Our Lady Guadalupe, Estramadura Spain - Nstra Sra. Guadalupe, Estremadura, España
![“An Ivory Figure of ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’. India, Goa, Late 17th Century. Carved from a solid piece of ivory with Mary holding her hands in adoration, wearing a voluminous robe falling in elegant folds from her shoulders, the ivory with a natural brown patina. 6¾ in. (17.1 cm.) high.” [x]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lykpbbFy8b1r7s8vso1_1280.jpg)
“An Ivory Figure of ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’. India, Goa, Late 17th Century. Carved from a solid piece of ivory with Mary holding her hands in adoration, wearing a voluminous robe falling in elegant folds from her shoulders, the ivory with a natural brown patina. 6¾ in. (17.1 cm.) high.” [x]
Mary, Mother of God | January 1
Mary’s role as mother of God places her in a unique position in God’s redemptive plan. She consents to God’s invitation conveyed by the angel (Luke 1:26-38). Without naming Mary, Paul asserts that “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Paul’s further statement that “God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’” helps us realize that Mary is mother to all the brothers and sisters of Jesus. The precise title “Mother of God” goes back at least to the third or fourth century. In the Greek form Theotokos (God-bearer), it became the touchstone of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation. The Council of Ephesus in 431 insisted that the holy Fathers were right in calling the holy virgin Theotokos. At the end of this particular session, crowds of people marched through the street shouting: “Praised be the Theotokos!” The tradition reaches to our own day. In its chapter on Mary’s role in the Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church calls Mary “Mother of God” twelve times.
