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The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This is a Christian Feast day celebrating the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus.

The modern Biblical canon does not record Mary's birth and while the Gospels tell us little about Mary's early life, tradition and devotion highlight her parents, Saints Joachim and Anne, who longed for a child and were blessed by God in their old age. Their daughter, Mary, was born into humility and faith, yet she was destined for the most phenomenol experience: to be the Mother of the Jesus.

In the case of saints, the Church commemorates their date of death, with Saint John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary as the few whose birth dates are commemorated. The reason for this is found in the singular mission each had in salvation history, but traditionally also because these alone were holy in their very birth (for Mary, see Immaculate Conception; John was sanctified in Saint Elizabeth's womb according to the traditional interpretation of Luke 1:15).

Devotion to the innocence of Mary under this Marian title is widely celebrated in many cultures across the globe in various prayers and hymns in Honor of her Nativity.

The celebration of Mary's nativity is filled with hope. Just as her birth brought light to her parents and to Israel, it also foreshadowed the dawn of our redemption. In Mary's "yes" to God's call, we see the fullness of grace and the model of perfect discipleship.
The Church honors Mary's birthday not only to give thanks for her life but also to remind us of her role in God's plan for humanity. Through her faith and obedience, salvation entered the world in Jesus Christ.
As we celebrate this feast, we are invited to imitate Mary's openness to God's will and to rejoice in the gift of her maternal love and intercession. Her birth is truly a cause for joy, for it marks the beginning of a new chapter in salvation history—the arrival of the one who would bear Emmanuel, "God with us."

Each year on September 8, the Church joyfully celebrates the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the birth of the woman chosen by God to be the Mother of His Son. This feast reminds us that Mary's life was part of God's great plan of salvation from the very beginning, preparing the way for the coming of Jesus Christ.

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.

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