Whether the Blessed Virgin Can Be Called Christ's Mother in Respect
of His Temporal Nativity?
Objection 1: It would seem that the Blessed Virgin cannot be called
Christ's Mother in respect of His temporal nativity. For, as stated
above (Q. 32, A. 4), the Blessed Virgin Mary did not cooperate
actively in begetting Christ, but merely supplied the matter. But
this does not seem sufficient to make her His Mother: otherwise wood
might be called the mother of the bed or bench. Therefore it seems
that the Blessed Virgin cannot be called the Mother of Christ.
Obj. 2: Further, Christ was born miraculously of the Blessed Virgin.
But a miraculous begetting does not suffice for motherhood or
sonship: for we do not speak of Eve as being the daughter of Adam.
Therefore neither should Christ be called the Son of the Blessed
Virgin.
Obj. 3: Further, motherhood seems to imply partial separation of the
semen. But, as Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii), "Christ's body was
formed, not by a seminal process, but by the operation of the Holy
Ghost." Therefore it seems that the Blessed Virgin should not be
called the Mother of Christ.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Matt. 1:18): "The generation of
Christ was in this wise. When His Mother Mary was espoused to
Joseph," etc.
_I answer that,_ The Blessed Virgin Mary is in truth and by nature
the Mother of Christ. For, as we have said above (Q. 5, A. 2; Q. 31,
A. 5), Christ's body was not brought down from heaven, as the heretic
Valentine maintained, but was taken from the Virgin Mother, and
formed from her purest blood. And this is all that is required for
motherhood, as has been made clear above (Q. 31, A. 5; Q. 32, A. 4).
Therefore the Blessed Virgin is truly Christ's Mother.
Reply Obj. 1: As stated above (Q. 32, A. 3), not every generation
implies fatherhood or motherhood and sonship, but only the generation
of living things. Consequently when inanimate things are made from
some matter, the relationship of motherhood and sonship does not
follow from this, but only in the generation of living things, which
is properly called nativity.
Reply Obj. 2: As Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii): "The temporal
nativity by which Christ was born for our salvation is, in a way,
natural, since a Man was born of a woman, and after the due lapse of
time from His conception: but it is also supernatural, because He was
begotten, not of seed, but of the Holy Ghost and the Blessed Virgin,
above the law of conception." Thus, then, on the part of the mother,
this nativity was natural, but on the part of the operation of the
Holy Ghost it was supernatural. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is the
true and natural Mother of Christ.
Reply Obj. 3: As stated above (Q. 31, A. 5, ad 3; Q. 32, A. 4), the
resolution of the woman's semen is not necessary for conception;
neither, therefore, is it required for motherhood.
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