Today we honor the Blessed Virgin on this feast commemorating her birth.
We have so specific information about this event from the Bible, although Anne and Joachim are traditionally given as the names of her mother and father. Mary’s birthplace may have been Nazareth where they certainly lived later, although Jerusalem is sometimes named. Again, some traditions say that her parents had been childless and prayed to God for the gift of a son or daughter. They were blessed beyond imagining with the birth of Mary who never knew the stain of sin on her soul.
Mary, who would become the mother of Jesus our Redeemer, learned about God and her Jewish faith as a child. She grew to become the gentle, devout young woman chosen by the Creator to mother His Son. On this happy day we contemplate the nativity of Mary even as the liturgy reminds us of the coming of her own Child. “Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). Let us thank God for giving Mary as mother to all His people as well as to Jesus.