19 Introduction period for the Church and the Mexican people in 1929. One can sense here the pain and suffering that so many of the faithful in Mexico had just endured. The year 1931 marked the 400th anniversary of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Juan Diego on Mount Tepeyac. It also marked the 1,500th anniversary of the decrees of the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus. The council was convoked to rule on the controversial teachings ofNestorius, thepatriarchofConstantinople (428–31), who taught that it was heresy to call Mary the Mother of God (Theotokos) since being born was not proper to the divine nature. Instead, he argued, she should only be called the Mother of Christ (Christotokos). At stake in this controversy was the identity of Jesus. In what way was he human and divine? The Council of Ephesus solemnly taught that Christ was one person with two natures: human and divine. He was fully human, and he was fully divine. Since Mary gave birth to the one person, she gave birth to himwho is fully divine. She is rightly called the Mother of God. Archbishop Martínez’s essay on this anniversary is arguably the most theological entry in this collection and adroitly connects the implications of the dogma defined at Ephesus with the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe 1,100 years later.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzMzNzY=