The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

We close the Christmas octave — the eight days following the birth of Christ — with a day honoring Mary as the Mother of God. This is a holyday of obligation this year.

“Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men. In this sense the Church’s Tradition has often read the most beautiful texts on wisdom in relation to Mary. Mary is acclaimed and represented in the liturgy as the “Seat of Wisdom.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church 721

“With his Mother’s flesh God clothed himself, / Since from Virginity he was made man.” — Prudentius, Hymn of the Divinity of Christ, 435-436