Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, September 8

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

~ Dom Gueranger, adapted from The Liturgical Year

(NOTE: A new novena will begin on Saturday, September 12 – Feast of the Holy Name of Mary)

Andrew of Crete calls this day a solemnity of entrance, a feast of beginning, whose end is the union of the Word with our flesh; a virginal feast, full of joy and confidence for all. ‘All ye nations, come hither,’ cries St. John Damascene; ‘come every race and every tongue, every age and every dignity, let us joyfully celebrate the birthday of the world’s gladness.’ ‘It is the beginning of salvation, the origin of every feast,’ says St. Peter Damian; ‘for behold, the Mother of the Bridegroom is born! With good reason does the whole world rejoice to-day; and the Church, beside herself, bids her choirs sing wedding songs.”

 ‘God is our king before ages: He hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.’ (Psalm 73:12) ‘The midst of the earth,’ says St. Bernard, the Abbot of Clairvaux, ‘admirably represents Mary. Mary is the center of the universe, the ark of God, the cause of creation, the business of ages. Towards her turn the inhabitants of heaven and the dwellers in the place of expiation, the men that have gone before us, and we that are now living, those who are to follow us, our children’s children and their descendants:

·                  Those in heaven look to her to have their ranks filled up;

·            Those in purgatory look for their deliverance;

·            The men of the first ages, that they may be found faithful prophets;

·            Those who come after, that they may obtain eternal happiness.

Mother of God, Queen of heaven, Sovereign of the world, all generations shall call thee blessed, for thou hast brought forth life and glory for all. In thee the angels ever find their joy, the just find grace, sinners pardon; in thee, and by thee, and from thee, the merciful hand of the Almighty has reformed the first creation.