By Jacqueline Kelly –
Mary is not just for theologians, intellectuals, artists and poets. She is the Mother of everyone, entire mankind and that is what we sense in her presence.Somehow, we do make a difference to her. Somehow, she sees and knows and somehow she cares and expresses that care in ways known to each one personally.
This instinct was very simply expressed by a small Mexican boy praying before a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and asking for some favour: ” You can’t say you can’t and you won’t say you won’t so you will won’t you ?” Mary is truly our Mother of tender compassion. All over the world Catholics have erected shrines that have taken on national importance.
Tradition has it that Mary was born in Nazareth, Galilee somewhere between 22 B.C. – 18 B.C. She too is from Adam’s stock but through God’s privilege she was conceived without original sin. She is immaculate. Mary’s name in the original manuscripts of the New Testament was based
on her original Aramaic name Maryam or Mariam. The English name Mary comes from the Greek word Mapia.
Hyppolitus of Thebes says that Mary lived for eleven years after the death of Her Son, Jesus dying in 41 A.D.
Mary, Mother of God means that the Blessed Virgin Mary who was with the child in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, whom She carried in Her body for nine months and gave birth to ……IS GOD.
Mary is called by St. Augustine, and is indeed, the “living mould of God”, fashioned by the Holy Spirit. She is God’ s Garden of Paradise created in a world unknown to most mortals here on earth. Born without original sin, the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary was the most beautiful ever created by God. We rejoice at the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary because Her birth marks the beginning of countless gifts from God to man, the greatest of all gifts being His only begotten Son – JESUS CHRIST- who presented us with His greatest treasure on Earth: His Mother, to be our Mother too. That gives immense reason to celebrate Her birthday with joy.
The feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary had it’s origin in Palestine. It goes back to the consecration of a Church in Jerusalem, which tradition identifies as the present Basilica of St. Anne.Celebrated first in Jerusalem in the 5th Century and introduced in Rome in the 7th Century this feast assumed notable importance from the 13th Century onwards. For some centuries now, the birth has been assigned to 8th September, thus helping in fixing the date of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on 8th December nine months before the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The feast of Mary,”Mother of God” is an invitation for all of us to follow the Will of God as did Mother Mary for She said to the Angel, “Let it be done according to Your Will”.
The use of the title “Mother of the Church” to the Virgin Mary goes back to St. Ambrose of Milan in the 4th Century. This fact was rediscovered by Hu Rahen in 1944. Mary’s presence in the Church, as the “Mother of Christ” and at the same time as the “Mother of All” was given to humanity in the person of the Apostle John at the foot of the Cross at Calvary.
The birth of Our Blessed Virgin Mary represents the entrance into the world of a new grace, a new blessing and a new presence that was an incomparable sign of the presence, blessing and grace that would come with the Saviour. It was through Mary that we received the gift of all gifts – Jesus Christ and with Him the gifts of freedom from the slavery of sin, holiness and peace. As we celebrate the birth of Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother too, may Our Blessed Mother lead us to holiness, to true freedom and to true peace.
Pope Leo XIII wrote, “She is invoked as “Mother of the Church” and the “Teacher and Queen of the Apostles”.
Pope Paul VI also called Mary, “Model of the Church” in light of Her faith, love and completer unity with Christ. She is indeed “Mother of the Church” because She gave birth to Christ who is the mystical “Body of the Church”.
Saint Bernard has rightly stated,” When you follow Mary you will not go astray; when you pray to Her, you will not despair; when your mind is on Her, you will not wander; when She holds you up, you will not fall; when She protects you, you will have no fear; when She guides you, you will feel no fatigue; when She is on your side, you will arrive safely home.”
“She keeps Her Son from striking us; She prevents the devil from harming us;She preserves virtue in us; She prevents our merits from being lost and our graces from receding.”
Yet today every nation calls Her Blessed.