Thought for the Day – 27 June – The Memorial of St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Father and Doctor of the Incarnation
Theotokos is the official name of Mary and it is well to remember the great battle that was fought (and to my mnd, continues to fought today) over this title. SHE IS the Mother of God – the Son of God was born of her in His human nature, without ceasing to be God. The whole mystery of the Incarnation is bound up in Mary and she is at the very heart of the work of Jesus’ Redemption of mankind!
St Cyril of Alexandria’s battle raged over the combined front of the Divinity of Christ and therefore, Mary the Mother of the Divinity, is summed up thus: “Only if it is one and the same Christ who is consubstantial with the Father and with men can He save us, for the meeting ground between God and man is the flesh of Christ. Only if this is God’s own flesh can man come into contact with Christ’s divinity through His humanity, through his earthy mother, Mary. Because of our kinship with the Word made flesh we are sons of God. The Eucharist consummates our kinship with the word, our communion with the Father, our sharing in the divine nature—there is very real contact between our body and that of the Word.”
St Cyril of Alxandria, pray for us.
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
AnaStpaul 