By Valentine Obienyem

As our chaplain, Fr. Chigozie Jidere, proclaimed today’s Gospel on the genealogy of Jesus, my mind went to the story of Hecataeus of Miletus.

Within the colossal inner halls of the temple of Amun at Egyptian Thebes, Hecataeus boasted to the priests that he could trace his lineage back sixteen generations to a god. In response, the priests quietly led him past 345 colossal statues, each representing a successive generation of mortal high priests, assuring him that not one among them had been divine.

Today, commemorating the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church recounts a sacred lineage of her own: forty-two generations divided into three epics of fourteen: from Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian Exile, and the Exile to the Christ.

Drawing from this rich scriptural background, the homilist, Fr. Chigozie Jidere (Fr. Nwayo) reflected on Mary’s exalted place in salvation history. Christ gave her to humanity at the foot of the Cross when He said to John, “Behold, your mother.” She is the woman of Revelation standing firm against the dragon, a mother to every christian – Catholic and non-Catholics.

Against the mischivious misconception among many, Fr. made it clear that Catholics do not worship Mary; we venerate her. Just as she interceded at the wedding feast of Cana, prompting Christ’s first public miracle, we invite her maternal intercession into our personal lives and our troubled nation, praying that her prayers help deliver Nigeria from the grip of ruinous leadership.

Beyond the homily, it is worth noting that Mariology needlessly remains a point of theological contention among non-Catholic denominations. But should there truly be any dispute? Every ancient body with apostolic succession – including the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox communions – accords Mary profound veneration.

The Church has always drawn an unambiguous theological boundary between the worship due to the Creator and the honour shown to His finest handiwork: “Latria” is the adoration and sacrificial worship due to God alone; “Dulia” is the honour given to the saints and angels; and “Hyperdulia” is the pre-eminent veneration uniquely reserved for Mary as the Mother of the Word made flesh. Far from diminishing God, honouring her fulfils her own prophetic declaration in the Magnificat: “For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48).

Nowhere is this scriptural honour expressed more intimately than in the Holy Rosary. Far from being an unthinking repetition or a non-biblical invention, the Rosary is thoroughly rooted in Sacred Scripture and Christian antiquity. Its foundational prayers are taken directly from the Word of God: the Our Father given by Christ Himself in the Gospels (Matthew 6:9–13), and the first part of the Hail Mary, which weaves the archangel Gabriel’s angelic salutation at the Annunciation (Luke 1:28) with St. Elizabeth’s Holy Spirit-inspired greeting at the Visitation (Luke 1:42).

In Jerusalem, pilgrims still flock to the Church of St. Anne, cared for by the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), which pious tradition marks as the birthplace of the Virgin. From the earliest centuries, the Church Fathers honoured Mary not as a rival to Christ, but as integral to the mystery of the Incarnation. St. Irenaeus and St. Justin Martyr celebrated her as the “New Eve,” whose faithful obedience loosed the knot of ancient rebellion. Later, luminaries like St. Athanasius, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, and St. Augustine recognised that defending Mary’s role was essential to safeguarding the dual nature of Christ.

Ultimately, honouring Mary on her nativity is an affirmation of the Incarnation itself, just as early Church councils defended her title Theotokos to safeguard Christ’s true divinity and humanity. It is neither idolatry nor a cause for division, but a celebration of the dawn of redemption. In our troubled nation, we need not contend over the mother Christ gave us at Calvary. Instead, united across divides, we can turn with filial trust to her intercession, confident she will always lead us to her Son, the true hope of our restoration.