Feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sept.8,2006

Scripture: Micah 5:1-4. Romans 8:28-30. Psalm 13:6 Matthew 1:1-16,18-23

We all like it when someone celebrates or remembers our birthday. There is great joy in celebrating a birthday with a friend. Birthday celebrations are one of the delights we have as persons who love and respect one another, and, we all like to celebrate in a special way our own birthday. Often we look back to our parents and relatives on our birthday. Our origin and ethnic background are something we cherish. We thank God for our parents and for being part of creation. God tells us through Genesis 1:26-27 that we are created in the image and likeness of our Creator. What a noble birth then belongs to each one of us.

Today we turn to the birthday of the Mother of Jesus, Mary of Nazareth, the Theotokos (God-bearer) and in so doing we never forget that her presence in the Scriptures is always in relationship to her son. (Matthew 2:11 is an excellent sentence that bears this out). It is in our first reading from Micah 5:1-4 that we see that a prophetic text relating a woman who brings forth a child in Bethlehem. Then, in our Christian tradition, we read what happens to Mary in the light of this Hebrew text. Thus the prophetic text shows the child is very important but depends on his mother for being born as the leader of Israel. Incidentally, Michah 5:1-4 is one of the three texts chosen from the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) cited in the chapter dedicated to Mary in Lumen Gentium, chapter 8, of the Constitution on the Church.

God's plan for Mary is close to what Romans 8:28-30 is saying. This text builds upon the positive fact in the history of salvation that we are all created in the image and likeness of God and thus we are predestined by God to be called,a to be justified, and to be glorified. I can reread this into Mary's life and in her Immaculate Conception and her glorious Assumption. This is also an insight into our own journey to God from conception to birth, life, death and glorification. Mary is a prefigurement of our own call, justification, and glorification. God, in a sense, plays no favorites.

God's divine plan is so much better than any vision or plan that we could devise. Mary's birthday reminds us to think about God's plan and to live within it as she did. She praises God in her Magnificat (Luke 1:46-46), and we see her spirit in today's Psalm response: "Let us sing to the Lord...He has been good to me." (Psalm 13:6).

I personally like Matthew' and Luke's genealogy and one of my favorite exegetical scholars insists that we read the listing of so many people in the lineage of the Davidic kings. It is respecting those who have gone before us and is a birth record for the Messiah whom we believe to be Jesus who was born of Mary (Matthew 1:16). Mary is a relational person even in the genealogy. She is mentioned next to the person of the lineage of David, namely, her intended spouse, Joseph. I believe that Matthew is introducing us to the mystery of the Incarnation in his genealogy and in what he sees as the role of Mary in the history of prophetic salvation. May we honor our spiritual mother and sister, Mary, the Mother of Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.