Maria Lactans – Honoring Mary as the Theotokos on the Octave Day of Christmastide

The octave day in the Christmastide is marked as the solemnity of Mary as the Theotokos, though it was formerly celebrated as the feast of the Circumcision of the Lord. It was because baby Jesus was circumcised and given his name, Jesus, on the 8^th day from his birth (Luke 2:21) in accordance with the brit milah mizvah of Leviticus 12:3.

On the Christmas octave day, a focus has shifted from the circumcision of the Son to his mother, Mary so that we can reflect on how baby Jesus was on the 8^th day from his birth with his mother, Mary.  Certainly, it is much better to reflect on Mary holding on 8-day-old baby Jesus in her breast than the circumcision of baby Jesus on his 8^th day of life.

What did 8-day old baby Jesus really look like with his mother, Mary? Imagine, 8-day-old baby Jesus being held in Mary’s breast, perhaps sucking breast milk from her nipple.

An image of Mary and baby Jesus together, baby Jesus held in Mary’s breast, being nursed by her love. And, this motherly love for her newborn baby may be symbolized by her life-sustaining breast milk and the breast itself. 

Baby Jesus on his 8^th day of life incarnate is extremely vulnerable and cannot survive without Mary’s breast. Unless Mary offers her breast to him, baby Jesus would not survive, not to mention, to thrive. Though he is God himself, the Messiah King, he came to this world as such a baby so vulnerable totally on the mercy of her mother’s loving care. And, as the handmaid of God (Luke 1:38) to serve God as the Theotokos, Mary gives her breast to her son, the Son of God, so that he can grow healthy and strong.

An image of Mary breastfeeding baby Jesus, not only give a sense of peace but secureness, keeping from anxieties. And, later in his life, Jesus himself invites us to this kind of peace and secureness as he calls us to be one with him as he is one with the Father.

As we complete the Christmas Octave in honoring Blessed Virgin Mary as the Theotokos with an image of Maria Lactans,  we also reflect that the love of God inviting us to rest in through Christ (John 14:20) in nursing Mary’s love for her Son, sucking her breast and resting there peacefully.

Maria Lactans not only represents the secure attachment of baby Jesus to his mother, Mary, but also our secure attachment to God, for which God the Father sent His only begotten Son, to which Mary has become the Theotokos as the handmaid of God.  Additionally, Maria Lactans, can be a heartwarming symbol that God’s chesed  can be compared to nursing mother’s love for her baby, as reflected in Isaiah 66:10-13.

May the New Year bring abundant blessings and grace of God like the richness of breast milk from Mary's breast that has nourished baby Jesus!