Greetings on this the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Readings: Mi 5:1-4a; PS 13:6ab, 6c; Mt 1:1-16, 18-23
Notes: In the nativity of Mary we remember to celebrate the birth of everyone especially women.
Your date of birth and your name are of divine origin in any and under all circumstances given divine love. Have confidence in yourself. You are beloved of Jesus.
Mothers in the genealogy of Jesus Christ:
- Tamar – Genesis 38 for her story. She was forced to be her own advocate pretending to be a Temple Cult prostitute.
- Rahab – Joshua 2:1–24 Joshua 6:2–5 Joshua 6:20–25. Midrash – Pardon me by merit of the rope, the window, and the flaxen. Her bravery and resolve to save.
- Ruth – Book of Ruth. But Ruth said, Wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. Where you die I will die, and there be buried. Her loyalty.
- wife of Uriah (Bathsheba) – 2 Samuel 11. Perseverance in tragedy.
- Mary – innocent and open to the divine.
Franciscan Media Reflection
We can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the world. The love of two human beings has joined with God in his creative work. The loving parents have shown hope in a world filled with travail. The new child has the potential to be a channel of God’s love and peace to the world.
This is all true in a magnificent way in Mary. If Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning.
Birthday celebrations bring happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. Next to the birth of Jesus, Mary’s birth offers the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth, we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and in the world at large.
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/nativity-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary
First reading
From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel;
Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.
Responsorial Psalm
With delight I rejoice in the Lord (Isa 61:10)
Alleluia Verse
Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise; from you rose the sun of Justice, Christ our God.
Gospel Portion
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
Deacon Gerry Palermo 