Ready to say Yes

Saints feast days are usually celebrated on the day they died, but today, Sept 8th, the Church celebrates the Birthday of Mary, nine months after we celebrate her Immaculate Conception on Dec 8th. 

We are excited about the day Mary was born because the Church teaches us, she is our heroic mentor, our exemplar in faith.  Mary, the first human being to experience the redeeming grace of Jesus, was also the first to set out upon the dimly lit and sometimes treacherous path Christian discipleship. 

All Christians who come after her “proceed along the path already trodden by the Virgin Mary, who advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and loyally persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross’. Redemptoris Mater 2

We Christians honour her as “she who believed”, not forgetting that as a human being, Mary could only remain in contact with the truth about her Son in faith and through faith (Redemptoris Mater 17). 

She was not God. Mary, like us, had to choose every moment of every day to be present to the unfolding mystery of God in her life. And we are all beneficiaries of her faithfulness. 

Today, on her birthday, let us honour Mary’s faithfulness by choosing to be present to the working of the Holy Spirit in our own lives and by preparing our hearts to say ‘yes’ when we are called.