Good morning. Today, we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, nine months after her Immaculate Conception as the child of Saints Joachim and Anne. This is one of the most ancient Marian feasts. The Feast began to be celebrated in Rome in the 8th century with Pope Sergius. Tradition tells us that Joachim was deeply grieved, along with his wife Anne, by their childlessness. Then, an angel revealed to Anne when he appeared to her and prophesied that all generations would honor their future child: “The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth, and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.”
Saint Augustine described the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary as an event of cosmic and historic significance, and an appropriate prelude to the birth of Jesus Christ: “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley,” Mary is the virgin that Isaiah prophesized: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel. . .” (7:14), which means "God is with us." It is as we heard in today’s first reading, from the prophet Micah: “You, Bethlehem. . . From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel. . . He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD. . . for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.”
Now, we are all familiar with the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus and she responded: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” In today’s Gospel, we hear the story of the Annunciation of Saint Joseph. The angel Gabriel appeared to him, saying: “For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. . . When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.”
St. John Paul II wrote that “Joseph not only heard the divine truth concerning his wife's indescribable vocation; he also heard once again the truth about his own vocation. This "just" man, who. . . loved the Virgin of Nazareth and was bound to her by a husband's love, was once again called by God to this love.” And so, my sisters and brothers in Christ, it is the same with us. In both annunciation stories, the angel Gabriel spoke these words to Mary and Joseph: “. . .do not be afraid. . .” Mary’s and Joseph’s responses to God are a reminder to us all of how we are called to respond to God in our own lives, not from a place of fear but from a place of trust that is rooted in our faith in God. Faith that moves us to act in obedience and with courage to God’s will for us in the vocation that He calls each of us to in our lives, whatever it may be.
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