Today we celebrate a memorial celebrating the most holy name of Mary. In accordance with Jewish custom, Mary's parents named her eight days after her birth. They were inspired to call her Mary. The celebration of this memorial thus follows the feast day of her Birthday, which we celebrated in the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Monday of this week, September 8.This is a counterpoint to the optional memorial of the Holy Name of Jesus which can be celebrated on January 3. The feast of the most holy name of Mary originated in Spain and was approved by the Vatican in 1513. Pope Innocent XI extended its observance to the whole Church in 1683 in thanksgiving to Mary for the victory on September 12, 1683 by Holy Roman Empire over the Ottomans, who were besieging Vienna and threatening the West.
Pope Benedict, in an address at a Cistercian monastery in Austria in 2007, said that he wanted to invite everyone to become a trusting child before Mary, just as the Son of God did. He stated: “Where Mary is, there is the archetype of total self-giving and Christian discipleship. Where Mary is, there is the Pentecostal breath of the Holy Spirit; there is new beginning and authentic renewal.”
Our psalm today states, “you are my inheritance, O Lord.” Our inheritance rests in our relationship with Jesus, with Mary, and with the entire community of saints in our Catholic faith. We honor Mary and our inheritance today as we honor her most holy name.
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