Each September 8the Church celebrates the Nativity of the Virgin MaryThe feast that commemorates the birth of the Mother of God. The celebration is closely linked to the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), for nine months later the Church contemplates the gift of his birth.
Mary's birth is seen as the beginning of the fulfillment of the divine promises: she is the woman chosen to be the Mother of the Savior.
Many centuries had passed since God, on the threshold of Paradise, promised our first parents the coming of the Messiah. Hundreds of years in which the hope of the people of Israel, depositary of the divine promise, was centered on a maiden, of the lineage of David, that shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel, which means God with us. (Is 7, 14). Generation after generation, the pious Israelites awaited the birth of the Mother of the Messiah, the one who is to give birth, as Micah explained against the backdrop of Isaiah's prophecy (cf. My 5, 2).
Several Popes have described this feast as the dawn announcing the arrival of the Sun of righteousness: Jesus Christ.. At words of St. John Paul IIThe birth of the Virgin Mary is a luminous sign that prepares for the Incarnation of the Son of God.
The liturgy calls her "the root of our joy" because in Mary the plan of salvation begins to become visible. The prophet Micah, quoted on this feast, announces that the Savior will be born in Bethlehem and that he himself will be peace. Mary, daughter of Israel and mother of the Messiah, is the bridge between the promise and its fulfillment.
Pope Francis recalled that this feast also speaks of peace. In the readings of the day, the word peace resounds three times, because the arrival of Mary prepares the heart of humanity to receive Christ, the Prince of Peace.
To celebrate the birth of the Virgin Mary is to recognize her as star of hope. She enlightens the Church and every Christian, inviting us to live open to God, as she did, and to let Christ transform our lives.
The Nativity of the Virgin Mary is not only a historical memory, but a feast that encourages us to look at life with faith: Mary is a model of holiness and spiritual beauty.the perfect creature that God prepared for his Son.
Its birth marks the beginning of salvationShe is the link between the promises of the Old Testament and their fulfillment in Christ. For the faithful, her feast is an occasion to renew their trust in God and to ask for the grace to live with the same docility and faith that Our Lady had.
When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal 4, 4-5). God is careful to choose his Daughter, Spouse and Mother. And the holy Virgin, the very high Lady, God's most beloved creature, conceived without original sin, came to our earth. She was born in the midst of a profound silence. They say that in autumn, when the fields sleep. None of his contemporaries realized what was happening. Only the angels in heaven made merry.
Of the two genealogies of Christ that appear in the Gospels, the one recorded by St. Luke is most probably that of Mary. We know that she was of noble lineage, a descendant of David, as the prophet had pointed out when speaking of the Messiah.a shoot shall come forth from the stock of Jesse, and from its roots shall blossom a scion (Is 11, 1)-and as St. Paul confirms when he writes to the Romans about Jesus Christ, born of the seed of David after the flesh (Rm 1, 3).
An apocryphal writing from the second century, known as the Protoevangelium of Santiago, has transmitted to us the names of her parents - Joachim and Anna - which the Church inscribed in the liturgical calendar. Various traditions place the place of Mary's birth in Galilee or, more probably, in the holy city of Jerusalem, where the ruins of a 5th century Byzantine basilica have been found, built over the so-called "holy city of Jerusalem". Santa Ana housevery close to the Probationary pool. No wonder the liturgy puts on Mary's lips some phrases from the Old Testament: I have settled in Zion. In the beloved city he has given me rest, and in Jerusalem is my dominion. (Sir 24, 15).
✠ A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew1:1-16. 18-23
Book of the origin of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.
Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat Judah and his brothers. Judah begat, of Tamar, Pharez and Zarah, Pharez begat Eshron, Eshron begat Aran, Aran begat Amminadab, Amminadab begat Nahshon, Nahshon begat Salmon, Salmon begat, of Rachab begat Boaz, Boaz begat, of Ruth, Obed, Obed begat Jesse, Jesse begat David the king.
David by Uriah's wife begat Solomon, Solomon begat Rehoboam, Rehoboam begat Abijah, Abijah begat Asaph, Asaph begat Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begat Jehoran, And Joran begat Uzziah, and Uzziah begat Johanan, and Johanan begat Ahaz, and Ahaz begat Hezekiah, and Hezekiah begat Manasseh, and Manasseh begat Amos, and Amos begat Josiah; Josiah begat Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the Babylonian exile.
After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah begat Shealtiel, Shealtiel begat Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel begat Abiud, Abiud begat Eliakim, Eliakim begat Azor, Azor begat Zadok, Zadok begat Zadok, Zadok begat Aquinas, Aquinas begat Eliud, Eliud begat Eleazar, Eleazar begat Mattan, Mattan begat Jacob; And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
The generation of Jesus Christ was like this: Mary, his mother, was betrothed to Joseph and, before they lived together, it turned out that she was expecting a son by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Joseph, her husband, being just and not wanting to defame her, decided to divorce her privately. But, no sooner had he taken this resolution, than an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said:
"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for the child in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
All this happened to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
"Behold: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means "God-with-us"."
Opusdei.org. Life of Mary.
