Ep 107. The Church, Mary, and God as Mother

Video Version

Audio Version

Episode Description

This episode of Physically Spiritual is an exploration of motherhood. It explores the mystery of Mary's motherhood, the Church as mother, and if we can call God mother.

Notes

Fatherhood Series - https://www.becominggift.com/post/fatherhood1

“The best thing a mother has to give is himself.”

“A mother calls forth their child’s heart by giving them her heart”

“Discipline is not primarily something you do, it's something you are”

“By calling God ‘Father’, the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 239 - https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/64/

“An analogy is a front porch into a mystery.”

“Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you; your walls are ever before me.” Isaiah 49: 15 - 16 - https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/49

“how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings” Luke 13: 34 - https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/13

Pantheism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheism

“Called in the Gospels ‘the mother of Jesus’, Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as ‘the mother of my Lord’. In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly ‘Mother of God’ (Theotokos).” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 495 - https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/126/

Theotokos - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theotokos

Council of Nicea - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea

“Jesus is Mary's only son, but her spiritual motherhood extends to all men whom indeed he came to save: ‘The Son whom she brought forth is he whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, that is, the faithful in whose generation and formation she co-operates with a mother's love.’” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 501 - https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/128/

“Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” John 19: 25 - 27 - https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19

“Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother: ‘We believe the Church as the mother of our new birth, and not in the Church as if she were the author of our salvation.’ Because she is our mother, she is also our teacher in the faith.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 169 - https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/48/

“The Church, ‘the pillar and bulwark of the truth’, faithfully guards ‘the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints’. She guards the memory of Christ's words; it is she who from generation to generation hands on the apostles' confession of faith. As a mother who teaches her children to speak and so to understand and communicate, the Church our Mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 171 - https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/48/

“‘Believing’ is an ecclesial act. The Church's faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all believers. ‘No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother’ (St. Cyprian, De unit. 6: PL 4, 519).” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 181 - https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/50/

A woman by her very nature is maternal [...] for every woman, whether married or unmarried, is called upon to be a biological, psychological or spiritual mother [...] she knows intuitively that to give, to nurture, to care for others, to suffer with and for them [...] for maternity implies suffering[...] is infinitely more valuable in God’s sight than to conquer nations and fly to the moon.” Alice von Hildebrand

Alice von Hildebrand - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_von_Hildebrand

Time Stamps

2:00 My Experience of Motherhood

4:00 The Parental Analogy for God

8:45 God as Mother

12:45 Mary’s Motherhood

20:30 The Church as Mother

26:30 Being Formed in a Real Parish

28:45. Hylomorphic Motherhood