> [[jpii-md-01|← Previous]] | [[mulieris-dignitatem-toc|TOC]] | [[jpii-md-03|Next →]] # II. Woman-mother of God Theotokos ## Union with God 3\. "When the time had fully come, *God sent forth his son, born of woman".* With these words of his Letter to the Galatians (4:4), the Apostle Paul links together the principal moments which essentially determine the fulfilment of the mystery "pre-determined in God" (cf. *Eph* 1:9).The Son, the Word one in substance with the Father, becomes man, born of a woman, at "the fullness of time". This event leads *to the turning point* of man's history on earth, understood as salvation history. It is significant that Saint Paul does not call the Mother of Christ by her own name "Mary", but calls her "woman": this coincides with the words of the Proto-evangelium in the Book of Genesis (cf. 3:15). She is that "woman" who is present in the central salvific event which marks the "fullness of time": this event is realized in her and through her. ^jpii-md-3 Thus there begins *the central event, the key event in the history of salvation:* the Lord's Paschal Mystery. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to reconsider it from the point of view of man's spiritual history, understood in the widest possible sense, and as this history is expressed through the different world religions. Let us recall at this point the words of the Second Vatican Council: "People *look to the various religions for answers* to those profound mysteries of the human condition which, today, even as in olden times, deeply stir the human heart: What is a human being? What is the meaning and purpose of our life? What is goodness and what is sin? What gives rise to our sorrows, and to what intent? Where lies the path to true happiness? What is the truth about death, judgment and retribution beyond the grave? What, finally, is *that ultimate and unutterable mystery which engulfs our being,* and from which we take our origin and towards which we move?" [\[13\]](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/#_edn13) "From ancient times down to the present, there has existed among different peoples a certain perception of that hidden power which is present in the course of things and in the events of human life; at times, indeed, recognition can be found of a Supreme Divinity or even a Supreme Father". [\[14\]](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/#_edn14) Against the background of this broad panorama, which testifies to the aspirations of the human spirit in search of God - at times as it were "groping its way" (cf. *Acts* 17: 27) - the "fullness of time" spoken of in Paul's Letter emphasizes *the response of God himself, "in whom we live and move and have our being" (cf. Acts* 17:28). This is the God who "in many and various ways spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days has spoken to us by a Son" *(Heb* 1:1-2). The sending of this Son, one in substance with the Father, as a man "born of woman", constitutes the culminating and *definitive point of God's self-revelation to humanity.* This self-revelation is *salvific in character,* as the Second Vatican Council teaches in another passage: "In his goodness and wisdom, God chose to reveal himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of his will (cf. *Eph* 1: 9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man has access to the Father in the Holy Spirit and comes to share in the divine nature (cf. *Eph* 2:18; 2 *Pt* 1:4)".[\[15\]](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/#_edn15) A woman is to be found *at the centre of this salvific event.* The self-revelation of God, who is the inscrutable unity of the Trinity, is outlined *in the Annunciation at Nazareth.* "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High" - "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" - "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God... For with God nothing will be impossible" (cf. *Lk* 1: 31-37).[\[16\]](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/#_edn16) It may be easy to think of this event *in the setting* of the *history of Israel,* the Chosen People of which Mary is a daughter, but it is also easy to think of it in the context of all the different ways in which humanity has always sought to answer the fundamental and definitive questions which most beset it. Do we not find in the Annunciation at Nazareth the beginning of that definitive answer by which *God himself "attempts to calm people's hearts"?*[\[17\]](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/#_edn17) It is not just a matter here of God's words revealed through the Prophets; rather with this response "the Word is truly made flesh" (cf. *Jn* 1:14). Hence *Mary* attains *a union with God that exceeds* all the expectations of the human spirit. It even exceeds the expectations of all Israel, in particular the daughters of this Chosen People, who, on the basis of the promise, could hope that one of their number would one day become the mother of the Messiah. Who among them, however, could have imagined that the promised Messiah would be "the Son of the Most High"? On the basis of the Old Testament's monotheistic faith such a thing was difficult to imagine. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit, who "overshadowed" her, was Mary able to accept what is "impossible with men, but not with God" (cf. *Mk* 10: 27). ## Theotókos 4\. Thus the "fullness of time" manifests the extraordinary dignity of the "woman". On the one hand, this dignity consists *in the supernatural elevation to union with God* in Jesus Christ, which determines the ultimate finality of the existence of every person both on earth and in eternity. From this point of view, the "woman" is the representative and the archetype of the whole human race: she *represents the humanity* which belongs to all human beings, both men and women. On the other hand, however, the event at Nazareth highlights a form of union with the living God which can *only belong to the "woman",* Mary: *the union between mother and son.* The Virgin of Nazareth truly becomes the Mother of God. ^jpii-md-4 This truth, which Christian faith has accepted from the beginning, was solemnly defined at the Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.).[\[18\]](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/#_edn18) In opposition to the opinion of Nestorius, who held that Mary was only the mother of the man Jesus, this Council emphasized the essential meaning of the motherhood of the Virgin Mary. At the moment of the Annunciation, by responding with her " *fiat",* Mary conceived a man who was the Son of God, of one substance with the Father. Therefore *she is truly the Mother of God, because motherhood concerns the whole person,* not just the body, nor even just human "nature". In this way the name *"Theotókos"* - Mother of God - became the name proper to the union with God granted to the Virgin Mary. The particular union of the "Theotókos" with God - which fulfils in the most eminent manner the supernatural predestination to union with the Father which is granted to every human being (filii *in Filio*) - is a pure grace and, as such, a *gift of the Spirit.* At the same time, however, through her response of faith Mary exercises her free will and thus fully shares with her personal and feminine "I" in the event of the Incarnation. With her " *fiat", Mary becomes the authentic subject* of that union with God which was realized in the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, who is of one substance with the Father. All of God's action in human history at all times respects the free will of the human "I". And such was the case with the Annunciation at Nazareth. ## "To Serve Means to Reign" 5\. This event is clearly *interpersonal in character:* it is a dialogue. We only understand it fully if we place the whole conversation between the Angel and Mary in the context of the words: "full of grace".[\[19\]](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/#_edn19) The whole Annunciation dialogue reveals the essential dimension of the event, namely, its *supernatural* dimension (\*\*\*).Grace never casts nature aside or cancels it out, but rather perfects it and ennobles it. Therefore the " *fullness of grace"* that was granted to the Virgin of Nazareth, with a view to the fact that she would become " *Theotókos", also signifies the fullness of the perfection of" what is characteristic of woman",* of " *what is feminine".* Here we find ourselves, in a sense, at the culminating point, the archetype, of the personal dignity of women. ^jpii-md-5 When Mary responds to the words of the heavenly messenger with her "fiat", she who is "full of grace" feels the need to express her personal relationship to the gift that has been revealed to her, saying: " *Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord"* (*Lk* 1:38). This statement should not be deprived of its profound meaning, nor should it be diminished by artificially removing it from the overall context of the event and from the full content of the truth revealed about God and man. In the expression "handmaid of the Lord", one senses Mary's complete awareness of being a creature of God. The word "handmaid", near the end of the Annunciation dialogue, is inscribed throughout the whole history of the Mother and the Son. In fact, this *Son,* who is the true and consubstantial "Son of the Most High", will often say of himself, especially at the culminating moment of his mission: "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve" *(Mk* 10:45). At all times Christ is aware of being "the servant of the Lord" according to the prophecy of *Isaiah* (cf. *Is* 42:1; 49:3, 6; 52:13) which includes the essential content of his messianic mission, namely, his awareness of being the Redeemer of the world. From the first moment of her divine motherhood, of her union with the Son whom "the Father sent into the world, that the world might be saved through him" (cf. *Jn* 3:17), *Mary takes her place within Christ's messianic service*.[\[20\]](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/#_edn20) It is precisely this service which constitutes the very foundation of that Kingdom in which "to serve... means to reign".[\[21\]](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/#_edn21) Christ, the "Servant of the Lord", will show all people the royal dignity of service, the dignity which is joined in the closest possible way to the vocation of every person. Thus, by considering the reality "Woman - Mother of God", we enter in a very appropriate way into this Marian Year meditation. *This reality* also *determines the essential horizon of reflection on the dignity and the vocation of women.* In anything we think, say or do concerning the dignity and the vocation of women, our thoughts, hearts and actions must not become detached from this horizon. The dignity of every human being and the vocation corresponding to that dignity find their definitive measure in *union with God.* Mary, the woman of the Bible, is the most complete expression of this dignity and vocation. For no human being, male or female, created in the image and likeness of God, can *in any* way attain fulfilment apart from this image and likeness. --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-jpii-md]] --- > [[jpii-md-01|← Previous]] | [[mulieris-dignitatem-toc|TOC]] | [[jpii-md-03|Next →]]