Mary, the Mother of God?

I recently received the following question from a visitor to my Web site: "as a catholic I was taught to pray and Venerate the virgin Mary as well as praying to the saints , our Bishop & Priests would always tell us worship & pray to Mary the mother of Jesus. just a point of Information Mary was never the mother of God !! For God always was. he had no beginning nor End he never Died nor was he Born he is everlasting and had no Earthly Mother or Father !!!Mary would have had to be a God to Give Birth to God the Father !!"

My response: As a Catholic you should have NEVER been told to worship Mary. Catholics DO NOT worship Mary, the Mother of Christ - as though she were a diety. Catholics are just as aware as Protestants that Mary was a human creature, and therefore not entitled to the honors which are reserved to God alone. What many non-Catholics mistake for adoration is a very profound love and veneration, nothing more. Mary is not adored, first because God forbids it, and secondly because the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, which is based on Divine Law, forbids it. Canon Law 1255 of the 1918 Codex strictly forbids adoration of anyone other than the Holy Trinity. However, Catholics do feel that Mary is entitled to a great measure of exaltation because, in choosing her as the Mother of Redemption, God Himself exalted her - exalted her more than any other human person before or since. Catholics heap tribute and honor on Mary because they earnestly desire to be "followers of God, as most dear children." (Ephesians 5:1). Mary herself prophesied: "For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name." (Luke 1:48-49). Catholics know that every bit of the glory they give to Mary reflects to the glory of her divine Son, just as Mary magnified God, not herself, when Elizabeth blessed her. (Luke 1:41-55). They know that the closer they draw to her, the closer they draw to Him who was born of her. In the year 434 St. Vincent of Lerins defended Christian devotion to Mary this way: "Therefore, may God forbid that anyone should attempt to defraud Holy Mary of her privilege of divine grace and her special glory. For by a unique favor of our Lord and God she is confessed to be the most true and most blessed Mother of God."

Mary's Divine motherhood is based on the teaching of the Gospels, on the writings of the Fathers, and on the express definition of the Church. St. Matthew (1:25) testifies that Mary "brought forth her first-born son" and that He was called Jesus. According to St. John (1:15) Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Word Who assumed human nature in the womb of Mary. As Mary was truly the mother of Jesus, and as Jesus was truly God from the first moment of His conception, Mary is truly the mother of God. Even the earliest Fathers did not hesitate to draw this conclusion as may be seen in the writings of St. Ignatius, St. Irenaeus, and Tertullian. The contention of Nestorius denying to Mary the title "Mother of God" was followed by the teaching of the Council of Ephesus proclaiming Mary to be Theotokos (God-bearer, Mother of God) in the true sense of the word. (See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464b.htm)

When you state that "Mary was never the mother of God" are you denying that Jesus is God? If you believe in the Holy Trinity (Three Persons - One Divine Nature) then you must believe that Jesus is God. If you believe in the Incarnation then you must believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. We believe that Jesus is True God and True Man.
Simply stated:
1) Mary is the Mother of Jesus (He received His humanity from Mary, His Mother).
2) Jesus is God (He received His divinity from God, His Father).
3) Mary is the Mother of God (since there can be no separation between His Divinity and His humanity).

This does not in any way imply that Jesus received His divinity from Mary. He didn't.