Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

*Cast Into Deep*

8th Sept., 2020

Read

Mic 5:1-4a

Resp. Is 61

Mat 1:1-16, 18-23

The 8th of September every year is celebrated as the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This cannot be found in scripture. We (Catholics) have special reasons to celebrate the birth of some of the heroes of the Christian faith. We celebrate the birth of John the Baptist on the 24th of June and that of Jesus himself on the 25th of December. This does not actually mean they were born on those specific days. We have thought it wise to set special days for them and commemorate their births.

The commemoration of the birth of these people draw our minds to the following:

1. They had human origin and ancestry.

2. They were once vulnerable like us.

3. Since they were like us, we too can be like them.

Birthdays should be days that we thank God for where He has taken us from and where He has now placed us in life.

Birthdays should be a time for sober reflection upon how we had lived the past years and make resolutions to be better in the new age that has been bestowed on us.

Let us not just eat and drink because it is the day of our birth but also pray and thank God.

Like the text above, we should see ourselves as the virgin that God has prepared who will give birth to Christ in our world. We should allow good thoughts to impregnate our hearts and minds so that our actions may bring forth the Messiah who is Emmanuel- THE GOD WHO IS AMONGST US. Let’s our good actions radiate the presence of God in our world. This is how Christ can be born amongst us.

“Lord Jesus, may we give birth to you through the kind words we offer to people and the good actions we perform towards one another”

By Rev. Fr Donatus Pallu