Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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Sunday, 8 September 2019 : Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Wisdom 9 : 13-18

Indeed, who can know the intentions of God? Who can discern the plan of the Lord? For human reasoning is timid, our notions misleading; a perishable body is a burden for the soul and our tent of clay weighs down the active mind.

We are barely able to know about the things of earth and it is a struggle to understand what is close to us; who then may hope to understand heavenly things? Who has ever known Your will unless You first gave Him Wisdom and sent down Your Holy Spirit to him? In this way You directed the human race on the right path; they learnt what pleases You and were saved by Wisdom.

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Friday, 8 September 2017 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together the day when our Blessed Mother Mary, the Mother of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was born from the womb of St. Anne, her mother, without any taints of sin just as she had been conceived without sin. This is a day when we rejoice because the Mother of our Lord and Saviour has been born to us.

Some may be wondering why is it that we as Catholics and Christians give so great an honour to Mary, and still yet some may even and has indeed already accused us of idolatry towards Mary and had the very wrong idea and preconceptions that we worship Mary as if she is a goddess. No, this is not the case, brothers and sisters, for there is indeed a very clear dividing line between our worship of God and the honour which we gave to Mary and the other holy saints.

Mary is honoured even more than other saints because of the very simple reason that she is the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and One of the Holy Trinity of God, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit, and upon the obedience of Mary to the will of God, God Himself came in the flesh, and was conceived in the holy womb of Mary. And through the dogma and traditions of our faith since time immemorial, we have believed that because of this, Mary herself had been set aside by God.

Yes, we all know about how she was conceived without any taints of original sin, unlike that of any other human beings, who were tainted as the descendants of the first sinners, Adam and Eve. That is because Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant, bearing within her the New Covenant of God made through Jesus Christ, her Son, Whom she bore within her womb for an entire nine months. But this at the same time did not elevate her to the status of a divine, unlike what some would like to charge upon us and our faith.

We honour Mary, firstly because we honour her Son and worship Him as our God and King. As it was in the olden days, the mother of a king was highly regarded and respected, honoured and given the same honour as what was accorded to the king, by the virtue of the mother having bore forth the king and took care of him in his early days until he came of age and was capable of taking over and exercising his own authority as a king.

If that was therefore how the kings of this world brought honour upon their mothers and parents, and if that is how we mankind honour the mothers of our rulers, then should we not have done the same with the Mother of our one and only True King, Jesus Christ? Should we not have done the same with the Mother of our God Himself? For His Kingship is greater than any of those of the worldly kings and rulers, and therefore, we honour Mary rightly and justly because of this.

And in Mary, we see a living and vibrant faith, based on total surrender and commitment to the will of God. She is the greatest among all the saints not just because she is the one closest to the throne of her Son in heaven, but also because of her very own exemplary life, filled with love for God, and with devotion to her Son, by following Him throughout His life, throughout His worldly ministries, and even unto the foot of the cross.

Therefore, on this day, on the celebration of the nativity or the birth of the Mother of our Lord and God, Mary, most Blessed Virgin and loving Mother, let us all reflect on the life which Mary had led, her commitment and total surrender to God’s will, and how she has shown us the way forward, that through her we may reach out to her Son, and find our salvation in Him. Let us all rejoice together, that the birth of Mary has brought the new hope of all of us, that as we gaze on her, we see through her, the coming of our salvation in her Son.

Mary, blessed Mother of God, pray for us sinners, and intercede for us before your beloved Son Jesus, our Lord. Be with us through our times of distress, and guide us on our way, so that we may be able to find our path, and walk along that way through your help, to Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

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Friday, 8 September 2017 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 1 : 1-16, 18-23

This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.

Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings : Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah.

Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus Who is called the Christ – the Messiah. This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.

While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : The Virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means God-with-us.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Matthew 1 : 18-23

This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.

While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : The Virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means God-with-us.

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Friday, 8 September 2017 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 12 : 6ab, 6cd

But I put my trust in Your unfailing love, my heart will rejoice on seeing Your salvation.

I will sing to YHVH, for He has been good to me!

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Friday, 8 September 2017 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Micah 5 : 1-4a

But you, Bethlehem Ephrata, so small that you are hardly named among the clans of Judah; from you shall I raise the One Who is to rule over Israel. For He comes forth from of old, from the ancient times.

YHVH, therefore, will abandon Israel until such time as she, who is to give birth, has given birth. Then the rest of His deported brothers will return to the people of Israel. He will stand, and shepherd His flock with the strength of YHVH, in the glorious Name of YHVH, His God.

They will live safely, while He wins renown to the ends of the earth. He shall be peace.

Alternative reading

Romans 8 : 28-30

We know that in everything, God works for the good of those who love Him, whom He has called, according to His plan. Those whom He knew beforehand, He has also predestined, to be like His Son, similar to Him, so, that, He may be the Firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

And so, those whom God predestined, He called, and those whom He called, He makes righteous, and to those whom He makes righteous, He will give His glory.

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Thursday, 8 September 2016 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when we all celebrate together the birthday of the Mother of our Lord, who was born of her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, and destined from the moment of her conception, immaculate and free from the taints of sin, to be the bearer of God’s salvation.

On this day, we celebrate together the birth of the one who would eventually become the Ark of the New Covenant, the bearer of the Messiah and the Saviour of the world. Today is a significant event, for the birth of Mary heralded the beginning of the time of grace, as God’s long awaited plan of salvation for His people was being fulfilled through her.

And as we listened to the message of the Sacred Scriptures, surely all of us would wonder why then the Lord would bother to go through so much trouble just in order to deal with us His people. We must be wondering why would He go through all these to help us and to bring us out from the darkness and into the light of His salvation. But that is exactly the wonder of the mysteries that God had revealed to us, that is His love.

God loves us all so much, so much so that in His love, He certainly would not want to see us suffer and perish in the darkness together with Satan and his allies who He had condemned into the eternal damnation. For us, there is still hope if we are able to commit ourselves to change our ways and to repent from all those sins and the things that kept us separated from God.

But in order to establish firmly the covenant and promise which He had made with us mankind, His beloved people, He has given us the perfect gift in His own Son, the Divine Word Incarnate, the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. And as promised by Himself to us through His prophets and servants, He would Himself come and dwell among us, to be one with us, that we may be His people, and He may be our God.

If at the ancient times, God descended among His people in pillars of cloud and fire, then God has since then decided to dwell among us, to be with us His beloved ones, and what way is better than for He Himself to come down upon us and dwell among us as one of us? He took up our flesh through the intermediary of His mother Mary, that as He share in our flesh and existence, so will He share with us His glory and the eternal life He has promised us.

And through Mary, His mother and along with her, He has shown us the examples of how we ought to live our lives that we may be considered and be counted among His faithful and righteous ones. She is a role model for us all in how she had been faithful to the mission which has been entrusted to her. Mary since her birth has been a devoted servant of the Lord, pious and righteous in all her ways.

But most importantly, even though there were uncertainties and doubts in her heart, she gave her all and devote herself completely to the care and love for her Son, Jesus our Lord. She persevered through all the challenges, protecting and guiding her Son through His life. And having followed Him through her life, following Him even through the moments of His Passion, looking at His suffering at the hands of His tormentors and enemies, and eventually witnessing His death on the cross, certainly what she had done was not merely something ordinary.

Having stood by faithfully and committed herself completely to the Lord, and by being righteous, upright and just in all of her actions and deeds in life, Mary is indeed the best role model for all of us the people who are faithful to God and members of His Church. By following her, we will be able to find the best path to reach out to the Lord our God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we rejoice and celebrate today in commemoration of the birth of the mother of our Lord, Mary, the Mother of God, let us all also take some time to reflect on our own actions in life, and see in what way we can emulate and follow in the footsteps of Mary. May the Lord help us in this endeavour, and guide us that we may find our way to reach Him and the salvation which He has promised us all. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 8 September 2016 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 1 : 1-16, 18-23

This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.

Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings : Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah.

Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel od Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud.

Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus Who is called the Christ – the Messiah. There were then fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, and fourteen generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the birth of Christ.

This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.

While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : The virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means God-with-us.

Alternative reading (shorter version)
Matthew 1 : 18-23

This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.

While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : The virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means God-with-us.

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Thursday, 8 September 2016 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 12 : 6ab, 6cd

But I put my trust in Your unfailing love, my heart will rejoice on seeing Your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me!

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Thursday, 8 September 2016 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Micah 5 : 1-4a

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, so small that you are hardly named among the clans of Judah, from you shall I raise the One Who is to rule over Israel. For He comes forth from of old, from the ancient times.

YHVH, therefore, will abandon Israel until such time as she who is to give birth has given birth. Then the rest of his deported brothers will return to the people of Israel. He will stand and shepherd His flock with the strength of YHVH, in the glorious Name of YHVH, His God.

They will live safely while He wins renown to the ends of the earth. He shall be peace.

Alternative reading
Romans 8 : 28-30

We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him, whom He has called according to His plan. Those whom He knew beforehand, He has also predestined to be like His Son, similar to Him, so that He may be the Firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

And so, those whom God predestined He called, and those whom He called He makes righteous, and to those whom He makes righteous He will give His Glory.

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Monday, 8 September 2014 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate together the feast of the Mother of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, that is our beloved Blessed Virgin Mary. Today we celebrate her birth into this world, or her nativity, much like we celebrate the birth occasion of her Son, Jesus Christ, at Christmas. We all know that the Blessed Virgin Mary had been chosen from among all mankind and from among all woman, prepared and ready for her role as the bearer of our Lord to come into the world.

This is what was meant when St. Paul mentioned in his letter to the Church in Rome, that God did have a predestined path for certain those whom He had chosen in their lives, and to those whom God had known, He would prepare them in the path of righteousness and gave them His Glory. And the best example of this would be Mary, who was prepared fully to be the Mother of God incarnate into flesh, and through whose actions, obedience and devotion allowed the Lord to exercise His work of salvation to mankind.

Mary was prepared such that out of all mankind, save for Jesus alone, who is fully God and fully man, Mary was exceptional in that she was conceived without sin, in what is known as the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and thus she was also born without the taint of sin into this world filled with sin and darkness. She was to lead a faithful, devoted and exemplary life, obeying the Lord in all of His commandments and laws.

Mary thus became like a light and a great beacon in the darkness of this world, lighting up the way for others, and for all mankind who desire to seek the Lord and yet they cannot find their way in the darkness. She was light and bright because firstly and primarily, she was the Mother of God, the one who bore the Lord and Saviour into the world, Jesus Christ, who is the One and True Light. Then, secondly, through her virtues and examples she also became a beacon and guiding light for all.

Thus this is why we honour Mary so much, not to the point as some alleged that we worship her, but instead what we do is we give her the honour and adoration even beyond that of any other saints or angels in heaven. She is after all the Mother of God and the Queen of All Saints and Angels, as we had just recently celebrated the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. She deserved all these not just because she is the Mother of Jesus our Lord, but also through her virtues.

Through her own birth, which we are celebrating together today, Mary foreshadowed her own Son’s birth, which marked the entry of our Saviour and Lord into this world. And yet, this occasion is no less grand, since we indeed celebrate the entry of the Mother of that Saviour, with whose cooperation, devotion and dedication to God and His plans made salvation possible for all of us.

That is why Mary is also often mentioned as even the co-Redemptrix and Mother of graces, in that as the mother of our Lord, she truly worked together with her Son our Lord as the mediator of our salvation. It is with the cooperation and the obedience of Mary that her Son, our Lord was able to fully accomplish His mission to save all of us, and it is with her gentle care and passionate dedication to Jesus that all was made possible.

And all of that was of course due to what God had planned for Mary, the special woman whom He had chosen to be part of the great plan of salvation which God had long planned for all of us His children. God also has His plans for each and every one of us, but it is also up to us, whether we want to obey Him or not. We can choose to follow Him, but we can also choose to go our own way, and more likely than not, into our own destruction.

Therefore, in this, we can model after our Blessed Mother Mary, who is truly exemplary in her life as a servant of God and as a devoted mother, who cared for the Child Jesus when He was young and who nurtured love in Him, that His love for us mankind would be even greater, the most beloved of all His creations. Thus, as we celebrate her birthday today, let us not just rejoice in her and with her, but also we should emulate her example and follow her ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be more like Mary, in both our faith, and in how we show our love to one another. May Almighty God who made Mary perfect and good in His image also make us all good and perfect, which is what we all should aspire to be, to be like Mary in how we devote ourselves to Him. God bless us all. Amen.