Mother of God and the following week
Sunday, January 1 to Saturday, January 7
This week as per the dates above those of us in the Roman Church are celebrating the week of Mary Mother of God.
The week began on New Year’s Day and is now known as the Solemnity of Mary
Solemnity of Mary Facts & Quotes
The song “Vein Creator Spirits” in English “Come Creator Spirit” is sung during the majority of services for the Solemnity of Mary. In the Roman Catholic Church, this hymn is usually sung or read aloud to denote the start of something new. It exhorts the Holy Spirit to guide the new undertakings:
Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest, and in our souls take up Thy rest; come with Thy grace and heavenly aid to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
The Solemnity of Mary was at one time part of three feasts on January 1 They included the Lord’s octave, a recap of Christmas, and the Lord’s circumcision. Catholics hold that the beginning of the Redeemer’s ministry was marked by the blood that the infant Jesus shed on the day of his circumcision.
Roman Catholics, as opposed to Protestant Christians, consider Mary’s role necessary to their salvation because the crucifixion and resurrection would not have occurred without her carrying the Child of God. Mary is perplexed by what the angel Gabriel tells her about the plans God has for her when he first appears. She says, “Let it be,” because she has faith in God. (Luke 1:26-38).
What Protestants believe about Mary
Quote-
“Some early Protestant Reformers venerated and honoured Mary. Martin Luther said of Mary:
the honour given to the mother of God has been rooted so deeply into the hearts of men that no one wants to hear any opposition to this celebration… We also grant that she should be honoured, since we, according to Saint Paul’s words [Romans 12] are indebted to show honour one to another for the sake of the One who dwells in us, Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have an obligation to honour Mary. But be careful to give her honour that is fitting. Unfortunately, I worry that we give her all too high an honour for she is accorded much more esteem than she should be given or than she accounted to herself.[1]
Zwingli said, “I esteem immensely the Mother of God” and “The more the honour and love of Christ increases among men, so much the esteem and honour given to Thus the idea of respect and high honour was not rejected by the first Protestants; but rather it was the matter of degrees of honour given to Mary, as the mother of Jesus, that Protestant Reformers were concerned with, and therefore the practical implications for Mariology are still a matter of debate” continued ( This page was last edited on 3 December 2022, at 10:11 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0)
Mary is referred to as the Queen of Peace in Roman Catholicism since the Messiah is known as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). The solemnity of Mary also serves as the Catholic Church’s annual World Day of Prayer for Peace.
“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” – Angel Gabriel to Mary upon entering her home (Luke 1:28)
The majority text is paraphrased from https://www.wincalendar.com/au/Solemnity-of-Mary
“Systems, S. (2023). Solemnity of Mary in Australia – Sunday, 1 January 2023. [online] www.wincalendar.com. Available at: https://www.wincalendar.com/au/Solemnity-of-Mary [Accessed 5 Jan. 2023].”