Today
is a special feast day in our Church, as we celebrate the Birth of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. Mary's
birth to her parents, St. Anne and St. Joachim, is not recorded in the Bible,
but we know about this event from the Sacred Tradition that has been passed
down us by the apostles and the early Church to us in the present day. As
Catholics, we do not have to be reminded that the Virgin Mary is a very
important part of our Catholic faith. Because
Mary is the Mother of Jesus, the Mother of God, the Mother of our Church, she
has a very unique role in the history of salvation. The
importance of Mary's role in our faith shows up in many different ways. We
have a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in our church here in Tupelo, and I
brought to show you a drawing of Our Lady of Guadalupe that depicts the way
that the Virgin Mary appeared to a man named Juan Diego in Mexico way back in
the year 1531. This
drawing was made by one of the men we visit in our prison ministry out at the
Central Mississippi Correctional Facility out in Pearl as part of our Catholic
prison ministry. He
was a member of our RCIA program out at the prison and was confirmed into the
Catholic Church on Easter Saturday back in 2011.
In
the Gospel today, we hear about how the birth of Jesus was announced by an
angel into the lives of Mary and Joseph. The
important thing we Catholics always need to remember is this: that we do not
honor Mary for her own sake. Mary
never wants to bring attention to herself, but she always points us to Jesus
and she always helps us grow in our faith. By
the love she shows to us and the example she gives us, Mary was truly the first
disciple, the first one who believe in Jesus and his forthcoming ministry here
on earth. As we
celebrate the nativity of the Virgin Mary today, may we recognize her not only
as the mother of Jesus, but as the Mother of our Church as well, as a Mother to
all of us.
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