Sep 8 – Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary announced joy and the approaching salvation of a lost world. Mary was brought into the world not like other children of Adam, infected with the contagion of sin, but pure, holy, beautiful, and glorious, adorned with all the most precious graces fitting for the one predestined to be the Mother of the Saviour. Never did she have the slightest inclination towards anything other than the absolute and immediate Will of God.
She appeared indeed in the weak condition of all mortals, but in the eyes of Heaven she already transcended the highest seraphim in purity, humility, charity, and the richest ornaments of grace. God had created her in the original grace, as in the beginning Adam and Eve had enjoyed that ineffable privilege; after original sin, it was lost for all Adam’s posterity, until the time of the Redemption dawned in Mary. (Cf. I Cor. 15:21-23)
The nations celebrate, often too noisily, the birthdays of the great ones of this earth. How then ought we, Christians, to rejoice in that of the Virgin Mary, Mother of our Salvation, and to present publicly to God the homage of our best praises and thanksgiving for the great mercies He has shown in her, imploring her mediation with her Divine Son!
Jesus of Nazareth will not reject the supplications of His most holy Mother, through whom He chose to descend from Heaven; she, the Spouse of the Canticle, is all beautiful and is the one He was pleased to obey while on earth. Her love, care, and tenderness for Him, the title and qualities which she bears, the charity and graces with which she is adorned, and the crown of glory with which she is honoured, incline Him readily to receive her recommendations and petitions.
http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/engl/09-08.htm
Mic 5:1-4
Mt 1:1-16,18-23
The Lord is therefore going to abandon them till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.
How many of us really pause to ponder on our own mother’s birth? Do I recognise that the history of my own existence stretches as far back as to the time of my mother being born into the world — and even further back into my grandmother’s birth, and so on? No doubt, some have difficult and tensed relationships with their mothers and find this contemplation challenging. May today’s feast, that celebrates the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, remind us of the reality of God’s great salvation plan. It stretches farther back in time before Jesus’ birth.
No human person who ever existed, came into existence without the woman who gave birth to him or her. Even cruel figures of history like Hitler, Pol Pot and Chinese Empress Wu Ze Tian had a mother. Every one has a mother who brought them in to the world, nursed them and cared for them. No matter their deeds, each was a child of God too.
The Gospel reading of today mentions the genealogy of Jesus through his paternal lineage. It does not tell us anything about Mary. There is no mention in the Bible of the maternal line, nor Mary’s parents, nor details of her birth. Are we thus inclined to think that none of it matters?
On the contrary, there is method to the mystery. If Jesus was a real historical figure, then Joseph and Mary were just as real as he was. Therefore if Mary was a real person, then she surely had parents too, even if they were not documented. The lack of documentation or inclusion into the books of the Bible tells us much of the patriarchal history of those times. Yet we are not within information. For the record, Mary’s parents are Anne and Joachim.
“Christian tradition enlightens the faithful about the parentage of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The identity of Sts. Joachim and Anne are known to us from the extra-biblical Protoevangelium of St. James […] Given the preeminent holiness of the Virgin Mother of God, it follows that her parents are apportioned a special role in salvation history.” (Source: Sts Anne and Joachim – Saints for grandparents and infertile couples). Saint Anne and Joachim were an elderly barren couple before they conceived their first and only child, Mary, late in life. During Joachim’s desperate fasting and prayers for a child in the wilderness, Anne was visited by an angel who bore news that she would conceive a child. This beautiful answered prayer recalls the Old Testament account of Abraham and Sarah. Tradition tells that after the birth of Mary, Anne and Joachim brought their beloved daughter to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God in gratitude for God’s goodness.
As I ponder on this background story before Jesus’ birth, I marvel at the deep faith and devotion of Mary’s parents which nurtured a pure and faultless girl as Mary, whom God found so full of grace, that He would choose her as the most holy vessel to carry the body of His Holy Son Jesus within her womb.
Modern scientific advancement has now discovered this amazing biological fact of “fetal maternal microchimerism”. This is a bi-directional cellular exchange process whereby fetal cells cross the placenta barrier and enter the mother’s bloodstream. These are retained in the mother’s body (notably in tissues and key organs such as the heart, brain, liver, skin). This phenomenon is not one-sided. At the same time, the mother’s cells are also passed on to the developing fetus. These fetal cells can persist in the mother for decades, becoming a permanent part of the mother’s biological makeup. Fetal maternal microchimerism is a testament to the profound and lasting relationship between a mother and her baby. (Sources: Maternal microchimerism in human fetal tissues; Scientific American: Scientists discover children’s cells living in mother’s brain)
Let’s pause for a moment to ponder this… Mary carrying the fetal Jesus in her womb. Mary’s body nurturing the physical needs of Jesus within her body, nourishing him by her blood through the umbilical cord, while he reciprocally nourished her in return with his Divinity by the matter of fetal cells! Mary’s holiness is not merely about her will to choose God, but a tangible reality of her immaculate being by virtue of Jesus who continued living on in her! This brings a whole new dimension to what Jesus said in the parable of the vine and the branches “I am the true vine […] Remain in me, as I also remain in you.” (John 15:4)
Let’s pause again for a moment to ponder this… Mary was but a young teenage girl, whom in this day and age, would be deemed underaged to make many decisions for herself. Yet, she was raised in a home and family who gave her the religious grounding and spiritual attunement to recognise God’s messenger, when the Archangel Gabriel came to her. Then she was able to resolutely and voluntarily give her “Yes” to God, to participate in His sacred plan for the salvation of all humanity. Then came Jesus, Son of Man — a title that Jesus often used self-referentially. He was aware of his deity, but he would always point out the fact that he is also fully-human.
“I say to you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven”. (Matthew 26:64)
Today, as we celebrate the Feast of Mary’s birthday, let us Catholic Christians be fully convinced and confident of our Blessed Virgin Mary’s reality as human, historical, holy, and full of grace. She too, was passed into the world through the birth canal of St. Anne, just as she was the body that birthed God Incarnate and Emmanuel, who would save us all. Because of Mary’s parents’ ‘Yes’, we then had Mary’s ‘Yes’, and hence Jesus’ ‘Yes’ to God. Let us celebrate our Blessed Mother and our own earthly Mothers, who did the self-giving act of giving us life through birth. Though some among us may have an unconventional relationship with their mothers; are not in contact with their biological mother; were adopted, or struggle to feel loved by a mother — we are all not without the most holy of mothers — Mother Mary, Mother of Jesus, and Mother of all humanity.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Debbie Loo)
Prayer: My Immaculate Mother, Mary most holy, help me to love and honour you and seek your intercession as loving mother to me. Draw me closer to Jesus, your son, and teach me to adore him as you did all of your life. Mary, intercede for me in my time of trials, and protect me under your maternal mantle.
Thanksgiving: Thank you God, for giving me a mother who brought me into this world to experience life and love. Thank you Jesus, for giving me your Mother, just as you did from the cross when you gave her to your beloved disciple John, to be his mother.
OXYGEN 
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