Mary, Mother of God

Biography

Divine Motherhood is her greatest privilege and the source of all the others. At the Annunciation she gave her assent to God’s plan; her whole life was a sustained repetition of that “yes,” fulfilled at the Cross and prolonged in her maternal care from heaven. The Council of Ephesus solemnly affirmed in 431 that Mary is Theotokos, Mother of God, because by the Holy Spirit she conceived and gave birth to Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the Father. Mother of God and our Mother, she is close to God through her divine motherhood and close to us through her human nature.