Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the first and most perfect of His disciples. As Catholics, we honor and revere Mary because of her role as the Mother of God. She became the Christ-bearer, the one through whom Jesus entered the world, making redemption possible. “Mary’s role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it.” (CCC 964)
God the Father honored Mary by choosing her and allowing the fullness of divinity to take human form within her. He sent the angel, Gabriel, to announce, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28)
Jesus honored Mary when he changed the water into wine at the Wedding feast at Cana - because she requested it! Mary was also honored by the first disciples as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:14)
The Holy Spirit honored Mary, with her fiat, her consent to God the Father, to be the bearer of Christ, the Son of God.
Catholics honor Mary by requesting her intercession, that is, asking her to pray to God for us or to join her prayer with ours. We can pray directly to God, but by asking for Mary’s intercession, we have someone praying for us and with us who is very close to Jesus.
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception states that Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception and free of sin throughout her life. God saved her from Adam and Eve’s sin and prevented her from the burden of guilt. This allowed Mary to be the spotless vessel to receive and carry the divine Son of God.
Dogma is a belief or tenet of the Church that cannot be disputed or denied. Its belief and acceptance by the faithful is necessary for salvation.
We acknowledge that Mary is the Mother of God because Jesus is the Son of God, and his divine and human natures cannot be separated. While God the Father was the source of Jesus’ divine nature, he received his human nature from Mary. As the second person of the Trinity, the Son has existed for all eternity. Yet, at the moment of his Incarnation, the Son became both human and divine in Jesus. Since Mary is the Mother of a divine person, it’s proper to call her the “Mother of God”.