The Virgin Mary

Since earliest times, Christians have accorded especial honour to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. One of the consequences of our belief that God became incarnate and lived a human life is that he shared in many of our experiences. He had friends, he had a home and a job, and he had a family: five brothers, at least two sisters, his (presumed) father Joseph, and Mary. Reflecting on the real, human relationship between Jesus and Mary helps us to meditate more deeply on the mystery that Christ did not merely take on a human appearance and pretend to be a human: he truly became one.

As the Church developed its theology, they tried to understand this mystery of Christ as fully divine yet also fully human. Mary was declared to have been ‘the Mother of God’ – not in the sense that the eternal and uncreated God had ever not existed, but that the title was right and proper since Jesus was God. Other beliefs about Mary developed: that she was born without sin and remained sinless; that she stayed a virgin all her life; that she was bodily taken up into heaven at her death and crowned as the Queen of Heaven. These beliefs have never been universal and are not held by all Christians, let alone all Anglicans, but they speak to the enduring popularity Mary has for Christians throughout the ages. More churches in Britain are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary than anyone else. To many Christians, Mary is simply known as ‘Our Lady’.

The Virgin Mary was the first Christian – it was her faith and trust in God that led her to agree to carry Christ within her. She bore and raised him. She witnessed his first miracle at the wedding in Cana. She stood at the foot of his cross as he died. And she was with his disciples when, fifty days later, the Holy Spirit descended on them at Pentecost. For all these reasons, Mary has sometimes also been given the title of ‘Mother of the Church’. There is another reason too: as Christians we believe that through Baptism and the Eucharist we are mystically incorporated into Christ – that Jesus shares his risen life with us. Mary thus acts as a mother to all Christians and just as Jesus, as a faithful Jew, would have kept the commandment to ‘honour your parents’, so we do as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Like all departed Christians, we believe that Mary is alive in the Lord and is able to pray with us and for us. As the mother of Christ himself, Mary has always been the focus of particular attention with prayer requests. Each Sunday during Mass we recite the ‘Hail Mary’, an ancient prayer in two parts – the first recalling the biblical story of the Annunciation, when Mary assented to giving birth to the Messiah, and the second an entreaty for Mary to pray for us now and throughout our lives. During the Eucharistic Prayer, when the priest prays that God will bring his people into the fullness of his kingdom with all his saints, Mary is specifically mentioned by name. But the honour given to Mary is only ever a reflection of the worship we give to her son. Indeed, ‘Marian’ devotions are fundamentally about a deeper connection with Christ and contemplation of the mystery and miracle that, through his human birth, life, and death, the Lord became God-with-us.