It’s the Feast of XX Sunday after Pentecost, 2nd Class, with the color of Green. In this episode: the meditation: “The Existence of Guardian Angels”, today’s news from the Church: “La Reja: 14 Commitments, 2 taking of the Habit and first Vows”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows? podcast@sspx.org
Sources Used Today:
- “The Existence of Guardian Angels” — From the Assumption to Advent
- “La Reja: 14 Commitments, 2 taking of the Habit and first Vows” (FSSPX.news)
- The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
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One of the most extraordinary titles given to the Blessed Virgin Mary is also one of the oldest: Mother of God.
And believe it or not, there was a time when Christians argued fiercely over whether Mary could properly be called that.
The story takes us back to the fifth century, when a bishop named Nestorius became Patriarch of Constantinople. Nestorius objected to calling Mary Theotokos, a Greek word meaning “God-bearer” or “Mother of God.” He preferred the title “Mother of Christ,” fearing that the other title confused Christ’s humanity with His divinity.
That might sound like a minor disagreement over words.
It wasn’t.
The real question was who Jesus Christ actually is. Was He one divine Person, truly God and truly man, or could His humanity and divinity somehow be treated as belonging to separate subjects?
Saint Cyril of Alexandria strongly defended the title Mother of God, explaining that Mary did not give Christ His divine nature, but she truly gave birth to the Person who is God the Son.
In 431, bishops gathered at the Council of Ephesus to settle the controversy.
The council upheld Mary’s title as Theotokos and condemned Nestorius’s teaching.
According to ancient accounts, when the people of Ephesus learned the council’s decision, they celebrated with enormous enthusiasm. Crowds accompanied the bishops through the streets carrying torches, rejoicing that the Church had defended both the divinity of Christ and the dignity of His Mother.
That celebration became one of the great moments in the history of Marian devotion.
But here’s something interesting.
The feast of Mary’s Divine Maternity on October 11 is actually much newer than the Council of Ephesus.
In 1931, exactly fifteen hundred years after the council, Pope Pius XI established the Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the universal Roman calendar. He wanted Catholics to commemorate the anniversary of Ephesus and reflect on the extraordinary privilege God had given Mary.
The feast was assigned to October 11 and celebrated as a second-class feast in the traditional calendar.
Pius XI also issued the encyclical Lux Veritatis, explaining the importance of the Council of Ephesus and its teaching about Christ and His Mother.
The feast remained on October 11 in the 1962 Roman Missal. After the liturgical reforms, the separate October celebration was removed from the general calendar, while the ancient feast of January 1, honoring Mary’s divine motherhood, became the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
There’s something beautiful about the history of this feast.
The Church didn’t call Mary Mother of God simply to give her another magnificent title.
She did it to defend the truth about her Son.
Because the Child Mary held in her arms at Bethlehem was not merely a holy man who would someday become united to God.
He was God Himself, made man.
And that makes Mary’s motherhood unlike any other in human history.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
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