1. The theological foundation of Mary’s spiritual motherhood

So that the reader may have, from the outset, a synthetic overview and better understand the doctrine that we shall later set forth, we offer the following summary from one of the most excellent contemporary Mariologists

“The solution to the question of the theological foundation of Mary’s spiritual motherhood depends on the solution to the problem of the link that exists between divine motherhood and spiritual motherhood. Those (very few) for whom the divine motherhood of the Most Holy Mary is nothing more than the motherhood of the God-Man evidently see no link at all between divine motherhood and spiritual motherhood. Those, on the other hand, for whom Mary’s divine motherhood is the motherhood of the God-Man Redeemer as such (that is, as Redeemer, Head of humanity, whom He came to regenerate to supernatural life), see a very close link between the divine motherhood and the spiritual motherhood of the Most Holy Mary. For these, then, the true foundation of spiritual motherhood is found in our incorporation into Christ. In virtue of the redemptive Incarnation, indeed, the Word incarnate in Mary’s virginal womb is constituted the mystical Head of all humanity (the synthesis of all creation), and humanity is constituted His Mystical Body. Christ, indeed, can be considered under a twofold aspect: as God-Man and as Redeemer. As God-Man He has a physical body, like all other men; as Redeemer of the human race, on the other hand, He has a mystical Body, which is the society of all who believe in Him (Rom 12:5). The Most Holy Virgin, therefore, in giving birth physically and naturally to Christ, was giving birth spiritually and supernaturally to all Christians, the mystical members of Christ, that is, to the whole human race. It follows that both the Head and His mystical members are fruits of the same womb, Mary’s; and that Mary is thus constituted Mother of the whole Christ, that is, of the Head and of His members, although in different ways: physically of the Head, spiritually of the members.

Jesus ChristAll this is a consequence of a soteriological divine motherhood, that is, of the motherhood of the God-Man Redeemer as such; of a motherhood ordered in itself, by virtue of the divine plan, to redemption, to the supernatural regeneration of fallen humanity. This is deduced, as we shall see, from Scripture, from Tradition, and, in a very clear way, from the teaching of the ecclesiastical Magisterium. In short: the spiritual motherhood of the Most Holy Mary with regard to all Christians is a prolongation of her divine and physical motherhood with regard to Christ…: we are sons in the Son (filii in Filio), in whom we are as it were included, to whom we are incorporated.(1)

On the other hand, those who do not admit (and they are very few, an almost negligible number) this soteriological divine motherhood (that is, with a redemptive purpose), find the foundation of the spiritual motherhood of the Most Holy Mary in Christ’s words on the cross: “Behold your mother… Behold your son!” (Jn 19:26-27)… But the cited words of St. John, as we shall see, do not have a causative value, but only a declarative or proclamatory value concerning Mary’s spiritual motherhood».

In reality, in the beautiful paragraph we have just transcribed, almost everything that can be said about the foundation of Mary’s spiritual motherhood over the entire human race redeemed by Jesus Christ has already been said: Mary’s spiritual motherhood is the complement of her divine motherhood, since she is the Mother of the whole Christ: physical Mother of Christ the Head, and spiritual Mother of all the members of His Mystical Body.

But since this is such a beautiful and admirable subject for those who approach the mysteries of the Son of God, Our Redeemer, without prejudices — while, on the contrary, it appears obscure or invented to those who are full of them — we wish to take this occasion to set forth a few further details for the consolation and delight of all the children who love Mary, our sweet Mother.

2. The true meaning of Mary’s spiritual motherhood

Mary-Mother-of-God 2It is necessary, first of all, to determine the true meaning of Mary’s spiritual motherhood over us, since, in this regard, false or incomplete ideas circulate throughout the world (particularly from some alleged biblical exegetes).(2)

a) False meaning: METAPHORICAL MOTHERHOOD. In the eyes of some, Mary is called our Mother because she helps us and loves us “as if she were our Mother”. By applying this gentle name to her, then, we express only a metaphorical motherhood, as ineffably sweet as one may wish, but a merely figurative motherhood and not a true motherhood.

Others see in the title “Mother” the expression of the care Mary takes to feed and raise us; she obtains innumerable spiritual favors for us in order to strengthen our supernatural life, to develop it, and to preserve it from every evil. She surrounds us with so many natural favors in health and sickness, in all the circumstances of our life, that no true mother has ever done the hundredth part as much for the dearest of her children. Nevertheless, these are the cares provided by a nurse, and in no case can it be affirmed that she is a mother in the proper sense of the term.

b) Incomplete meaning: ADOPTIVE MOTHERHOOD. For others, Mary is our Mother by adoption. When she was about to lose her only Son, Jesus gave her, in His place, the beloved disciple, and in the person of John all His present and future disciples, when He said to her: «Woman, behold your son». And to John: «Behold your mother» (Jn 19:26-27). At that moment, some maintain, Mary would have adopted as her children those whom the love of her Son entrusted to her, and from that moment she would have treated them as if she had brought them into the world.

It is true — as we shall see — that Christ’s words on the cross refer to Mary’s spiritual motherhood. But to seek in those words the foundation of her motherhood would be to make of it a superficial idea. It would then be something purely accidental, resting on words that Our Lord might not have pronounced; always something extrinsic to Mary and to us. An adoption is a legal act that gives the adopted person the rights of a child, but it cannot make him a true child; it confers exterior goods on him, but it cannot make him have received his nature from the father or mother who adopts him.

Now in fact Mary’s spiritual motherhood is a reality much more intimate than a simple human adoption; it is a reality linked to the whole mission, to the whole reason for being, of the Most Holy Virgin.

c) True meaning: MARY TRANSMITS SUPERNATURAL LIFE TO US. What, then, is this spiritual motherhood? By this motherhood we understand that Mary has given us life supernatural life as truly as our mothers have given us natural life; and that, as our mothers do in our natural life, she nourishes, protects, increases, and extends our supernatural life in order to lead it to its perfection.

Everyone understands the reality of natural life. We see it, touch it, feel it, perceive it in all our outward and inward activities; it is, so to speak, confused with our very self, for we have no consciousness of our self except by feeling ourselves alive. It is the great reality so dear to us that, to preserve it, we make, if necessary, the sacrifice of all other earthly goods: fortune, pleasures, ambitions…

Well then: alongside this natural life, faith teaches us that for the Christian there is another life, called supernatural or spiritual, or also the state of grace. But because this life cannot be seen, touched, or directly verified, to many Christians it seems something vague, ethereal, inconsistent; something rather negative (the absence of grave sin), or, if something positive, an external relationship of friendship between God and the soul. And yet this supernatural life is a reality far superior to any other created reality, far superior in particular to this natural life that is so dear to us; this is why so many martyrs have joyfully sacrificed the latter for the former. For this reason all of us must — or ought to — be disposed to lose our natural life rather than the state of grace, since the Son of God became incarnate and gave His life to merit for us this life of grace.

What, then, is this supernatural life, so impalpable and yet so precious? It is nothing other than the very life of God, the life of Christ in us. Through it, St. Peter tells us, we become «partakers of the very divine nature» (2 Pet 1:4). And St. Paul exclaims: «It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me» (Gal 2:20). And elsewhere: «For me to live is Christ» (Phil 1:21). Moreover, he teaches us that we form one body with Jesus Christ, who is our Head (1 Cor 12 and elsewhere). Now, in a body, the same life animates the head and the members. But even before Peter and before Paul, Jesus Christ had taught His disciples: «I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit» (Jn 15:5). The same sap circulates in the vine and in the branches; the same life circulates in Christ and in His disciples.

This participation in the infinite, eternal life of God is communicated to us by Mary. How does she communicate it to us? One can answer in very few words: «Our life is Christ. Mary has given us Christ. Therefore she has given us life»; or, expressed in another way: “Mary is our Mother” in the supernatural order.

Author: Lic. Sergio Pérez
Source: Apologetica.org

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Notes

(1) Cf. ROSCHINI, The Mother of God according to faith and theology (Madrid, 1955), vol. 1, pp. 384-386.

(2) This ineffable immanence or inclusion of men «in Christ Jesus» was emphasized by St. Paul. The Apostle says: «One has died for all; therefore all have died» (2 Cor 5:14). This being so, we reason: all of us died in Christ insofar as we were included in Christ. Christ was, morally, the flesh of all. But it is reasonable to ask: when and how were we included in Christ, if not at the very moment of His incarnation, when the Word became «like men» and in virtue of that same incarnation? The Apostle also says: «God, sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh» (Rom 8:3). This being so, we conclude: God condemned sin in the flesh (in all the flesh that had sinned) insofar as the flesh of Christ was, morally, that of all. But the flesh of Christ was the flesh of all only in the incarnation and in virtue of the incarnation; then, indeed, in Mary’s womb He took physically His flesh, and morally the flesh of all of us. Morally, therefore, all men, together with Christ, were conceived in Mary’s most pure womb and were born from it. With reason, then, the Virgin may be called their spiritual Mother. (Note of Fr. Roschini.)
Cf. NEUBERT, op. cit., pp. 56-59, from whom we take this doctrine.