The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

The meaning of the celebration

+ To honor Mary as the Theotokos, the Mother of God, is to celebrate the unique role that she played (and continues to play) in God’s plan of salvation.

+ The Solemnity of Mary Mother of God—the Octave Day of Christmas—also recalls the circumcision and naming of Jesus on the eighth day after his birth (see Luke 2:21).

+ Since 1968, the Church has also celebrated the World Day for Peace on January 1. In his Message for the first World Day of Peace, Blessed Pope Paul VI declared, “It is Our desire that, every year, this commemoration [of “The Day of Peace”] be repeated as a hope and as a promise… that Peace with its just and beneficent equilibrium may dominate the development of events to come.”

For prayer and reflection

“At the beginning of the New Year, then, let us place ourselves under the protection of this woman, the Mother of God, who is also our mother. May she help us to keep and ponder all things, unafraid of trials and with the joyful certainty that the Lord is faithful and can transform every cross into a resurrection.”—Pope Francis

Spiritual bonus

On this day, we also remember Blessed Marian Konopinski. A priest and the vicar-general of the archdiocese of Poznan, he was arrested in 1939 during the Nazi invastion of Poland. Imprisoned in the concentration camp at Dachau, he ministered to other prisoners, even as his health was ravaged by the medical experiments that were performed on him. He died at Dachau on January 1, 1943, and was beatified in 1999.

Religious Life

The Benedictine Sisters of Mother of God Monastery (Watertown, SD): www.watertownbenedictines.org

Carmelite Nuns of Mother of God Carmel (San Rafael, CA): www.motherofgodcarmel.org

Carmelite Nuns of the Carmel of Mother of God (Pewaukee, WI): www.pewaukeecarmel.com

Dominican Nuns of Mother of God Monastery (West Springfield, MA): www.vocationws.com

Missionary Sisters of the Mother of God (Ukrainian Catholic): www.facebook.com/MSMGNUNS

Poor Servants of the Mother of God: www.smgsisters.com

Prayer

O God, who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary
bestowed on the human race
the grace of eternal salvation,
grant, we pray,
that we may experience the intercession of her,
through whom we were found worthy
to receive the author of life,
our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.