Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today’s Mary’s birthday. Or at least it’s the traditional date that the Church has chosen to celebrate the feast of Mary’s birth, her “nativity” – nine months after December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Today’s feast of Mary’s nativity is also just a week away from September 15, Our Lady of Sorrows. As a mother, it causes me to wonder: could Mary’s parents, Saints Anne and Joachim, have known what significance the fruit of (Saint) Anne’s womb would have on the salvation of the world? That through Mary’s “yes” to God, the fruit of their daughter’s womb would be the Son of God, the Messiah?
As a mother, I also think about how much is unknown about our children’s futures. We celebrate their births, and hope and pray for their wellbeing and future lives without any guarantees. We can worry and dream, have faith and pray, yet not truly know what joys and sorrows our children will face in their lifetimes, however long or short they may be. I’m guessing this was true for Anne and Joachim about their daughter Mary, as much as it was for Mary and Joseph about their son, Jesus. Yet, I suspect, their faith sustained them and helped prepare them for whatever lay ahead.
Today we can celebrate with joy and gratitude the birth of Mary, the Mother of God. Next week we will remember her as Our Lady of Sorrows. She is one in the same.
I’d like to share this prayer for today’s feast from Proclaiming All your Wonders: Prayers for a Pilgrim People (1991):
Lord our God,
today we celebrate the birth of Mary, the new Eve, whom you prepared as the dwelling place of your inaccessible light.
May we so share in this mystery as to cast off all shadow of darkness, and live as children of the light.
We ask this through him who is the fruit of her womb, and light of the world,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Happy Birthday, Mary, with love for all the love you have given.
~Eileen Miller