We know that all things work for good for those who
love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might
be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:28-29
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.” Matthew 1:21-23
Piety
Father, through the mysteries
of the birth and life of your servant Mary, may we imitate what her birth and life
reveal and obtain what her life and coronation promise through closer
friendship with your Son.
Study
The traditional date of
the feast, September 8, falls exactly nine months after the feast of the Immaculate
Conception of Mary. Some sources speculate that because of its close
proximity on the calendar to the feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Nativity
of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not celebrated today with the same solemnity as
the Immaculate Conception. It is, nonetheless, a very important feast, because
it prepares the way for the birth of Christ.
Without a willing, humble
and obedient vessel, the Nativity of our Lord would not have been possible. The Gospel today refers to the human lineage
of Jesus – a sprout from the tree of Jesse, the father of David the king. Such ancestry is connected on both the
paternal side as well as the maternal side.
So although Matthew goes into great detail of the generations of
ancestors for Joseph the carpenter, Mary’s blood lines were more important because
they made possible the birth of the virgin who would give birth to the savior-carpenter-king.
Without the virgin, the
prophecy would not have been fulfilled. Christ needed a mother, and Mary's
conception and birth, therefore, are events without which Christ's own birth
would have been impossible.
Interestingly, we normally
celebrate the day on which saints died, because that is when they entered into
eternal life. However, there are three
major exceptions. We celebrate the births of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Saint
John the Baptist, because all three were born without Original Sin.
Action
In Mary, we revere
qualities which would be ideal to imitate such as humility and obedience. By being more Mary-like, we can become more
Christ-like and get closer to Jesus in our daily life. As the reading from
Romans reminds us, God wants us to be conformed to the image of his Son. We can take a step in that direction by
starting with the example of Mary and her joys, her sorrows and her mission.
“Conform” is an
interesting choice of words for St. Paul (and his translators). It means to act in accordance or harmony. If we are to be conformed to the image of God’s
Son, we need people to mentor us and set an example for the prevailing attitude
and standards. Rather than look
elsewhere, Mary is our first guiding light into the way we can conform ourselves
and our lives to Christ. As with all things on this journey, it also requires
change from what we are doing now and movement away from any behavior which is
not in harmony with the life of Christ.
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