The feast of Our Lady’s Birthday (Nativity) describes a mystery not recounted in the Scriptures but set forth in various ancient traditions. In the Liturgy for this feast the Church refers to the Nativity of Mary as the “hope and … daybreak of salvation for all the world” (Post-communion prayer), for as the daybreak or dawn precedes the rising of the sun, so the appearance in the world of the Immaculate Virgin is a spiritual dawn that precedes the coming of the “sun of justice, Christ Our God” (Entrance Antiphon), the “true light that enlightens every man [who] was coming into the world” (John 1:9). The feast of Mary’s holy name on Saturday 12th, connected with her Nativity, highlights again Our Mother’s unique place in the mystery of salvation, as she is invoked as “Star of the Sea”, according to a traditional interpretation of her name. Mary’s own prediction is fulfilled as we celebrate annually these holy feasts: “All generations will call me blessed.”
(Image: The Birth of the Virgin, Antonio González Velázquez, 1755, Detroit Institute of Arts)