Saint of the Day: 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

“We who believe in the Gospel can pour into this observance a wonderful treasury of original and powerful ideas, such as that of the intangible world-wide brotherhood of all men, derived from the one, sovereign, most lovable Fatherhood of God, and arising from the communion which, whether really or hopefully, unites all of us with Christ, as well as from the prophetic vocation which, in the Holy Spirit, calls the human race to unity, not only in conscience, but in works and in final destiny. From the Gospel's precept to pardon and to have mercy, we can draw forces which will regenerate society.”—Pope Saint Paul VI, Message of His Holiness for a Day of Peace (1968)

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember the monk and martyr Saint Telemachus. On January 1, 404 (or 391, according to some sources), Telemachus tried to stop a gladiatorial battle in an amphitheater in Rome (sometimes thought to be the famed Colosseum). In retaliation, he was killed by the crowds who were infuriated by the interruption of the games. The martyrdom of Telemachus is said to have moved the Emperor Honorius, a Christian, to outlaw gladiatorial combat in the Roman Empire

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 Father Silas Henderson, S.D.S.