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Nativity of Our Lady 2025
In the liturgical mysteries of the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin Mary in heaven, the mother of Jesus is celebrated in what makes her uniquely close to God and as such great and even sublime. In today’s feast Mary seems smaller and closer to us. Nothing seems simpler than her birth from Anne. The new-born Mary is human, simple, close to us; she is our sister, born into this world like all of us. So, shall we put a candle on the cake and sing Happy Birthday? That would seem logical, but no. We are here for something quite different. The liturgy of the Church does not really do birthdays. It always celebrates the mystery of our salvation in Christ. Mary’s birth speaks of our salvation. It gives hope to all poor sinners in need of reconciliation and peace.
Certainly, this includes the human dimension we have just mentioned. Salvation is a Yes to our human condition. It confirms that there is in us something worth saving. The original work of the Creator has not been totally destroyed by original sin. There is a beauty and a dignity, which shine out in the birth of each human being. We have just heard in the gospel a litany of births: “Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers…” Any genealogy is a celebration of the gift which life is, a gift which is directly received from our Creator and Father. Today’s gospel speaks of many births and culminates in Christ’s birth. Mary’s birth does not directly belong to this particular genealogical stem, but it shares in the same mystery: the mystery of life as a gift from our Creator. In Mary’s birth we perceive, as it were, the sheer joy of life which is the joy of givenness. Mary’s quiet birth has an accent of Magnificat; it speaks of the joy of our heart when it comes to rest in the hands of our Creator, the eternal source of our life in time.
Moreover, Jesus’ genealogy speaks of the careful and patient guidance of Providence. Through the succession of many generations, it leads to the birth of the Saviour of the world. Mary’s birth pertains to the same divine design of life and salvation. When He saves us, God confirms the gift of life He made when He created us. He makes a new gift of life which is also the gift of a new and higher life. In Mary’s birth, our faith is given a glimpse of this ‘higher life’, that is to say a glimpse of the beauty of grace. Mary is “full of grace” from her conception. In her birth she is an epiphany of divine beauty. We see in her the gift of life received from the Creator being confirmed by the new gift of life which comes from the Saviour. This gift was ultimately made by Jesus on the Cross; it was sealed by the Father in the resurrection and shared with the Church by the Holy Spirit. The beauty of the new-born Mary is an icon of the beauty of the Holy Trinity. It speaks of the harmony of divine love. It reveals the perfect kindness of mercy. This manifests itself in the feminine beauty of the child Mary, blessed by the Holy Spirit and mirror of the Holy Trinity, radiant with the beauty of grace.
When such a joy rises in our heart, when such beauty meets the gaze of our soul, our own fragility and even our sinfulness in constant need of salvation and mercy are filled with hope, immense hope, victorious hope. For this little girl in all her weakness is clothed with divine strength. She does nothing. She says nothing. God alone is speaking and acting through her. For there is nothing in Mary that does not belong to God, reveal God, lead to God. She is a sign of hope given by God to us and also the mother of that hope which leads us to God. When we see Mary, when we turn to Mary, we understand that God is offering us the salvation of which she is an eminent icon and instrument. We are filled with hope. We greet her with deep gratitude and entrust to her once more all that we are, all our projects and endeavours. With such a sister, such a mother, how could we not rejoice in hope? May the new-born Mary radiate from this Abbey Church especially dedicated to the mystery of her birth the joy, the beauty and the hope that come from her Son, Jesus, our Saviour, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.