In our family a birthday is a celebration of “I’m glad you were born.” Today we celebrate the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We are glad she was born!
While the Church celebrates the birth into eternal life of hundreds of saints, she celebrates the birth into earthly life of only three people: John the Baptist, Jesus, and Mary. The reason we celebrate their births is because of their roles in the kerygma, the Great Story of Salvation.
Mary’s conception without sin is the great celebration on December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Now, nine months later, we express our joy that the one conceived without sin is born. Information about Mary’s birth comes to us through tradition. The earliest record of it is in a 2nd century document, the Protoevangelium of James. By tradition her parents were Saints Joachim and Anne. They were an older merchant couple who lived in Jerusalem and had been childless until Mary’s birth. The Basilica of St. Anne, built in the 5th century, is supposed to have been built over the place where Mary was born.
How wonderful is the birth of a child! Even today, there are so many fears and worries as the time draws near. Then come the hours of labor, hours which are too long, too hard, too intense, too frightening. Finally comes the moment when this new child is born! Joy for everyone! As this tiny girl cried the cry that would teach her to breathe air, she was surely held close by her mother. Her mother’s joy surely radiated through her body to enwrap little Mary with love. Surely Anne and Joachim marveled at Mary’s tiny fingers and toes, her soft skin that soon lost the signs of the birth struggle. Just how did she look? Did she struggle to nurse or do it easily? How long before her little bright eyes recognized the faces of her parents? How old was she when she first smiled?
We muse about those details of Mary’s infancy as we talk about the first days of our own children and grandchildren. The birth of a child, every child, is a momentous thing. I have heard the saying, “Every child born is a sign that God wants the world to go on.”
Mary’s birth was a sign that God wanted the world to go on—differently. The scripture readings for today are not readings for tender sentiments. They are solemn and stately, for all history changed as tiny Mary gave her first cry for life. The chapter of God’s caring for the world that we know as the Old Testament, the history of God’s choice of the Hebrew people as His own special people, came to an end. A new chapter began. In this new chapter God will bridge from Hebrew history to “proclaim the Gospel to all the world.” This new chapter is Jesus and the kerygma.
For God to enter history in human form, Jesus had to have a fully human parent. Mary was that parent.
So why does the Gospel name the lineage of Joseph, when Joseph was a foster father? Why doesn’t scripture name the ancestors of Mary? Jewish custom did not keep the lineage of little girls. Joseph’s lineage is given to trace Jesus back to King David, because the promise of the Messiah had named David as his forefather. Other places in scripture trace David back to Abraham. It was with Abraham that God made the Hebrew covenant. So today we hear the story of many generations who lived and died in the hope of the child Mary would soon bear.
The first reading, from the prophet Micah, tells of that hope. “You Bethlehem—Ephrathah…from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel…he shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the Lord…and they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.”
After he gives the lineage of Joseph, Matthew tells of Mary, “Now 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.” He goes on to explain how God assured Joseph that Mary’s child was by the Holy Spirit. This was the promised Virgin Birth.
Scripture readings today are serious and stately, because this is the celebration of the birth of a queen, the Queen of Heaven, the Queen born to be a bridge.
My own reflection today, besides just treasuring images of Mary as a tiny baby, focuses on Mary’s role as bridge. Bridge between Old and New Testaments, yes, but also bridge throughout history of Christianity. Bridge for us today. Mary brings people to Jesus. She connects people with God.
Mary at Guadalupe, at Lourdes, at Fatima, at Medjugorge brings hope to the troubled. She carries with her a power toward conversion that enables God to touch and change countless hearts. Always Mary brings people to Jesus. People travel via devotion to her to encounter her Son. It is also often through Mary that God touches hard hearts, comforts those distressed, and works miracles of love.
Today, the Memorare seems the perfect prayer. Say it as Happy Birthday to Mary. Say it to tell her you are glad she was born. Say it to seek her out as a bridge to Jesus in your life. Say it as a way to show love for a little girl who became both Queen of Heaven and Mother of us all.
Prayer:
Remember, O Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly to you, O Virgin of virgins, my mother. To you I come, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy hear and answer me.
