We celebrate today with great joy the birth of the Virgin Mary. This is the patronal feast of our monastery, hence our liturgical zeal and our special joy. But you could ask: Why do we celebrate the birth of Our Lady?
There is a first answer, rather obvious. We really love Our Lady who is so good to us all. We are happy to take any pretext to celebrate her. Her feasts recur all around the liturgical year and they are always a source of comfort, hope and joy.
But we are not only indulging in Catholic devotion. Mary’s birth is more than just “lovely”. We see in it the dawning of the salvation of our race. The effects of her birth are of foremost importance, given the role which is hers as Mother of God, mother of Jesus, the Messiah who is Christ and Saviour. Her birth has immense and sublime consequences which are all connected with her own person and life.
All this is good, but not yet quite enough. Mary’s birth is, on the one hand, like any other human birth. She is the beloved daughter of Anne and Joachim. They waited for her for a long time. They received her as a miraculous gift from heaven. They were filled with joy at her long-desired birth. On the other hand, Mary’s birth has something absolutely unique.
Do you remember the saying of Qohelet, this wise man of old: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:A time to be born, and a time to die.” (3:1-2). Each birth seems to be preparing for a new death. To be born is to enter a life which is essentially mortal. It is as if death was already somewhat casting its shadow on the joyful event of birth. For Qohelet, and he is not alone, this is terribly sad, and indeed depressing. Human life is vanity for there is no good thing which lasts.
This is precisely what is different about Mary’s birth. She is born to life and only for life. She has no link with sin – she is Immaculate. She has no obligation to death. In fact, she has been preserved from sin by anticipation of the merits of her Son who died and was raised from the dead for our salvation. In Mary, salvation is already at work. She already belongs to the world of the resurrection. She is totally on the side of life.
This is what we confess when we speak of Mary’s Assumption into heaven. The work of Christ’s resurrection has been so powerful in her that she enters the world of the resurrection with her soul and with her body. There is no certitude as to the end of her life. Did she die to be immediately raised from the dead and join Jesus in heaven? Did she gently pass from this world to the other through a ‘dormition’, as if through her sleep? It remains that death had no power on her. Her death was not violent, as Jesus’ death on the cross, but it was the normal conclusion of her time on earth, directly leading to life in heaven.
The new-born Mary is this unique child who is totally on the side of life and the resurrection. The joy at her birth is the joy of the whole universe at the first visible sign of the resurrection. Remember Saint Paul speaking to the Romans: “we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” (Rom 8:22-23). We, too, hear in ourselves the world groaning, but today, in Mary’s birth, we are given to hear the world leaping for joy: salvation has arrived, resurrection is already at work, the Spirit of life is given to the world.
Mary, our Mother, is totally on the side of life. That is why we ask her to “pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death”. Mary knows we must first die before we are called to life again by God’s mercy in the resurrection. Mary knows that the way to the resurrection necessarily goes through death. She is with us at the hour of our death as she was present at the hour of Jesus’ death. She offers presence and compassion to the dying, and we know how vital and important this is. But her presence means much more. She stands at the foot of the Cross. She does not die, but her soul is pierced by the sword of our sins. This is the hour when she gives birth to the Church, to all her children who welcome her as their Mother. At the hour of the power of darkness, Mary shines out the light of the resurrection. She announces the victory of light over darkness, of life over death, of grace over sin, of loving obedience over selfish disobedience. She consents, she obeys, she suffers, and through her love, in union with Jesus’ sacrifice, we are granted salvation.
Mary’s birth is linked with our birth to the full life of the resurrection, with our going through death into life as we follow her Son drawing us to Himself from the Cross where He willingly dies for us. A very venerable liturgical text, which we shall sing this evening at Vespers and which is probably a translation from an ancient Greek prayer, declares: “Nativitas tua, Dei Genetrix, gaudium annuntiavit universo mundo. Your birth, O Mother of God, proclaimed joy to the whole world.” Today’s joy is the joy of Easter. Through the loveliness of this baby girl, we are given to glimpse Christ’s victory and the great Joy of God. Mary smiles and we see salvation coming to us: this world is clothed with eternal light; our sins are swallowed in mercy; our sufferings and our death are transfigured; Christ risen from the dead becomes all in all. Hail Mary, full of grace, source of our joy!