born. And, because of her “yes” to God’s invitation, despite the great demand it would cause her, she finds herself a unique place in the history of humankind. For her “yes” expresses her greatest act of full participation in the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan of salvation: when he will send his Son, “born of a woman.”[4]

Mary as Mother of God will always be for us Christians an exemplar of a perfect human act of free response to do God’s will. However, our recognition of Mary’s divine motherhood, like all of her other titles, must always lead us to her Son, Jesus Christ.

When the Church formally decrees Mary’s Divine Maternity,[5] she not only uplifts Mary’s dignity as the Mother of God, but also preserves the fundamental truth that Jesus is both human and divine. So, Mary did not only give birth to a man Jesus, but she gave birth to the Second Person of the Trinity, hailed as the Christ, known as Jesus of Nazareth.

Intimately connected with Mary’s divine motherhood is the truth that she also becomes the mother of humanity as well. Mary is the New Eve restoring the broken dignity of the human race caused by Eve’s disobedience.[6] So whenever we reflect and call upon Mary as Mother of Jesus, and our mother as well, we recognize the gift of salvation we received from the mystery of the coming of the Son of God into the world.


[1] Cf. Lk 2:6, 7; Mt 2:1-10.
[2] Cf. LG 57.
[3] Lk 1:28 .
[4] Gal 4:4.
[5] The Council of Ephesus (430) affirms the validity of the divine truth that “Mary is the Mother of God.” Mary is predestined to be the Theotokos. It is a Greek term which expresses the title of Mary as the Mother of God or a God bearer.
[6] Cf. LG 56.