Mary at Sacred Heart's entrance

Today marks the first picture in my picture-a-day project, and there’s no better day to start it because today is not only the first day of the new year — 1/1/11 — but it’s also the Solemnity (or feast day) of Mary, Mother of God.

If you’re not Catholic, this may sound weird to you. It did to me not too long ago. As a matter of fact, calling Mary the “Mother of God” was one of the big things that hung me up about becoming Catholic. (We started the RCIA program to convert in August 2009 and were confirmed in June 2010.)

The only time I remember my Protestant churches spending much time on Mary at all was around Christmas, and that was mostly relegated to the kids’ nativity skit. I never even wondered why.

I really had to analyze what it means that Mary is the Mother of God. As a Christian already, I believed that Mary is Jesus’ mother and that Jesus is not only the Son of God but IS God, as well. So the fact that she’s Mother of God is simply a logical deduction.

In this new year, I hope to be able to weed out any more subconsciously ingrained beliefs I may have and be inspired to understand more about my faith through this project.