82. Mary is the Mother of God.

Mary is the Mother of God.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 82

Ave Maria series

82  Isn’t it improper to call Mary the “Mother of God”?

No.  Anyone who calls Mary the Mother of God thereby professes that her Son is God.  [495-509]

The Nativity at Night by Geertgen tot Sint Jans painted about 1490. ….. 82

As early Christianity was debating who Jesus was, the title Theotokos (“God-bearer”) became the hallmark for the orthodox interpretation of Sacred Scripture:  Mary did not give birth merely to a man who then after his birth “became” God; rather, even in her womb her child is the true Son of God.  This debate is not about Mary in the first place; rather, it is again the question of whether Jesus is true man and true God at the same time.  117

[495, 509]

Mary's divine motherhood

495 Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus", Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the mother of my Lord". (Luke 1:43; John 2:1; Jn 19:25; compare Matthew 13:55; et al)¹⁴⁴ In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos). (Council of Ephesus (431): Denzinger-Schonmetzer 251.)¹⁴⁵ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

IN BRIEF

509 Mary is truly "Mother of God" since she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, who is God himself. --CCC

81. Mary - "ever-virgin"

Mary - "ever-virgin"

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 81

Ave Maria series

81  Did Mary have other children besides Jesus?

No.  Jesus is the only son of Mary in the physical sense.  [500, 510]

Crowned statue of Our Lady Mother of God in the cathedral in Porto Alegre, Brazil. .... 81

Even in the early Church, Mary’s perpetual; virginity was assumed, which rules out the possibility of Jesus having brothers and sisters from the same mother.  In Aramaic, Jesus’ mother tongue, there is only one word for siblings and cousins.  When the Gospels speak about the ‘brothers and sisters’ of Jesus (for instance, in Mark 3:31-35), they are referring to Jesus’ close relatives.

[500, 510]

Mary - "ever-virgin"

500 Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. (Compare Mark 3:31-35; Mk 6:3; 1 Corinthians 9:5; Galatians 1:19.)¹⁵⁷ The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, "brothers of Jesus", are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls "the other Mary". (Matthew 13:55; Mt 28:1; compare Mt 27:56.)¹⁵⁸ They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression. (Compare Genesis 13:8; Gen 14:16; Gen 29:15; etc.)¹⁵⁹

IN BRIEF

510 Mary "remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin" (St. Augustine, Serm. 186, 1: Patrologia Latina 38, 999): with her whole being she is "the handmaid of the Lord" (Luke 1:38).