Faithful Disciple

September 8th is the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast, while not a Holy Day of Obligation, is one of the most important feasts of the liturgical calendar, so great in fact that it is one of only three births celebrated in the Church calendar (the others being the bith of Christ and the birth of John the Baptist).

Why is this feast so important? Because it is a precursor to the Incarnation of our own Salvation (Jesus). In Mary’s Conception she was spared from Original Sin and with her birth she became the new Eve, mother of all living, and since we have eternal life in Christ we are the living.

Mary was spared form sin, by the grace of God, retroactively . While the rest of Creation had to wait for the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, Mary, in preparation for the birth of our Lord, was credited with the merits of Jesus’ earthly ministry before He entered her womb and the world. This is possible because God works not in our time limitations (2 Peter 3:8”...that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.”).

On this Feast of Mary’s Nativity, let us pray in thanksgiving, through the intercession of Mary, for the gift of salvation, the hope of resurrection in Christ, and restraint from the near occasion of sin.