Scripture: Colossians 1:21-23. Psalm 54:3-4,6,8. Luke 6:1-15. Lectionary # 436: Not many years ago there was a good book on our relationship with Jesus written by a Christian pastor. This spiritual book had the attractive title, "Are You Running With Me , Jesus?" In the light of today's scriptures, perhaps, we could turn the title around and say, "Am I running with you, Jesus?" Paul and Luke help us to think about how we can better relate to Jesus; let us call this "running with Jesus." Both running and walking are considered good physical exercise and they can easily symbolize spiritual running and walking with the Lord. A good number of people do meditate and pray while walking or running. Some pray the rosary, others think about the scriptures for the day. Both are part of the running-walking mode of thinking about our relationship with the Savior. It is always an exciting and exhilarating experience to be with Jesus in our journey of walking and running. Paul speaks to the Colossians and to us when he tells us not to have our heads so high in the sky that our feet are not touching the ground. They believed in angels having a greater role than Jesus in their life and both Paul, Timothy, and Epaphras had to advise them about the truth that Jesus is above all the powers of the universe including the angelic ones. Paul speaks to us, too, when he says, "be firmly grounded and steadfast in your faith." He so runs as not to be beating the air or to gain an earthly transitory crown made of laurels. He is running with Jesus toward the ultimate goal of complete union with God through Jesus. Paul and we should so run as to be "holy, free of approach and blame." On a number of campuses and in our cities, college students work for the fight against cancer in a creative weekend called a "Relay for Life." This is a good motto for how we can also run with Jesus for a good cause. We can model our running and walking with the Lord in the relay of life that brings us into eternity and union with God. Amen. The Birthday of Mary is celebrated on September 8th : Scripture: Micah 5:1-4. or Romans 8:28-30. Psalm 13:6 and Matthew 1:1-16;18-23 or Matthew 1:18-23: Lectionary #636: Today's feast is able to be traced back to the sixth century. The Gospel of Matthew gives us the liturgical perspective for celebrating a feast in honor of Mary, namely, that Mary's recognition is never to be separated from the honor due to her Divine Son, Jesus. A good principle in marian theology and liturgy is never to separate the mother from her son. Another principle is that the Scriptures are the "soul of marian thought." Thus, in celebrating her birthday, the opening prayer shows both principles at work, "The birth of the Virgin Mary's Son was the dawn of our salvation. May this celebration of her birthday bring us closer to lasting peace." Matthew's opening chapter confirms that Jesus is the legitimate son of Joseph according to the genealogy, and is born of Mary who is a virgin. This is developed through the four women mentioned in the birth account of Jesus who were chosen by God to be important links in the family of David despite their unusual situations with either the bearing of children or their place within the royal family; Mary' virginal birth of Jesus is the final such miraculous birth and event in the history of salvation. All that we know about Mary in the Scriptures is due to the fact that their focus is primarily on Jesus, her son. Thus in celebrating her birthday, we return to Matthew' careful and inspired writing of the Infancy Narrative. Her birthday is to be related to his. If we celebrate this day in her honor we first of all give honor to her son. We follow the biblical sources that Matthew used for establishing his genealogy and realize that it is similar to what he found in the Hebrew Scriptures which he knew so well. She is mentioned for the first time in this most Jewish of the Gospels in Matthew 1:16: "And Joseph was the husband of Mary, and of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ (the Messiah)." The early Christian writer Justin the martyr says, "Mary is the virgin of the race of David." He wrote this as early as 150 A.D. Though many find it boring to listen to the three sets of generations that Matthew presents in emphasizing the number fourteen (symbolic of the name DAVID), Fr. Raymond E. Brown who devoted years of study to his work on the "Birth of the Messiah" encourages pastors and liturgists to read the genealogy in its entirety on this feast and during the Advent season. Such lists are similar to the baptismal records and marriage records that our rectories and parishes keep. Nothing that is truly human and connected with the history of our salvation is to be neglected. A feast like the birthday of Mary helps us to remember these very human people who formed the lifeline of the Savior of the world. As early as the sixth century there was a church in Jerusalem named after St. Anne, the traditional name for the mother of Mary (from the work the Proto-Gospel of James also written around 150 A.D.). Mary's conception is dated nine months before her birthday September 8th. In our liturgy we celebrate Mary's Immaculate Conception on December 8th. The entrance antiphon offers us the perfect perspective for this feast of Mary, "Let us celebrate with joyful hearts the birth of the Virgin Mary of whom was born the sun of justice, Christ our Lord." Amen.