Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

On January 1st, the Church observes the solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.

Theotokos (The Mother of God)
[In the Letter to the Galatians] St. Paul said: “God sent forth his Son, born of woman” (Gal 4:4). Origen commented: “Note well that he did not say, ‘born by means of a woman’ but ‘born of a woman’” (Comment on the Letter to the Galatians, PG 14, 1298). This acute observation of the great exegete and ecclesiastical writer is important: in fact, if the Son of God had been born only “by means of” a woman, he would not truly have taken on our humanity, something which instead he did by taking flesh “of” Mary. Mary’s motherhood, therefore, is true and fully human. The fundamental truth about Jesus as a divine Person who fully assumed our human nature is condensed in the phrase: “God sent forth his Son born of woman.” He is the Son of God, he is generated by God and at the same time he is the son of a woman, Mary. He comes from her. He is of God and of Mary. For this reason one can and must call the Mother of Jesus the Mother of God [in Greek, Theotokos].

Pope Benedict XVI, Homily at First Vespers, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
December 31, 2006

 

As the world begins a new year, it is fitting that we invite Mary, the Mother of God, to pray with us and to pray for us.  Follow this link and pray the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary with your family.   http://www.usccb.org/prolife/liturgy/litany_mary3x.shtml

From the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy

115. On January 1st, the octave day of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God. The divine and virginal motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a singular salvific event: for Our Lady it was the foretaste and cause of her extraordinary glory; for us it is a source of grace and salvation because "through her we have received the Author of life"(127).

The solemnity of 1 January, an eminently Marian feast, presents an excellent opportunity for liturgical piety to encounter popular piety: the first celebrates this event in a manner proper to it; the second, when duly catechised, lends joy and happiness to the various expressions of praise offered to Our Lady on the birth of her divine Son, to deepen our understanding of many prayers, beginning with that which says: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners".

116. In the West, 1 January is an inaugural day marking the beginning of the civil year. The faithful are also involved in the celebrations for the beginning of the new year and exchange "new year" greetings. However, they should try to lend a Christian understanding to this custom making of these greetings an expression of popular piety. The faithful, naturally, realize that the "new year" is placed under the patronage of the Lord, and in exchanging new year greetings they implicitly and explicitly place the New Year under the Lord's dominion, since to him belongs all time (cf. Ap 1, 8; 22,13)(128).

A connection between this consciousness and the popular custom of singing the Veni Creator Spiritus (Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest...) can easily be made so that on 1 January the faithful can pray that the Spirit may direct their thoughts and actions, and those of the community during the course of the year(129).

117. New year greetings also include an expression of hope for a peaceful New Year. This has profound biblical, Christological and incarnational origins. The "quality of peace" has always been invoked throughout history by all men, and especially during violent and destructive times of war.

The Holy See shares the profound aspirations of man for peace. Since 1967, 1 January has been designated "world day for peace".

Popular piety has not been oblivious to this initiative of the Holy See. In the light of the new born Prince of Peace, it reserves this day for intense prayer for peace, education towards peace and those value inextricably linked with it, such as liberty, fraternal solidarity, the dignity of the human person, respect for nature, the right to work, the sacredness of human life, and the denunciation of injustices which trouble the conscience of man and threaten peace.