The Nativity Of The Most Blessed Virgin

First Point

Let us honor the Most Blessed Virgin on her birthday and join in the quite extraordinary joy felt by the entire Church, which today solemnly celebrates this happy day when God brought into this world the woman who initiated the salvation of all people. God, who conducts all things with wisdom, having the plan to save his people¹ and to be born like them, chose by preference a virgin who was worthy to be his temple and his dwelling place. To prepare her just as he wished her to be, he adorned her by the power of the Holy Spirit with all the natural and supernatural qualities fitting for the one who would be the mother of God. It was necessary for this purpose that the body of this holy Virgin would be so perfectly formed and so well functioning from the time of her birth that it was able to contribute to the holiness of her soul. In this way the Holy Spirit, coming upon her, put her in a state to find favor before God and to be the object of his delight.² He gave her such inner strength that she was able to resist all the attacks of the evil spirit that might have corrupted, or at least diminished, the purity of her heart.Oh, how very right it is that she who was destined to form a man-God would be entirely the work of God and the most perfect of pure creatures!

Second Point

Let us admire with how many graces God adorned the soul of the Most Blessed Virgin at the moment of her birth. She was so filled with grace3 that no pure creature has ever been like her or ever will be. The Holy Spirit, giving her a share in his fullness, communicated all his gifts to her and took up his dwelling in her, from that time on, to prepare her to receive and to contain in her womb the Son of God made man. He also gave her a heart so filled with God’s love that she lived only for God. Everything in her related to God alone; her mind was occupied only with God and with what God helped her to know that would be pleasing to him. All the faculties of her soul had no other function except to give homage to God. Even her body served as an instrument for the holy actions that took place within her and that helped to spiritualize her body as far as possible and to make it a holy sanctuary where Jesus Christ someday would enter and there offer himself interiorly to God, as a victim without blemish,⁴ to perfect the purification of the soul of this holy Virgin, whom the Holy Spirit had possessed from her birth. Oh, how happy this day was for Mary and also for all people who find their refuge in her because of the treasure of grace God placed in her at the moment she appeared in the world!

Third Point

It is impossible for us to believe how great was the cooperation of the Most Blessed Virgin with all the graces she received from God at the moment of her birth. By a special privilege, she already enjoyed the use of reason and made use of it to adore God and to thank him for all his goodness. From that time on, she consecrated herself entirely to God to live and to act only for him during the rest of her life. She professed her nothingness profoundly in the depths of her soul, acknowledging that she owed everything to God. She admired interiorly what God had done in her, saying to herself what she later declared in her Canticle, God has done great things in me.⁵ As she looked at herself and contemplated God in herself, she was altogether amazed to see the generosity of God in his creature. She was convinced and thoroughly aware that everything in her must pay honorto God. With David she continually said that her very bones were soindebted to God that they could not refrain from crying out, Who islike unto God?⁶If Mary received an abundance of grace,⁷ it was to share it withall those who have recourse to her. By your care for her and your recourse to her, gain the help you can receive from her.

Historical Context

De La Salle took his inspiration for this meditation from the liturgy of the feast as it was celebrated in his time, borrowing thoughts from the Lessons of the Nocturnes, the Collect, and the Gradual of the Mass. The celebration of Mary’s birthday probably began in the Near East. It was introduced in the West during the eighth century.

Scripture Citation

1. 1 Tim 2:4
2. Lk 1:30, 35
3. Lk 1:48–49
4. Heb 9:12, 14
5. Lk 1:49
6. Ps 35:10
7. Lk 1:28