Sep-8 Nativity of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary

 September 8: Nativity of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary 

With two notable exceptions, the Church usually celebrates Saints’ feast days not on the day they were born, but rather the day they died and entered into eternity. These two exceptions are: Mother Mary’s birth on September 8th, and John the Baptist’s birth on June 24th.

We find the account of the nativity of St. John the Baptist in the Gospel of St. Luke (Lk 1:5-25’ 57-66).  But the four Gospels, centered as they are on the mystery of Christ and His salvific mission, do not provide a similar account of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The story of Mary’s birth comes from an old text — not part of the Canon of the Bible — called the “Protoevangelium of James” written around 135-170 AD.

According to the Protoevangelium of James 5:2, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anne (or Anna), were having difficulties conceiving a child. As recorded, “Joachim was exceedingly grieved, and did not come into the presence of his wife; but he retired to the desert, and there pitched his tent, and fasted forty days and forty nights, saying in himself: I will not go down either for food or for drink until the Lord my God shall look upon me, and prayer shall be my food and drink.”

Similarly, Anne “mourned in two mournings, and lamented in two lamentations, saying: I shall bewail my widowhood; I shall bewail my childlessness.” Then Anne “saw a laurel, and sat under it, and prayed to the Lord, saying: O God of our fathers, bless me and hear my prayer, as You blessed the womb of Sarah, and gave her a son Isaac.”

In the midst of her prayers an angel appeared and said, “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.” At the same time an angel appeared to Joachim, saying, “Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God has heard your prayer. Go down hence; for, behold, your wife Anne shall conceive.”

Their prayers were answered.  They received the promise of a child who would advance God’s plan of salvation for the world. They were given a daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculate Conception, who the Catholic Church holds was conceived without original sin. Because of her Son's infinite merits, Mother Mary was conceived and born immaculate and full of grace. Through her, Queen of Heaven and of Earth, all grace is given to mankind. She would become the Theotokos or “God-bearer”, the Mother of God, the Mother of all Christians, the Ever-Virgin Mary.

The Catholic Church celebrates today the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of September 8th, nine months after the December 8th solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, and recognizes her as the child of Saints Joachim and Anne.

Saint Augustine described the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary as an event of cosmic and historic significance, and an appropriate prelude to the birth of Jesus Christ. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley,” he said. He was emphatic about the Immaculate Conception of Mother Mary born without sin saying, "We must except the holy Virgin Mary. Out of respect for the Lord, I do not intend to raise a single question on the subject of sin. After all, how do we know what abundance of grace was granted to her who had the merit to conceive and bring forth him who was unquestionably without sin?"

The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a cause for all of us to rejoice.  Mary is given to each one of us as a mother. (Cf. Jn 19:26)  She continues to lead us to her son who is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.  

We end with this prayer:

Impart to your servants, we pray, O Lord,

the gift of heavenly grace,

that the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin

may bring deeper peace

to those for whom the birth of her Son

was the dawning of salvation.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever. 

May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.