January 1 marks the Eighth Day of Christmas, known to the Catholic Church as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. A solemnity is the highest-ranking type of Christian feast, and many are Holy Days of Obligation, meaning Catholics are expected to attend Mass unless they have a serious reason or dispensation not to. While Christmas and Easter stand as the greatest solemnities—celebrating Christ’s birth and resurrection—the Solemnity of Mary is not far behind.

Catholics and Orthodox Christians have long given the Virgin Mary a place of profound honor. For many Protestants, however, devotion to her can feel uncomfortable. Is it appropriate to dedicate services to the mother of Jesus or to ask for her intercession instead of addressing God directly? Might such practices risk sliding into idolatry or a form of goddess worship?

Catholics and Orthodox argue that the Virgin Mary, like all who are saved, is alive in Christ, not dead, as Scripture promises those who believe in Him “everlasting life.” Asking her—or any of the faithful departed who form the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in the New Testament—to pray for us is therefore seen as no different from asking living friends, relatives, and fellow believers to pray for us.

The longstanding disagreements over venerating the Virgin Mary cannot be settled here. Still, it’s worth noting that many Protestants across history have held her in profound esteem—not only Anglicans and Episcopalians, whose faith retains some Catholic elements, but even the arch-Protestant Martin Luther.

Despite his sharp criticisms of the Catholic Church and certain of its doctrines, Luther never rejected personal devotion to the Virgin Mary. In 1522, he stated, “The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart.” Nearly ten years later, in 1531, he preached that she was the “highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ… nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified,” adding that “We can never honor her enough”—while cautioning that such honor “must be given to her in such a way as to injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures.”

Whether your tradition leads you to join a Catholic Mass honoring the Mother of God on the Eighth Day of Christmas or not, it may still be fitting to pause and reflect on her indispensable role in the story of the Incarnation today. And if she’s still with you, consider reaching out to your own mother today.

Image by Nheyob.

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