The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, September 8, 2021

Matthew1:18-23

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel”, which means “God is with us.”

The following is from the ancient apocryphal book called “The Proto-Gospel of James”: “And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by, saying: Anna, Anna, the Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth; and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world. And Anna said: As the Lord my God lives, if I beget either male or female, I will bring it as a gift to the Lord my God; and it shall minister to Him in holy things all the days of its life.   And, behold, two angels came, saying to her: Behold, Joachim your husband is coming with his flocks. For an angel of the Lord went down to him, saying: Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God has heard your prayer. Go down hence; for, behold, your wife Anna shall conceive. And Joachim went down and called his shepherds, saying: Bring me hither ten she-lambs without spot or blemish, and they shall be for the Lord my God; and bring me twelve tender calves, and they shall be for the priests and the elders; and a hundred goats for all the people. And, behold, Joachim came with his flocks; and Anna stood by the gate, and saw Joachim coming, and she ran and hung upon his neck.”  This is the oldest tradition that has come down to us regarding the conception and birth of the Virgin Mary.  Nothing unusual or remarkable seems to have occurred at the time she was born.  The book merely tells us that, “And her months were fulfilled, and in the ninth month Anna brought forth. And she said to the midwife: What have I brought forth? And she said: A girl. And said Anna: My soul has been magnified this day. And she laid her down. And the days having been fulfilled, Anna was purified, and nursed the child, and called her name Mary.”  Despite the lack of wonders and prodigies, such as attended the Birth of Mary’s Son, a new age dawned with her birth.  For the first time since the creation of Adam and Eve, a human walked the earth who did not know the taint of Original Sin.  

We ought to consider how differently the Virgin Mary looked at the world and how she acted in it, for her Immaculate Conception causes her to be very different from us.  She would have felt somewhat alien to her surroundings, and other people, with their mixed motivations, muddy thinking, and often sinful actions, would have confused her.  For one thing, she saw all the adults around her as married couples so that seemed to be the norm for adults, but she felt called to virginity from her earliest moments.  Her whole world was God, and having a husband to take care of did not make any sense to her.  St. Paul helps us understand her heart: “The unmarried woman and the virgin thinks on the things of the Lord: that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinks on the things of the world: how she may please her husband” (1 Corinthians 7, 34).  

On this Feast Day of her birth, we marvel at her holiness and the purity of her heart, and ask her to obtain for us the graces we need to please God too.

“Grant your servants the gift of your divine grace, O Lord.  Let the solemn Feast of the Blessed Virgin’s Nativity establish us more securely in peace, just as her motherhood heralded the beginning of our salvation.  Through Christ our Lord.”