Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
God’s Choice of Mary, Hope of Humanity
by Fr. Serge Maniba
Everyone born in this world has a birthday. Birthday then, in this sense, is not something so special. In fact, it is common place; a simple phenomenon in the world of humans. That is why others don’t make a big deal out of it, whether one celebrates it or not.
But, there is something special in the celebration of the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What is special here is the fact that God chose Mary to be the beginning of something that is not present before in the life of humanity. Every person born in this world is set to die. Every birthday carries with it a “death-day”. Someone said that the moment we are born in this world we start dying. Every step we make of our life leads us to our grave.
A human being, in a sense, is born to die.
But with Mary, God changed the story of humanity. The birth of Mary carried with it the hope and the promise that we are born not to die anymore but to live; and live eternally. Mary is born so that the Son of God can have a space and place in the human world. With the birth of Mary, the rebirth of humanity was set in motion. This took place when Mary conceived in her womb the author of life, God himself, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh (Jn 1:14).
Mary’s birth is therefore God’s commitment to humanity: that humanity will not die anymore but is destined to live. And, the reason for this is because God loves humanity. “For God loves the world so much he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him will have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16).
So today, the birth of our Blessed Mother Mary, is a day of rejoicing for all humanity, a day to be grateful for God loves us so much in Mary that we will not die but will be born again to eternal life. The last word in this world is not death but life. God proclaimed it in Mary and will complete it in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Praise be God forever.
