On January 1, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. The doctrine of the divine Motherhood is of highest importance and is the central belief concerning Mary as all other truths flow from it or towards it. Mary’s Immaculate Conception was to prepare her to become the Mother of God. The doctrines of Mary’s perpetual Virginity and Assumption are also linked to her divine Motherhood.
Although the title of Mary as the Theotokos, namely “God-bearer,” was solemnly defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431, that is not when Mary began to be the Theotokos. She was already the Mother of God before that. Mary has been honored under the title “Mother of God” from the earliest times. The title Theotokos does not explicitly appear in the New Testament, but there are implicit references to it in the Gospels. In Matthew’s Gospel Mary is referred to as Mother of the Immanuel (God with us). Mary is also called “Mother of Jesus” (Jn 2:1, 3), “Mother of the Lord.” (Acts 1:14) The solemn proclamation of Mary as the Mother of God in 431 was mostly in part in response to the heresies of Docetism, Gnosticism, and Manichaeism. Docetism denied that Jesus had a true human body. Gnostics denied that the Child born of Mary was God. Manichaeism also maintained a similar position.
Our world is plagued with human suffering. Both the just and the unjust, the rich and the poor, the great and the small are afflicted by suffering. In the face of all the world’s suffering, many have asked: Does God care about human suffering? Is God indifferent to the cries of one who suffers? The answers to these questions are evident
On December 8, 1854 Pope Pius IX defined as an article of faith that “the most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.” To become the mother of the Savior, Mary "was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 490)