Not An Honorary Title To Call Her “Mother Of God”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Saturday, January 1, 2022

Today, as people celebrate the beginning of a new calendar year, we, together with the members of the Church across the globe celebrate the great solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. When we say that Mary is the Mother of God, what do we mean? We mean that her child, conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, carried in her body for nine months, and then born into this world is God indeed. So, in this celebration, we highlight the Church’s pivotal truth— that in Jesus Christ, God accepted a human nature. God chose to be born into this world just as each of us has been born into this world. By so doing, God accepted the full implication of what it means to be human, including the experiences of suffering and death. 

But why did God choose to do this? What’s the reason behind this unbelievable and unimaginable kenosis of God? The reason why God did this is what the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation is all about. The Bible is not just a collection of ancient literature, rather the story of why God accepts a human nature in Jesus Christ. It begins with God’s choice of Israel several centuries before he reveals himself in Christ. Among all the nations of the world, some of them more powerful than Israel, God chooses Israel, but not for themselves, but for the sake of the world. Then God invites Israel to prepare themselves as the vehicle by which God will reveal himself to the world in an extraordinary way. But why Israel? Why not Athens? Why not Rome? Why not Ethiopia? God’s choice of Israel is mysterious, just as God accepting a human nature is absolutely mysterious.

Now, addressing Mary as the Mother of God is not a pious statement or a sentimental title to honor her as the mother of Jesus. To say that the Blessed Mother is the Mother of God is a true statement about her and about her son, Jesus Christ. It shines a spotlight on her singular and unique identity and mission. No other person is or will ever be the Mother of God. And no other human being knows Jesus as God in the manner that the Blessed Mother Mary did. God chooses Mary in such a way that he does not choose us. The life of the most exceptional saint will never be like that of Mary. God made her life something that our lives will never be. Yes, she is totally human, like us. She is like us, however there is something radically different about her identity and mission that while we love her, we can never completely understand her. She is a mystery too. 

Mary’s title as the Mother of God is primarily about her Son, Jesus Christ, and only secondarily on her. By referring to Mary as the Mother of God we express that Jesus Christ is God. Calling Jesus of Nazareth God is not an honorary title; it is not a chieftaincy title; it is not an effort by Christians to make him someone very important. That Jesus is God is really and truly a fact. That God became a man, a human being and pitched his tent among us is not a fairytale or myth. It really happened. 

What’s the point being made here? Since we are accustomed to think that every homily must deliver a lesson, what lesson should be learned here? The most obvious here is that God will always exceed all human expectations and will do so in ways beyond our understanding and in ways that are absolutely extravagant. What God had done and will do will always generate mindless debate for the proud and arrogant and ponder for the godly. Centuries ago, prophet Isaiah tells us that God’s ways are not our way and his thoughts not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8). The action of God in human history will never fit properly into our categories of understanding. God is God! God is transcendent. We are not. So, it is pure arrogance and folly to think that the almighty and transcendent God will bow to our thinking and calculations. Whatever God does in time will always be mysterious, but it is through those actions that God gives us a window to see and understand what he is asking of us. The Incarnation of Yahweh in Jesus of Nazareth is the singular and most privileged way by which God reveals himself to the world. In Jesus of Nazareth we see who God is and what God is about. In Christ Jesus, God accepts a human nature and pitches his tent among us. In Jesus, divinity crashes into our space, into our life, not to overwhelm it, not to denigrate it, not to hinder it, not to shatter it, not to conquer it, not to embarrass it, not to humiliate it, not to enslave it, not to frighten it, but to elevate it. Redeem it. Liberate it. God comes not to suck all the oxygen away from us, but to give oxygen and become the very source of oxygen. God comes not to kill, not to maim, or destroy, but to give life more abundantly with his own life. This is the mystery that we celebrate today. 

May the Blessed Mother Mary who ponders all these things in her heart carry us and our loved ones in her heart throughout this year. Just like the year gone by, this year is also pregnant. But I pray that through the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, this year, 2022 will give birth to us good health, to peace, to joy like never before, and every good thing we have prayed for and we have hoped for. May this year be a breakout year for each of us. May Jesus be born anew in every aspect of our lives. Amen.