Why do we call Mary the Mother of God and not the Mother of Jesus?
We can and do call her both. Mary is a creature and obviously God created her. Yet, in the incarnation, the eternal God decided to take flesh in her womb, (Luke 1:31-35). Mothers are not called the mother of a nature but of a person. Jesus is a Divine Person who assumed a full human nature. Thus, it is proper, as the Council of Ephesus decreed in the year 431 AD, to call her "Theotokos" ("Dei Genetrix" or Mother of God), Luke 1:43 and Galatians 4:4), as well as Mother of Jesus Christ.
Reprinted from December 6, 1996
Why do Catholics pray to Mary? Is it not better to pray
directly to God?
A lady who was a Protestant minister before she became a Catholic said that as a minister before she became a Catholic said that as a minister she was often asked to pray for people in her congregation. She said that Protestants frequently would pray for each other, just as family members often will pray for one another. Thus she had no difficulty when she became a Catholic to see Mary as a member of the family called the Communion of Saints and, as a member of our family, asking her to pray for us. Jesus Christ is the one and only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). When we pray with and for each other, however, we take nothing away from this unique mediatorship of Jesus. Of course, we always can pray directly to God. But the veneration we offer to Mary and her intercession on our behalf can add to the efficacy of our own prayers, increase our devotion, and assist us to worship and adore God better.
Reprinted from October 25, 1996