Born of a Woman

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Mary Magdalen and John the Baptist

Giuliano di Piero di Simone Bugiardini

A homily by Fr. Joseph Tuscan for Jan 1, 2026

The Holy Family Adored by Angels (The Large Nativity)

Bartolomeo Biscaino

The Church begins the new year by broadening the Christmas spotlight.

Our eyes are gently redirected—not away from Christ, but more deeply into

the mystery of His coming—by fixing our gaze upon Mary, the Holy Mother

of God.

Christmas reveals that God has come among us. Today’s feast helps us

understand how He chose to come. Mary has an essential and

irreplaceable role in the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed

Trinity.

Recently, the Vatican offered a clarification regarding its concern over

certain Marian titles—especially “Co-redemptrix” and “Mediatrix of all

grace.” It is important to note what the Church did not say. These titles are

not condemned, not forbidden, and not rejected as erroneous. They remain

part of the Church’s theological tradition and have a long history in popular

devotion and serious theological reflection.

What the Vatican emphasized is context and clarity. The concern is

pastoral and doctrinal: when these titles are used without explanation, they

can be misunderstood, as if Mary were being placed on the same level as

Christ, the one and only Redeemer. The Church therefore prefers to avoid

these expressions in official magisterial documents, not because they are

false, but because they require careful explanation to preserve the truth

that Jesus Christ alone is Redeemer in the strict sense.

When theologians or the faithful speak of Mary as co-redemptrix, the word

“co” does not mean equal, but with or in cooperation with. Mary’s role is

entirely dependent, subordinate, and participatory—flowing from Christ’s

Holy Family with St Mary Magdalene

Andrea Mantegna

unique saving work, never adding to it, never competing with it.

Similarly, to call Mary “Mediatrix of all Grace” does not mean she replaces

Christ, the one Mediator between God and humanity. Rather, it expresses

the belief that all grace comes from Christ through His Body, and that Mary,

as Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Church, has a singular

maternal role in God’s plan of grace.

In short, the Church allows these titles in sermons, popular piety,

theological discussion, and devotional language, while exercising prudence

in official usage—so that Marian devotion always leads clearly, safely, and

unmistakably to Christ, never away from Him.

As the Church has always taught: Everything Mary is, she is because of

Christ—and for Christ.

God did not enter history by force or spectacle. He came by invitation—an

invitation conveyed through an angel, received in faith, and answered with

a free and loving yes. At the Annunciation, Mary consents to God’s plan:

“Let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).

This consent is not passive resignation. It is courageous cooperation.

Through her faith, eternity enters time. Through her body, the Word

becomes flesh.

Elizabeth immediately perceives the astonishing dignity of this moment.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, she cries out:

“Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your

womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should

come to me?” (Lk 1:42–43).

Elizabeth gives voice to what the Church would later proclaim with

precision: Mary is truly the Mother of God—not because she precedes

God, but because the one she carries is truly God.

The Virgin Annunciate

Mary’s divine motherhood places her in a unique position within God’s

redemptive plan. She is not merely a background figure in salvation history.

She stands at its very threshold, holding the key moment when God

becomes man.

Saint Paul, writing to the Galatians, speaks of this mystery with striking

simplicity. Without even naming Mary, he declares:

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,

born of a woman, born under the law” (Gal 4:4).

That brief phrase—born of a woman—contains the whole drama of the

Incarnation. God does not bypass humanity; He enters it fully. He submits

Himself to human growth, human vulnerability, and human dependence.

Paul then adds something even more profound:

“God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Gal. 4:6).

Here we glimpse the widening horizon of Mary’s motherhood. If the Spirit of

her Son dwells in us, then we are no longer strangers but children. And if

we are children of the Son, then Mary—by grace—becomes mother to all

His brothers and sisters.

Her motherhood is not confined to Bethlehem. It extends to the Church.

Some theologians go even further, reflecting on Mary’s place within God’s

eternal plan. They remind us that God’s first thought in creation was

Christ—the incarnate Word, the one who could give perfect love and

worship to the Father on behalf of all creation.

And if Christ was first in God’s intention, then Mary was second—not as an

afterthought, but as the woman chosen from all eternity to give Him flesh.

Her motherhood is therefore not accidental. It is woven into the very logic of

creation and redemption.

The Church’s precise title “Mother of God” reaches back at least to the third

or fourth century. In Greek, Theotokos—“God-bearer”—it became the

touchstone of authentic faith in the Incarnation.

At the Council of Ephesus in the year 431, the Church solemnly affirmed

that the Virgin Mary is rightly called Theotokos. This was not primarily

about Mary; it was about Christ. To deny her this title would risk dividing

Christ—suggesting He was somehow less than fully God from the first

moment of His human existence.

When the council’s decision was announced, history tells us that crowds

poured into the streets shouting:

“Praised be the Theotokos!”

That cry of faith has never fallen silent. Centuries later, the Second Vatican

Council would echo the same truth. In its Dogmatic Constitution on the

Church, Mary is called Mother of God again and again—affirming that

devotion to Mary always safeguards the truth about her Son.

Mary does not draw attention to herself. Like in today’s Gospel, she stands

quietly beside the Child, pondering the mystery entrusted to her. She

teaches us that the way into the new year is not anxiety, control, or

noise—but trust, receptivity, and faith.

As the shepherds depart glorifying God, Mary remains. She holds the

Child. She keeps the Word. She reflects. May she teach us to begin this

year as she began her motherhood:

by welcoming Christ,

by trusting God’s plan,

and by allowing the Spirit of the Son to cry out within us: Abba, Father.

Saint Anthony of Padua:

O Mary,

you are a throne

in which is located the glory of the Father.

On this throne Jesus Christ, true Wisdom,

took his place,

Glory Itself, greater than any of the angels,

who lived on earth in our flesh.

You, blessed Mary,

became the seat of that Glory, Jesus Christ,

to whom be honor and praise from age to age. Amen.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.