BORN OF A WOMAN

PRAYER MOMENT  

Wednesday 5 August 2015, St Mary Major

BORN OF A WOMAN

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “When the completion of the time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as his children.” (Galations 4:4-7)

Reflection. It may seem odd to celebrate the building of church in Rome in the middle of the fifth century but that is what we do today, the feast of St Mary Major. The building itself is a “theological poem in honour of the divine motherhood of Mary.” For three centuries the Church pondered how to put into words their belief in Jesus as divine. The result, in 325, was the Nicene Creed. But what does that make Mary? After pondereing for a further hundred years they agreed, at Ephesus in 431, that she could and should be called the Mother of God. Many could not take it but that is our faith. In recent years the Church emphasises it on 1 January. And a more ancient tradition celebrates the construction and beautiful decoration of a church in Rome in her honour on this day.

Prayer. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death Amen

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