The Nativity of Mary: So What?

Next week, on September 8th, the Church will celebrate a feast that is strange to most Christians. The feast is called the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary.

In other words, it’s Mary’s birthday.

Bear with me for a quick second. The Catholic Church only celebrates three birthdays every year. On December 25th, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. On June 24th every year we celebrate the birth of St. John the Baptist. And on September 8th we celebrate the birthday of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Needless to say, the Church only celebrates three birthdays each year, meaning they must be a big deal.

But for many of us, feasts like this leave us often bewildered. While they’re great occasions to remember and definitely cool to think about, most of the time they leave us saying something like, “So what am I supposed to do?”

I would suggest maybe three things.

First, Do Something to Honor Her.

It’s your Mother’s birthday. You should celebrate.

Plan on stopping by the parish next Saturday morning and leave some flowers for her. Pray a rosary. Go to Mass (the morning Saturday Mass). Bake a cake in her honor. Do something special for the intention of honoring her.

She deserves to be honored on her birthday, just like anybody else. If you haven’t noticed, there are not many people who are still alive after 2,000 years.

Still need ideas? Ask me on twitter and I’ll shoot you an idea.

Second, Run to Confession.

Our Lady is unique in that the Lord saved her from being born with original sin. She was always disposed to receive whatever grace God wanted to give.

In that spirit, go run to confession and ensure that you are also disposed, open, and docile to the movement and grace of God. Just like Mary, when you are ready for God to act, He will act.

Third, Pray the Novena.

Your first question might be, “Why pray the novena?” The answer is, I don’t know why! Maybe God just wants you to ask for something before He gives it.

The Bible says that we don’t have because we don’t ask [James 4.2]. So ask! Use this opportunity to ask God what His intentions are for your life or for a specific situation. Just like when he broke into Mary’s life, He may be eager to break into yours.

You can find the Novena for the Nativity of Mary here.