Day 72: Mary's Motherhood

The eyes of faith can discover in the context of the whole of Revelation the mysterious reasons why God in his saving plan wanted his Son to be born of a virgin. These reasons touch both on the person of Christ and his redemptive mission, and on the welcome Mary gave that mission on behalf of all men. Mary's virginity manifests God's absolute initiative in the Incarnation. CCC 502-503

In today's reading, the Catechism focuses on the virginity and motherhood of Blessed Mary. Christ "is naturally Son of the Father as to his divinity and naturally son of his mother as to his humanity, but properly Son of the Father in both natures" (CCC 503). In her virginity, no human man could boast of helping to conceive Jesus, for He assumed flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit. She was highly privileged by God to be "full of grace" (Lk 1:28) and give birth to His true Son. As the Catechism Companion, Vol I notes:

Whatever we believe about Mary are things we believe about Jesus. What we teach about Mary, illumines what we believe and teach about Jesus. Jesus is the new Adam, and "from 'his fullness' as the head of redeemed humanity 'we have all received, grace upon grace'" (CCC 504). (p. 148)

The Virgin Mary "is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church," the very model of motherhood for all of us, and by her virginity "keeps in its entirety and purity the faith she pledged to her spouse" (CCC 507).

Madonna and Child painting by Pompeo Batoni, c. 1742, Galleria Borghese, Rome

Here we see Mary with the Christ child. Because Jesus is the God, Mary is the Mother of God (see CCC 509). As Jesus is the new Adam, so Mary is the new Eve, joining herself in an unparalleled way to the saving mission of her Son. (p. 149)