On January 1, eight days into the season of Christmas, the Church celebrates someone who played a major role in making Christmas possible: Mary, the Mother of God. The Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, gives us another perspective on the miracle of Jesus’s life.When we say that Mary is the Mother of God, we are honoring Mary for her fiat — her “let it be done” — that allowed Jesus to come into the world, and we are testifying to the amazing mystery of the Incarnation, that Mary’s child really was God, from the first moment of his existence and throughout his human life.The Incarnation means that God isn’t “out there” somewhere else. God is active in human history, and that continues right up to today.Here are the Mass readings for this Holy Day.And here’s more about the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.Read more from Pope Francis’s Homily for the Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God (1/1/17 at Vatican Basilica), originally published on the Vatican’s website.
