January 1 on the Church calendar

This icon by Aidan Hart is titled, The Mother of God and Savior. Notice that although Jesus is imaged as as a child, his muscularity and strength are beyond his years. At the same time, Mary is rendered as great, indeed "large enough" to be the Mother of God. A similar shift in proportion is at work in the familiar Pieta where the figure of Mary is much larger than the Christ she holds in her lap. (Click on the image for a larger version.)

January 1 is the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God on the liturgical calendar. On the civil calendar it is New Year's Day. It is also the World Day of Peace and the 2011 edition of the pope's annual message for this occasion can be found here.

The scriptures for this day are, I believe, the shortest lections of the whole liturgical year. You can find them here.

Neil, a regular contributor to Todd's blog, Catholic Sensibility, has a fine post on the gospel for January 1.

 
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