Good morning good people, May the Lord bless you with peace and good health in the Holy Spirit.
It is 8th September 2021. We celebrate the Feast Day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is also the solemnity of Our Lady of Health, the prominent Marian shrine located in the small town of Vailankanni in Tamil Nadu, South India. It attracts millions of devotees annually. It all began during 16th and 17th centuries, with the two popular apparitions of our Beloved Mother to a shepherd boy, a person of determination who was a buttermilk vendor and miraculous rescue of Portuguese sailors from a ferocious and deadly storm. Happy birthday to our Most Beloved Mother Mary for having accepted to bring the Redeemer of the world to all of us to save us from peril and damnation.
We reflect on Micah 5:1-4 and the Gospel of Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23.
Yes, it is the day of joy, rejoice and happiness for a Mother, who intercedes for us all. She is the gift of God to the entire humanity. The Morning Star brought us closer to the life-giving Son, Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Celebration of our Lady does not call for making Her as a petty goddess downgrading the redeeming power of Christ. Any devotion including the piety that is given to our Beloved Mother must not supersede or replace the worship and adoration given to the Lord only. That is why during the Holy Mass, there can be no candle be lit to any saint including Mother Mary. The supremacy of Christ and His teachings, the Gospel needs to be always the priority for us and the guiding principle of our Christian living. Anything other than that has a commercial intention, and it is absolutely against the mind of the Church and God. Our devotion and respect we show to Mother Mary cannot make us arrogant, and complacent with due worship reserved for the Lord alone.
As we celebrate the birthday of Mother Mary, we have a lot to learn from Her. We all need to ask the Lord today for a heart that loves Jesus in all situations of our life. ‘Here is your mother.’ (Jn 19:26f). We all have a Mother who can intercede and lead us closer to Jesus by Her humility, generosity, love, cooperation with the will of God, and faithfulness to the end.
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means God-is-with-us.” (Mt.1:23).
Let us come closer to the Lord by celebrating the birth of Mother Mary by thanking and rejoicing in the Lord. Have a day full of blessings. May God bless you.