The Nativit of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Micah 5:1-4, Mt. 1:1-6.18-23. We remember the birthday of people who are important in our lives. We also remember the birthday of those who have shared faith with us. The central person in terms of our faith life as Catholics is, Jesus and we remember His birthday on Christmas day. Next to Jesus is Mary and it is only fitting that the Church remembers her birthday. We celebrate the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary today to show appreciation to God for Mary’s life of love and service. While the Gospels report only the birth of Jesus, we celebrate Mary’s birthday because through her the Saviour came to us. She is the one through whom we receive Emmanuel, God-with-us.

After the Council of Ephesus in 431, when the Blessed Virgin Mary was designated as “Mother of God” (“Theotokos”), devotion to her spread in the Church. However, before that time, the joy of her birth was warmly remembered and celebrated among the Christians of Palestine. A devotional Christian text, the Proto-evangelium of James written in the second century, tells how Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, brought her to the Temple at a very early age. Today would be a good time to read this pre-Gospel story, to reflect upon the special graces surrounding Mary’s birth. Mary, who brought our Saviour into the world, is a loving Tabernacle of flesh for the living God, since it was in her womb, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that the incarnate Son of God was conceived. As His greatness would reach to the ends of the earth, so the grace of God was visible in His mother, from the beginning. The deep driving force of Mary’s life was her loving obedience to the will of God. This must be the intention of all who call themselves Christians, sharing in the very life of Christ Jesus.

May the Lord help us to appreciate the beauty of each moment and reflect the glory of God in our lives like Mary! Amen!! Keep safe and have a glorious day!!!