The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-05-16

this month is known as the Month OF
Mary Our Lady's Month" Her
sweet name is uttered by thousands of
preachers; her praises are sung by
millions of loving children, and her
memory stirs the hearts of every mem
Der of the church throughout the
world.
Is it not only right and just that we
should thus publicly proclaim our es-
TEEN and reverence for one, at once so
truly great and glorious in herself, and
yet so intimately related to each and
every one of us? The world is wont
to honor its heroes of day, to COM
memorate their achievements, and to
keep their memory fresh and green. 1t
raises costly monuments to their
Gus positions, and glories in their we'll
earned fame. And we, who are, as st.
Paul reminds us, fellow citizens with
the saints" ought surely to be ready
to do as much, and, indeed, immeas-
urably more for the heroes and great
ones of the church-for those whom
the church has declared blessed" and
whom she has raised upon her very
affairs for our generation. Their glory
shall never fade, time cannot tarnish
it, calumny cannot reach tit is as
enduring as God Himself, for it is not
dependent upon tn tickle and often
false judgment of men. Now, among
these, but immeasurably the greatest
and the highest and the saintliest, is
the incompatible Queen of the Heay-
emily Host, MARY Most Holy"
Why, it may be asked, do we honor
her? What forms the basis and foun-
dalton of our profound esteem? Our
esteem rests upon no mere fancy, but
springs up from the very heart of the
Christian faith-because she is the
Mother of God.
The Catholic church has been fire.
quently censured by Professionals as
being guilty of idolatry in giving to
Mary the honor and worship due to
God alone; but this is an imputation
which no one, but one totally ignorant
of the teaching and practice of the
Catholic church, could fabricate. The
Catholic church teaches and always
taught that supreme worship, or what
theologians call "Cultus Latriae," can
be given only to divine Person. Con-
sistently, therefore, if the Catholic
church taught that supreme worship"
must be given to Mary, it should also
hold that Mary is a divine person;
and this would be equivalent to de-
NAL of the Incarnation. For if Mary
were divine person, how could she
give to Christ, whose mother she is,
that flesh and blood wherewith He re-
deemed US? The Catholic church does
not, and never did, teach any such
doctrine, much less practice it. But
the Catholic church does, and always
did, teach that Mary is really and
truly the Mother of God" and that,
as such, she is the highest of all crea-
tuers, and, Therefore, deserves the
highest worship that can be given to
creatures. This the Catholic church
gives her, and nothing more.
But is Mary really and truly the
Mother Of God?" Yes; for, as all will
admit, she is the Mother of Christ"
and in Christ, though there are two
natures, the human and divine, there
is but one Person, and that a divine
Person. Now the object, or term" of
generation is not any one nature taken
in itself, but the person; and Christ,
in whom there is but one person, and
that divine, was born of Mary. There
fore, Mary is the mother of a divine
person; in other words, she is the
Mother of God" But a HISTORIAN
will object: But Mary did not gener-
ate the divine nature of Christ" True;
neither does any mother generate the
soul of the child, yet she is none the
less truly its mother. And why? Be
cause the term of generation is not
the nature, but the person.
God, in His divine nature, was not
indeed born of Mary, any more than
He died on the cross in that nature:
for in that nature He is eternal and
immortal-can neither be born nor die.
But God in His human nature was born
of Mary, and, therefore, what was born
of Mary was not simple humanity, but
God Himself in His humanity. or hui
man nature. Therefore, as by the In
carnation human nature becomes real
ly and substantially the nature of God.
Mary is as truly the Mother of God"
as any mother is or can be the mother
of her son. The relation of mother and
son nv virtue of tba br1oe+o+;o ,,-.