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 In the
disciples' eyes, as they gathered after the Ascension, the title "Mother of
Jesus" acquires its full meaning. For them, Mary is a person unique in her
kind: she received the singular grace of giving birth to the Saviour of
humanity; she lived for a long while at his side; and on Calvary she was
called by the Crucified One to exercise a "new motherhood" in relation to
the beloved disciple and, through him, to the whole Church.
For these who believe in Jesus and follow him, "Mother of Jesus" is a title
of honour and veneration, and will forever remain such in the faith and life
of the Church. In a particular way, by this title Christians mean to say
that one cannot refer to Jesus' origins without acknowledging the role of
the woman who gave him birth in the Spirit according to his human nature.
Her maternal role also involves the birth and growth of the Church. In
recalling the place of Mary in Jesus' life, the faithful discover each day
her efficacious presence in their own spiritual journey.
From the beginning, the Church has acknowledged the virginal motherhood of
Mary. As the infancy Gospels enable us to grasp, the first Christian
continuities themselves gathered together Mary's recollections about the
mysterious circumstances of the Saviour's conception and birth. In
particular, the Annunciation account responds to the disciples' desire to
have the deepest knowledge of the events connected with the beginnings of
the risen Christ's earthly life. In the last analysis, Mary is at the origin
of the revelation about the mystery of the virginal conception by the work
of the Holy Spirit.
This truth, showing Jesus' divine origin, was immediately grasped by the
first Christians for its important significance and included among the key
affirmations of their faith. Son of Joseph according to the law, Jesus in
fact, by an extraordinary intervention of the Holy Spirit, was in his
humanity only the son of Mary, since he was born without the intervention of
man.
Mary's virginity thus acquires a unique value and casts new light on the
birth of Jesus and on the mystery of his sonship, since the virginal
generation is the sign that Jesus has God himself as his Father.
Acknowledged and proclaimed by the faith of the Fathers, the virginal
motherhood can never be separated from the identity of Jesus, true God and
true man, as "born of the Virgin Mary", as we profess in the
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. Mary is the only Virgin who is also a
Mother. The extraordinary co-presence of these two gifts in the person of
the maiden of Nazareth has led Christians to call Mary simply "the Virgin",
even when they celebrate her motherhood.
The virginity of Mary thus initiates in the Christian community the spread
of the virginal life embraced by all who are called to it by the Lord. This
special vocation, which reaches its apex in Christ's example, represents
immeasurable spiritual wealth for the Church in every age, which finds in
Mary her inspiration and model.
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