Birth of the Virgin
Scripture tells us very little about the early life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Tradition tells us that she was born to an elderly couple, Joachim and Anne. They were, it is said, beyond the years of child-bearing, but they prayed and fasted that God would grant their desire for a child.
The Magisterium teaches us that she was conceived without sin, as a special grace to be a fitting mother to the Son.
Giotto's Birth of the Virgin
Today’s second reading in the Office of Readings is from a discourse by Saint Andrew of Crete, bishop. It’s very much worth reading in its entirety, but here are the bits that struck me this morning.
This radiant and manifest coming of God to men most certainly needed a joyful prelude to introduce the great gift of salvation to us. The present festival, the birth of the Mother of God, is the prelude, while the final act is the fore- ordained union of the Word with flesh. Today the Virgin is born, tended and formed and prepared for her role as Mother of God, who is the universal King of the ages. …
Therefore, let all creation sing and dance and unite to make worthy contribution to the celebration of this day. Let there be one common festival for saints in heaven and men on earth. Let everything, mundane things and those above, join in festive celebration. Today this created world is raised to the dignity of a holy place for Him who made all things. The creature is newly prepared to be a divine dwelling place for the Creator.
The Mother of God is a powerful intercessor with her Son, as throughout Jewish history the mother of the King was with her son. She is the most worthy of saints, and she shows us something not even Christ Himself can show us, except through her. She shows us how to be the perfect disciple of Jesus, telling us to do whatever He says (cf. John 2:5).
As I write this on the train, I can see the fiery sun rising over the Cascades, haloed with wispy rose-coloured clouds and attended at a distance by the proverbial dark clouds, backlit with silver linings.
If the Son can be symbolized by the sun, rising in the east (cf. Luke 1:78), then the Blessed Virgin is like that wispy cloud closest in, rosy and glowing with the reflected warmth. It is not the sun, but it serves to ornament it and magnify its light (cf. Luke 1:46).
Sunrises are not possible without the sun, but they are made even more beautiful by the clouds.
The analogy isn’t exact, of course, for the clouds do not give birth to the sun, though now that I think about it, they can often appear to.
I close, echoing this morning’s responsory, with an earnest wish that you will celebrate with devotion the birth of Mary, the ever-virgin Mother of God, whose splendid life has illumined the Church.