Mother of God, Favoured Daughter of the Father and 
Temple of the Holy Spirit
H. H.
John Paul II
General Audience
January 10, 1996
Our
Lady, who was granted the dignity of being the Mother of God, is
also the favoured daughter of the Father and the temple of the
Holy Spirit
Mary "is endowed
with the high office and dignity of the Mother of the Son of
God, and therefore she is also the beloved daughter of the
Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit" (Lumen
gentium,
n. 53). With this
quote from the Second Vatican Council, the Holy Father expressed
in concise form the Trinitarian dimension of Marian doctrine,
which was the subject of his catechesis at the General Audience
of Wednesday, 10 January. Here is a translation of his address,
which was the 11th in the series on the Blessed Virgin and was
given in Italian.
1. The eighth
chapter of the Constitution Lumen gentium shows in the
mystery of Christ the absolutely necessary reference to
Marian doctrine. In this regard, the first words of the
Introduction are significant: "Wishing in his supreme goodness
and wisdom to effect the redemption of the world, 'when the
fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman ...
that we might receive the adoption of sons' (Gal 4:4-5)" (Lumen
gentium, n. 52). This son is the Messiah awaited by
the people of the Old Covenant, sent by the Father at a decisive
moment of history, the "fullness of time" (Gal 4:4), which
coincides with his birth in our world from a woman. She who
brought the eternal Son of God to humanity can never be
separated from him who is found at the centre of the divine plan
carried out in history.
The primacy of
Christ is shown forth in the Church, his Mystical Body: in her
"the faithful are joined to Christ the Head and are in communion
with all his saints" (cf. Lumen gentium, n.
52). It is Christ who draws all men to himself. Since in her
maternal role she is closely united with her Son, Mary helps
direct the gaze and heart of believers towards him.
She is the way
that leads to Christ: indeed, she who "at the message of the
angel received the Word of God in her heart and in her body" (Lumen
gentium, n. 53) shows us how to receive into our
lives the Son come down from heaven, teaching us to make Jesus
the centre and the supreme "law" of our existence.
A unique bond
between Mary and the Holy Spirit
2. Mary also
helps us discover, at the origin of the whole work of salvation,
the sovereign action of the Father who calls men to
become sons in the one Son. Recalling the very beautiful
expressions of the Letter to the Ephesians: "God, who is rich in
mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when
we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ" (Eph 2:4), the Council gives God the title "most
merciful": the Son "born of a woman" is thus seen as the fruit
of the Father's mercy and enables us to understand better how
this Woman is the "mother of mercy".
In the same
context, the Council also calls God "most wise", suggesting a
particular attention to the close link between Mary and the
divine wisdom, which in its mysterious plan willed the Virgin's
motherhood.
3. The Council's
text also reminds us of the unique bond uniting Mary with the
Holy Spirit, using the words of the
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed which we recite in the
Eucharistic liturgy: "For us men and for our salvation he came
down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of
the Virgin Mary, and became man".
In expressing the
unchanging faith of the Church, the Council reminds us that the
marvellous incarnation of the Son took place in the Virgin
Mary's womb without man's co-operation, by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
The Introduction
to the eighth chapter of Lumen gentium thus shows in a
Trinitarian perspective an essential dimension of Marian
doctrine. Everything in fact comes from the will of the Father,
who has sent his Son into the world, revealing him to men and
establishing him as the Head of the Church and the centre of
history. This is a plan that was fulfilled by the Incarnation,
the work of the Holy Spirit, but with the essential co-operation
of a woman, the Virgin Mary, who thus became an integral part in
the economy of communicating the Trinity to mankind.
4. Mary's
threefold relationship with the divine Persons is confirmed in
precise words and with a description of the characteristic
relationship which links the Mother of the Lord to the Church:
"She is endowed with the high office and dignity of the Mother
of the Son of God, and therefore she is also the beloved
daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit" (Lumen
gentium, n. 53).
Mary's
fundamental dignity is that of being "Mother of the Son", which
is expressed in Christian doctrine and devotion with the title
"Mother of God".
This is a
surprising term, which shows the humility of God's only-begotten
Son in his Incarnation and, in connection with it, the most high
privilege granted a creature who was called to give him birth in
the flesh.
Mother of the
Son, Mary is the "beloved daughter of the Father" in a unique
way. She has been granted an utterly special likeness between
her motherhood and the divine fatherhood.
And again: every
Christian is a "temple of the Holy Spirit", according to the
Apostle Paul's expression (1 Cor 6:19). But this assertion takes
on an extraordinary meaning in Mary: in her the relationship
with the Holy Spirit is enriched with a spousal dimension. I
recalled this in the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater: "The
Holy Spirit had already come down upon her, and she became his
faithful spouse at the Annunciation, welcoming the Word of the
true God..." (n. 26).
Mary's dignity
surpasses that of every creature
5. Mary's
privileged relationship with the Trinity therefore confers on
her a dignity which far surpasses that of every other creature.
The Council recalls this explicitly: because of this "gift of
sublime grace" Mary "far surpasses all creatures" (Lumen
gentium, n. 53). However, this most high dignity does not
hinder Mary's solidarity with each of us. The Constitution
Lumen gentium goes on to say: "But, being of the race of
Adam, she is at the same time also united to all those who are
to be saved" and she has been "redeemed, in a more exalted
fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son" (ibid.).
Here we see the
authentic meaning of Mary's privileges and of her extraordinary
relationship with the Trinity: their purpose is to enable her to
co-operate in the salvation of the human race. The immeasurable
greatness of the Lord's Mother therefore remains a gift of God's
love for all men. By proclaiming her "blessed" (Lk 1:48),
generations praise the "great things" (Lk 1:49) the Almighty has
done in her for humanity, "in remembrance of his mercy" (Lk
1:54).
Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
17 January 1996, page 11
Return to Main Page: John Paul II on the
Blessed Mother>>>
