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Somewhere between the Protestant knee-jerk reaction—“Roman Catholics make too much of Mary”—and the legitimate Catholic response—“Protestants do not make enough of her”—there is a biblical place for thoughtful reflection.

Today is the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Mary was truly a saint—perhaps the first Christian saint and, in a meaningful sense, the first disciple of Jesus.

The ancient church called her Theotokos: the God-bearer. Some Protestants cringe at the phrase “Mother of God,” fearing that it elevates Mary beyond her humanity. Properly understood, however, the title is less a statement about Mary’s nature than about the identity of Jesus. The child she carried was truly human and truly divine. If we embrace the incarnation—if we believe that God came among us in Jesus Christ—then we must acknowledge the astonishing vocation given to Mary: she bore God incarnate within her womb.

It is no small thing to be a God-bearer.

Mary stands within a long line of faithful women in Scripture. Her Magnificat echoes the prayer of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2. It gathers up the promises of Israel: God scatters the proud, brings down the powerful, lifts the lowly, fills the hungry, and remembers his mercy.

Mary’s song also resonates with today’s reading from Isaiah:

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God.”

Mary knew that rejoicing. Her soul magnified the Lord, and her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior.

Yet her path was not easy. She did not choose the circumstances into which she was called. She received them. Her pregnancy placed her in danger of disgrace. Joseph initially intended to put her away quietly. She began her journey from a place of vulnerability and suspicion, but she entrusted herself to God:

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”

Mary remembered these things and pondered them in her heart. Her testimony almost certainly stands behind much of the church’s remembrance of Jesus’ birth and childhood, especially as preserved in Luke’s Gospel.

She later appears at the wedding in Cana, confident that Jesus could address the crisis: “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” Those words remain among the finest summaries of discipleship ever spoken.

She was also present at the cross. As Jesus was dying, he made provision for her through the beloved disciple:

“Woman, behold thy son.”
“Behold thy mother.”

Mary’s journey took her from the wonder of Bethlehem to the sorrow of Calvary—and then into the praying community awaiting the Holy Spirit.

Paul writes:

“When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.”

That woman had a name. She had a story. She had fears, questions, sorrows, faith, courage, and a calling. She did not choose what happened to her, but she embraced God’s call within it.

Mary was uniquely the Theotokos, the bearer of the incarnate Son of God. Yet her calling also points toward ours. We are called to bear the presence of Christ into the world. We are vessels of grace and temples of the Holy Spirit. Paul described the great mystery as:

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

On this day dedicated to Mary’s memory, it would serve us well to meditate upon her life, her faith, and her legacy—and then to ask:

How might I bear Christ into the world today?

Amen.