Authors-choice: Hope & Revival

According to an online magazine, Dice Ailes, a rising Nigerian musician, recently purchased a home in Canada for his mother. This is the video in which Dice gives his gift to his mother while she prays and dances for joy.

Dice who posted the video on his Instagram feed wrote: “Anything for you mom.” Indicating that there is nothing he would not do for his mother.

It’s heartwarming that the aspiring singer spends his first paycheck on a house for his mother.

And if you asked Dice why he did it, I’m sure he’d say, “Because she’s my mother, she gave birth to me, and that’s all.”

It makes sense; people like to honor their mothers. I’m sure Dice would buy his mother some spiritual gift (if he could) that would make her even more beautiful, such as freedom from original sin. The issue is that money cannot purchase such a gift; only God can. Because he is God, Jesus can. As a result, Christian tradition holds that Jesus protected his mother from original sin from the moment she was conceived. He bestowed the spiritual gift of the “Immaculate Conception” on her solely because she is his mother.

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was officially declared on December 8, 1854, by Pope Pius IX, in the Bull Ineffable Deus. This document states:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin’”

Some may wonder, “Where is the bible?” It’s in the Bible, but only in an implied sense. For example, after Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, God told the serpent, “I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring.” It’ll crush your head, and you’ll hit its heel.” ‘

Given that Christians agree that “the woman” is an allusion to Mary, and “her offspring” is an allusion to Jesus, who would crush Satan’s head, this implies that the “enmity” between this woman and the serpent was predicted right from the start, and thus the woman was sinless from the start. In his encyclical “Fulgens corona,” Pope Pius XII says:

“If at a given moment the Blessed Virgin Mary had been left without divine grace, because she was defiled at her conception by the hereditary stain of sin, between her and the serpent there would no longer have been -at least during that period of time, however brief,- the eternal enmity spoken of in the earliest.

Furthermore, Jesus did not just make his mother sinless; he also filled her with grace, as the arch Angel Gabriel confirms in Luke (1: 28): “Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is with you.” Furthermore, Christ died for Mary because, even though she was born sinless, she needed to be saved just like everyone else, but Christ saved her in a unique way. Everyone else was saved by Christ pulling us out of the ditch into which we had fallen, but he “preserved” his mother from sin by preventing her from falling into the ditch through a unique privilege. Because of her important role as God’s mother, the merits of Christ’s passion and death were applied to her in advance, preserving her from sin from the moment of her conception.

Many Christians recognize Mary as Jesus’ mother, but some would hesitate to call her God’s mother. Why is this case? They argue that treating her like a goddess would be idolatry, something absurd. However, if they took the time to examine the evidence, they might discover that it is not so absurd.

In Galatians 4:4 we read, “But when the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman”. And in Philippians (2: 6) we read “His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God, but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are”

As a result, Jesus has both human and divine natures. Nonetheless, because mothers give birth to people rather than natures, Mary is the mother of Jesus, who is God. As a result, we can conclude that Mary is God’s mother. Indeed, to conclude otherwise would be to commit the error of either denying that Jesus is both true God and true man. This is what happened in the fifth century, when a certain Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, argued that Mary only gave birth to Jesus, the man, and not Jesus, the God. The reason for this is that a mere mortal cannot give birth to God.

The Nestorian position was rejected or condemned by the council of Ephesus (4:31), which affirmed that Mary is indeed the mother of God because Christ is both true God and true, man, and is one person of God.

As a result, Christians, particularly Catholics, revere her because she is the mother of God. In fact, in the fourth point of the tenth commandment, God expressly commands that we honor our father and mother, and God himself expressly obeyed this commandment. Christ honored God, his heavenly father, and Mary, his earthly mother, bestowing graces on her and protecting her from all sin from the moment of her conception until the end of her life.

Furthermore, Mary is known as the ever virgin because it is believed that she was a virgin prior to, during, and after the birth of Christ otherwise, people may question if Christ’s divine. The prophet Isaiah predicted in Isaiah 7:14 that the messiah, Christ, would be borne by a virgin. This demonstrates that Mary was a virgin prior to the conception of Jesus. In Luke (1: 34), Mary asks the Angel, “How can this be, since I do not know man?” This is further evidence that Mary made a virtuous act by remaining a virgin from her earliest youth. Finally, when the Angel appeared to Joseph in Matthew (1: 20), the Angel said, “Do not be afraid, Joseph son of David, to take Mary home as your wife, because the Holy Spirit has conceived what is in her.”

Genesis (3: 16) provides evidence of her virginity during childbearing: “God said to the woman: ‘I will multiply your childbearing pains, and you will give birth to your children in agony.’” As a result, since ruptures of the organs of child bearing are the cause of pains, which scripture tells us consequences of the original sin. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that Mary, free from original sin, was also freed from pain in child bearing and remained intact and thus a virgin even during child bearing.

Evidently, the fact that Jesus entrusted Mary to his disciple John at the moment he was drawing his last breath on the cross is sufficient proof that had no other children after Jesus. Moreover, it is fitting that Christ, as the only son of God, should also be the only son of Mary, his human mother. Similarly, just as Eve participated in the disobedience of the first Adam, ushering sin into the world, Mary, the new Eve, participates in the obedience of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, by dying on the cross, ushering redemption into the world.

Hence, Mary is co-redeemer of humanity with Jesus, through her conception, and birth of Christ, the son of God. By her gift of him to humanity, she reconciled humanity with God, and thus making us children of God. Her corroboration with her son’s death on the cross resulted in the great gift of our redemption, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in man, making us Children of God and Temples of the Holy Spirit. Similarly,  Mary is also the Queen of the Universe because she is the Mother of Christ the King. Just as Jesus’ earthly life culminated in his death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, Mary’s earthly life concluded with her bodily assumption into heaven. As Christ, her son, reigns as king of the universe in heaven, she reigns as queen of the universe in heaven. In the book of Revelation, St. John writes, “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” She bore a male child, one who will rule all nations with an iron rod, but her child was taken up to God and his throne [Revelation 12:1, 5].

Finally, if Dice Ailes can give his mother a house simply because she is his mother, the fact that Christ would give his mother the gift of the Immaculate Conception simply because she is his mother should not surprise anyone, but rather makes logical sense.