Celebrate Mary’s Birthday!
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Faith on Monday, September 08, 2008 2:30 PM
Today’s feast, the Nativity of Mary, has gained a lot of meaning for me since I became a mother myself. I’ve gone through one birth and am anticipating another in about five months, so birth days in general have become a lot more significant to me.
There is nothing in the Bible about the Blessed Virgin’s parents, and the little we know about them is from the apocrypha, writings not included in the canon of Scripture. By tradition their names were Joachim and Anne, and they were unable to conceive a child until they prayed for one, at which point they received a message that they would have a child who would be “blessed by all the world.” (According to the Protoevangelium of James.) As we now know, the Immaculate Conception occurred.
The birth of their daughter must have been a beautiful day for Joachim and Anne. They’d waited so long for her. Even with that message, though, I can’t imagine they glimpsed her true future: that she would bear the Son of God and be exalted among the saints as the Queen of Heaven. How incredible if they could have known!
The birth of my own daughter almost two years ago was a life-changing experience for me, but celebrating the birth of the greatest of the saints reminds me that Joachim and Anne knew much more about what God had in store for their daughter than I know about what He has in store for mine.
Celebrating a feast of Mary also reminds me how much I want my children to emulate her.
I think I’m pretty good at remembering, day to day, to help my daughter learn how to reach holiness. At almost-two she is not yet capable of virtue, but I try to help her develop habits that will lead her there, habits of obedience and patience and generosity. We do the little bits of catechesis that are possible with a toddler, and include her in our family devotions.
What I don’t do enough is use the strongest weapon I have to help my daughter reach heaven: pray. I pray for her, but not often enough, and I am most inclined to pray for her current life, that she may grow healthily and happily and be kept safe from harm. I do pray for her to grow into a strong and faithful servant of God, but I forget that it is the most important prayer I pray for her. I forget that, ultimately, it is her holiness and her eventual beatitude that are the goals of her life.
Celebrating the birth of Our Lady, and thinking of the life she lived on earth after that day, reminds me that I should be praying most fervently for holiness for my daughter, for her final perseverance, and that I might meet her in heaven. It also reminds me to use the greatest gift Mary gives us: her intercession for us!
Our Lady, Queen of the Heavens, pray for us!
Print Blog
Email a FriendPost a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
