V. THE GREAT SIGN: SALVIFIC: MEANING OF THE MARIAN TITLES
1. Salvific mission and function
2. Theotokos or Mother of God, associated to the Redeemer
3. Mother of the Church: maternity, intercession, mediation
4. Always Virgin
5. Full of grace and Immaculate
6. Assumed into heaven and Queen
Bibliography
V. THE GREAT SIGN: SALVIFIC MEANING OF THE MARIAN TITLES
All treatises on Mariology and devotional books on Mary contain mention of titles or prerogatives of Mary. Some of these are celebrated in the liturgy, and all are presented to us with their biblical, patristic and magisterial basis; theological research and popular devotion have fully explained why Mary has received these titles. Through study of each of these prerogatives we shall look for Mary's function in the mystery of Christ, our Saviour, prolonged in the Church. For these titles are not mere decorations but elements which allow us to glimpse the salvific function or mission of Mary within the Mystery of Christ our Saviour prolonged in the Church. This is how God has loved us.
1. Salvific mission and function
Mary and the Church have a joint mission in the history of salvation. Titles and charisms are all in view of this salvation brought about by Christ. Neither Mary nor the Church are static museums of privileges but rather manifestation and signbearers of the mystery of Christ. The starting point is always Christ, Son of God become our brother, dead and resurrected, acting and living among us. In Mary and the Church, too, this reality is expressed and communicated, and any Marian title has this aspect in the history of salvation.
Christ, the Saviour has chosen to make mankind the instrument of his grace. How far can man be a protagonist in the history of salvation? God the redeemer is that same God as the Creator, who wills to save man through man. Christ's humanity is hypostatically united to the Word and hence, it is an instrument of salvation. He has willed to associate Mary and the Church in this instrumentality or "sacramentality". We have in Mary the very highest point a human being can reach in the work of cooperation in salvation. It follows that Mary is a type of the Church.
The main Marian titles, derived from the Word of God and expressed all through church history are the following: Mother of God, associated with Christ the redeemer, our Mother (advocate, mediatrix), ever Virgin, all holy, immaculate, assumed into heaven, Queen... and each of these titles represents some aspect of the salvific mystery of Christ: a) Mary's function in the history of salvation; b) intimate union of personal holiness with the mystery of Christ the Saviour; c) Mary's relationship with the Church; d) the presence of the Mystery of Christ in our circumstances, etc.
The victory of the risen Christ is apparent in each Marian title. At the same time, these prerogatives show us Mary's presence and union with the church. Her "yes" to the Word of God is expressed through each one of these titles, pointing out the road the Church has to tread in order to become like Mary. In other words, what God planned to realize in the history of salvation, he has done already in Mary, model of the Church and "great sign" along her pilgrim way.
This salvific aspect opens up fresh paths to meditation on the marian titles since in Mary we have an eminent model of what God wants to do with all mankind during the history of salvation. Now what is the meaning of each of Mary's titles with regard to our salvation? What aspect Christ's mystery is reflected in each of them? How far is Mary an integral part of our history of salvation?
All the Marian titles are an explanation, in the light of the word of God, of the affirmation of the Apostles' "Creed": "born of the Virgin Mary". Mary is the Virgin and Mother who reveals the divine, human and saving reality of Christ the Redeemer.
The Mariological doctrine developed harmoniously and homogeneously though with a human, and thus limited and perfectible, terminology. The Church's faith has always been the same though it has constantly been deepened with the new lights of the Holy Spirit.[5]
2. Theotokos or Mother of God, associated to the Redeemer
The Gospels and the Fathers both use the title of "virgin" to show the reality of the divine Maternity, in that she is virgin mother of "Emmanuel", Godwithus. Elizabeth's greeting too, includes the faith of the Church after the resurrection: "the mother of my Lord" (Lk. 1:43).[6]
The formula of the Nicene Creed, which is a summary of the Apostles' faith, expresses the same reality with these words: "incarnate of the Virgin Mary, through the Holy Spirit". These expressions, common among the people of God, manifest the faith of the Church in the divine maternity. Later on, the formula "Theotokos" or Mother of God, became frequent, already present in the first scriptural marian prayer known to history (Sub tuum praesidium, III cent.).[7]
Disputes around the person of Christ "perfect God and perfect Man", then passed into the marian concept, so that the expression "Theotokos" became the sign of acceptance for the divinity of Christ, the redeemer. There followed the definition at the council of Ephesus (431), taken up again by the council of Chalcedon (451) and by other later councils. The christian people found the title "Mother of God" the best expression to affirm the redemptive work of Jesus saviour and redeemer precisely because God and true man.[8]
Mary is mother of God because she engendered, bore and brought to the light, Jesus who is Son of God. Maternity indicates relationship to the individual person, who in this case is Jesus, Son of God and Head of the Mystical Body.
In twenty centuries, under the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church has studied the scriptural texts that are at the basis of the Marian title of "Theotokos":
- Lk 1:43: "the Mother of my Lord":
- Mt 1:18-25 ("Emmanuel"); 2:11 ("Mary his mother").
- Rom 1:1ff; 9:5; Gal 4:4 (Jesus' divine filiation, "born of woman").
The Apostles "Creed" is a summary of the scriptural doctrine: "Jesus... Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary".
The Word has two births. An eternal birth (eternally born of the Father), and a temporal birth as man ("incarnation"). Mary's action, through the power of the Spirit, is fully maternal since she generates and gives birth to the Word, the Son of God made man.
Mary's divine motherhood refers to the person of the Son of God. The two new aspects of the incarnation do not lessen Mary's real motherhood: she is the Virgin and Mother, who gives birth to the Son of God made man. It could be said that in some way Mary is God's instrument, through the power of the Spirit, so that the Hypostatic Union of the Word may occur. God wanted Mary's maternal action for the human birth of the Word, his Son.
The Incarnation occurs in the same moment as Mary's virginal conception. Jesus, as the Son of God made man, does not exist before this maternal action of Mary's, even though he is the pre-existing Word in the Father's bosom.[9]
The Fathers stress the transcendental importance of Mary's "fiat". This "assent" has two aspects: a) Mary's merit, holiness and virtue, always faithful to grace; b) her association with Christ the Redeemer. Mary's acceptance, namely, her "fiat", allows us to see the meaning of the conception which is, according to St. Augustine's expression, both in body and in spirit. It is a "yes" to the incarnation of the Word and therefore a "yes" of association to Christ the Redeemer. Mary's motherly action is not only physiological, but also a special union of love and association.
In this event there is a personal aspect of Mary, who is faithful and holy, and an aspect of adhesion or association with the saving design and the role given to her by God as the "new Eve", united to the "new Adam". The Fathers call Mary "the Bride of the Word" made man (even though she is the bride made fruitful by the Holy Spirit) because she is associated with Christ as the New Eve.
Mary's consent or "fiat" enables us to have some idea of a conception that, according to St. Augustine is as much in the spirit as in the body. It is a consent to the incarnation of the Word and so, a consent to the association with Christ, the redeemer. In this happening there is a personal aspect for Mary, the faithful and holy one, and an aspect of adhesion or association with the salvific design and function assigned to her by the God as "new Eve" united to the "new Adam". Hence, the Fathers name her: "Spouse of the Word made flesh".
Thus, "Mary, consenting to the Word of God, became the Mother of Jesus. Committing herself wholeheartedly and impeded by no sin to God's saving will, she devoted herself totally, as handmaid of the Lord, to the person and work of her Son, under and with him, serving the mystery of redemption, by the grace of Almighty God. Rightly, therefore, the Fathers see Mary not merely as passively engaged by God, but as freely cooperating in the work of man's salvation through faith and obedience. For, as Irenaeus says, she "being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race". Hence, not a few of the early Fathers... comparing Mary with Eve, call her "Mother of the Living", because "death through Eve, life through Mary" (LG 56).[10]
This association of Mary, as Mother, with Christ the redeemer, has given rise to the title "coredemptrix", occasionally used by the magisterium. This association is an instrument of salvation as a type of the ecclesial reality alluded to by St. Paul: "The Church is his body... his fullness" (Eph. 1:23); "I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church" (Col. 1 :24).
In Mary, "this basic fact of being the Mother of the Son of God is from the very beginning a complete openness to the person of Christ, to his whole work, to his whole mission" (RMa 39).
Mary becomes a Type and figure of the Church bride and mother. Virginity becomes the most perfect motherhood and a spousal association with Christ. Mary collaborates in the reality of Christ's marriage with all humanity and with every human person (new "Covenant"). Her election does not depend on the physiological fact of being a mother, but on the grace of God's election and her fidelity (cf. Mk 3:31ff).
Mary's association with Christ the Redeemer is expressed through a terminology that has been adopted in the liturgy, the Magisterium, theology and popular devotion, etc.: "Socia Christi", "New Eve", intercessor, mediatrix, coredemptress... Theological explanations are still limited in some concrete points: indirect or immediate, subjective or objective cooperation in the redemption?[11]
Mary is the mother of Christ in his capacity as the Son of God, the Redeemer, Head of the Church, Mediator, Priest, etc. Mary participates in this reality of Christ as being "associated" with Him and as a prototype of the Church (cf. LG 62-63). The Marian titles are related to this maternal reality of Mary's.
In the light of Mary's divine motherhood, all Jesus' reality can be seen: the Word made man, perfect God, perfect man, our Saviour who saves humankind, making it become an instrument of grace. Mary is the prototype of what the Redeemer wants to do in all his Church and in all humanity (though to a different degree and in a different way).
The Marian title "Theotokos" is the basis of all the dimensions of Mariology: trinitarian, Christological, pneumatological, ecclesiological, anthropological, etc. However some theological questions still remain open: relationship between the divine motherhood and sanctifying grace (is it a sanctifying motherhood of itself?), Mary's predestination as the Mother of God, the central principle of Mariology, etc.
3. Mother of the Church: maternity, intercession, mediation
Mary's maternal function is permanent, and unfolds in several stages: incarnation, epiphany of Jesus, cross. Easter Pentecost, application of the redemption, etc. This function according to St. Augustine, refers to the "whole Christ".
If Mary is the Mother of God because she conceived bore and brought to light Jesus, who is Son of God, she is also Mother of the members of the Body of Christ, being Mother of Jesus who is the Head of his Body. "She is clearly Mother of the members of Christ... since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church who are members of its head" (LG 53).[12]
From the beginning of the Church, the christian community expressed this reality by calling Mary "new Eve" or mother of those who live in Christ (Irenaeus). When St. John states that "the disciple took her to his own home" (Jn. 19:27], he described what the Church was living, and it contained an invitation to continue along these lines to live, like Mary, in the faith of Christ. Son of God. Shared divine sonship is born of this faith and Mary is its model (Jn. 1:12). As she intercedes, Mary draws the disciples into this faith that brings in its wake divine sonship in Christ (Jn. 2:511).[13]
Mary's maternal mission and mediation expresses her relationship with Christ's mediation, for it "shows its power" (LG 60). It is "the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men, which in the disposition of God... flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ" (ibid.). Mary's maternity in relation to the faithful "rests on Christ's mediation, depends entirely on it and from it draws all its power" (ibid.). Thus does Mary communicates life in Christ. The fact that Jesus was born of Mary is a salvific fact that makes Mary instrument whereby we share in the divine Sonship (Gal. 4:4).
If Mary is "our Mother in the order of Grace", it is because "predestined from all eternity as Mother of God, associated with the incarnation of the Word, in the designs of divine providence was on earth the gracious mother of the divine Redeemer". Hence Mary's maternity goes on unfolding in various stages of the history of salvation: "She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ, she presented him to the Father in the temple. shared her Son's sufferings as he died on the cross... Thus in a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour. restoring supernatural life to souls" (LG 61).
Through all salvation history, Mary's maternity continues to be a salvific reality, for "it continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the annunciation and which she sustained without wavering at the foot of the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect" (LG 62).
Mary's maternal function is exercised now through her "manifold intercession "and by" her maternal charity that cares for the brethren of her Son" (LG 62). Furthermore, she participates in the reality of Christ, the one Mediator, the only Son of God and the unique Priest. The whole Church and in a special way, Mary who is her prototype, shares in this fact of Christ; hence, the Church, bearer of grace, mother, sacerdotal people, community of sons of God, advocate... The Church herself experiences Mary's maternal, intercessory and mediating function; which the Church n recommends to the heartfelt attention of the faithful, so that encouraged by her maternal help, they may more closely adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer" (LG 62; cf. RMa 38-40).[14]
The title, "Mother of the Church", we referred to above, expresses this maternal reality of Mary's of which the Church "taught by the Holy Spirit" (LG 53) has always been conscious. Mary's "spiritual" maternity indicates a relationship that extends not simply to each person or believer, but to the Church as such; her maternal activity of conceiving, bearing, bringing to light, guiding, etc., ends in Christ who is Head of the Mystical Body of the Church.
The title of "Mary, Mother of the Church" proclaimed by Paul VI at the end of the third conciliar session of Vatican II (20 November 1964) merely stresses the ecclesial aspect of Mary's spiritual "motherhood": "We proclaim the most holy Mary, Mother of the Church, namely, Mother of all the People of God, both of the faithful and pastors, who call her a loving Mother, and from now onwards we desire that she be honoured by all the people with this wonderful title".[15]
"It can be said that from Mary the Church also learns her own motherhood... For, just as Mary is at the service of the mystery of the Incarnation, so the Church is always at the service of the mystery of adoption to sonship through grace... Precisely such virginity, after the example of the Virgin of Nazareth, is the source of a special spiritual fruitfulness: it is the source of motherhood in the Holy Spirit" (RMa 43). "But the Church's mystery also consists in generating people to a new and immortal life: this is her motherhood in the Holy Spirit... The Church's motherhood is accomplished not only according to the model and figure of the Mother of God but also with her "cooperation"" (RMa 44). "In her new motherhood in the Spirit, Mary embraces each and every one in the Church, and embraces each and every one through the Church" (RMa 47).