Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today is the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. Happy Birthday Mary! Why do we celebrate Mary’s birth? The answer is one word: Hope. We believe that Jesus Christ inaugurated the Kingdom of God, but we all hesitate to put have hope in the reality that it is here, or that it is even coming into existence. Why is it hard to believe in the complete redemption humanity and all of creation? We see little examples of it hardwired into nature; winter leads into spring, forests come back to life after wildfires, rivers heal when pollution is removed. We even see it hardwired into people: time heals most wounds. Widowed people get re-married, brothers and sisters and parents forgive one another, and new babies keep being born. Diseases will be cured.
Yet in spite of these examples of Grace, we hesitate to believe in the Kingdom because in every age, we have found a way to mess it up. Whether in times of prosperity or poverty, peace or war, sin and injustice about. Every age embodies some virtues with excellence, while clinging to a favorite set of sins. As individuals we are the same. I find it hard to really have hope in the Kingdom of God, because I have never met a single person (least of all myself) who, given full entry into that Kingdom, wouldn’t find a way to continue screwing up, and probably mess up any nearby people and created spaces along the way.
Enter Mary. She is the firstborn of the total redemption of creation. She is our hope, not because of what she did, but because she is the embodiment of what God can do with a human being. We can be truly and completely protected, redeemed, transformed, and made right for the Kingdom. Our bodies, minds, and souls can be cleansed and healed from the effects of sin. Her yes, her cooperation with God opened the door to the fulfillment of the prophesy in the first reading: “…now his greatness/ shall reach to the ends of the Earth; he shall be peace.” Just as Mary’s “yes” brought Jesus into the world, our cooperation with Grace also makes the Body of Christ present to a wounded world. Christ’s presence drives out all sin, all injustice, and brings about perfect healing and restoration. Let’s take time to contemplate what Mary’s birth means, and where it calls us. May the proof of Mary’s birth, life, and assumption to heaven inspire us to cooperate with God as fully as she did. Amen.
-Chris Nieport