Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

Though New Year’s Day may seem more like a day for football and resolutions than for Mary, there’s a beautiful spiritual significance in celebrating her today as the Holy Mother of God.

Mary was not only Jesus’ mother in a biological sense. Rather, her most profound union with her divine Son came from her spiritual union with His will and that of the Father in Heaven. Mary’s motherhood encompassed her whole being. She said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She heard the word of God and observed it perfectly throughout her life.

Mary, more than anyone else, can lead us to her Son, for no one knows who Jesus is, and no one knows how to relate with Him as well as she does.

Saint Peter Julian Eymard also shared a special relationship with Mary, going back to his first reception of Holy Communion. In preparation at the age of twelve, he made a pilgrimage alone and on foot to Notre Dame du Laus, some 38 miles from La Mure. He returned with a special grace, which he later noted: “There, for the first time, I knew Mary and loved her.” Peter Julian referred to Mary as “my good mother.” The title “Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament,” which he loved so much, suggests not only the intimate relationship between Mary and his eucharistic vocation but also how she served as a model for him to live the consequences of this sacrament of love.

On this first day of a brand-new year, let us resolve, as Mary and Saint Peter Julian did, to “keep” the Word in our hearts, to acquire a taste for the interior life, and to be nourished regularly by the Eucharist.

Let Us Pray:

We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God;
Do not despise our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us always from every danger,
O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.
(Ancient Marian Prayer)