Pray for us, O Most Holy Mother of God

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today we celebrate the birthday of our Blessed Mother. The feast of the Nativity of Mary is closely connected with the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Mary who is prepared by divine providence to be the Mother of Jesus the son of God, is conceived in the womb of her mother Anna, her father being Joachim, without the stain of sin and her birth is considered by the Church as a Solemn event.

Our Lady’s birthday has been described as “the hope of the entire world and the dawn of salvation”.  That is why the Liturgy of the day says: “Let us celebrate with joy the birth of the Virgin Mary, of who was born the Sun of Justice…. Her birth constitutes the hope and the light of salvation for the whole world…. Her image is light for the whole Christian people”. St. Augustine connects Mary’s birth with Jesus’ saving work. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of her birth. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.” The opening prayer at Mass also speaks of the birth of Mary’s Son as the dawn of our salvation and asks for an increase of peace.

In celebrating the nativity of Mary, Christians anticipate the Incarnation and the birth of her Divine Son, and give honour to the mother of Our Lord and Saviour. The Church’s calendar observes the birthdays of only three persons: St. John the Baptist and Mary, Mother of Jesus, and the of Jesus, Son of God.  John the Baptist was sanctified even before his birth. Luke tells us that Elizabeth felt the infant John “leap in her womb” when Mary approached her soon after the Annunciation. Mary was preserved sinless in anticipation with the privilege of being the Mother of God from the moment of her conception.

A birthday is an occasion when a person celebrates the anniversary of their birth, and is often celebrated with a gift in commemoration of that particular event. Today the church celebrates the birth of Mary. What would be the best gift for Our Lady on this special occasion? Faith - Faith in Jesus Christ. Her apparitions (eg: Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima) constantly urged the faithful to turn back to Jesus, the saviour of the world.

As we celebrate the birth of Mary, it is a great reminder for us to turn to Mary in time of great need, for she is "a sign of sure hope and solace" (Lumen Gentium, 68, Vatican II). There has been but one true revolution in the history of the world and that is precisely the Incarnation in the flesh of the eternal Logos in the person of the God-man Jesus Christ, whereby the power of sin, corruption, death and the authority of Satan are shattered and the chasm between the uncreated God and His creation is bridged. If the Incarnation is a foundational mystery of the faith then the person of Mary from whom Christ received His flesh and was born also stands at the centre of the faith. A faith in Christ which does not include the veneration of his mother is another faith, another Christianity from that held by the Church. A Christmas without the mother would be a meaningless Christmas, for the Word would not have taken flesh and become the source and summit of our salvation.

Today, let us join our voices with all Christians over the world as we lovingly invoke her intercession, “Pray for us O Holy Mother of God … that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ”. Mary continues to labor, through her intercession, so that Christ will be formed in us and so that we will be formed in Christ. For her birthday this year, let's allow her be our mother in the order of grace.

Celebration of the Immaculate Conception

It is often noted that pregnant mothers have a certain radiance and 'glow' about them, physically attributed to the extra flow of blood around their bodies. But of course, it is well to think that this is a beautiful external sign of the inner joy that an expectant mother experiences in her spirit as new life grows and develops within her womb. During Advent, the Church focuses her attention on several persons, and one of these is a pregnant mother, who is not just aglow with joy and her pregnancy, but also beautiful and radiant with divine grace. This person, of course, is the Blessed Virgin Mary.

During this advent season, this coming Saturday we will be celebrating the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception is a dogma of the Catholic Church maintaining that from the moment when she was conceived the Blessed Virgin Mary was kept free of original sin and was filled with the sanctifying grace normally conferred during baptism.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is universally celebrated on December 8, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, which is celebrated on September 8. We will be celebrating this wonderful feast day tomorrow during Mass as well as other Catholic Church around the world.

As you can see the top part of my church,Our Lady of Lourdes, which written : 

'I am the Immaculate Conception'

My Church, which name as Our Lady of Lourdes, is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary invoke by Roman Catholic in honor of the Marian Apparition in Lourdes, France. 

Most prominently among these is the apparition of February 11, 1858, when Saint Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl admitted to her mother that a "lady" spoke to her in the cave of Massabielle, (a mile from the town) while gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Bernadette Soubirous was later canonized as a Saint.

On 11 February 1858, Bernadette Soubirous went with her sisters Toinette and Jeanne Abadie to collect some firewood and bones in order to buy some bread. After taking off her shoes and stockings to wade through the water near the Grotto of Massabielle, she said she heard the sound of two gusts of wind (coups de vent) but the trees and bushes nearby did not move. A wild rose in a natural niche in the grotto, however, did move. From the niche, or rather the dark alcove behind it, "came a dazzling light, and a white figure." She was dressed all in white, apart from the blue belt fastened around her waist and the golden yellow roses, one on each foot, the colour of her rosary. Bernadette, knowing the local area well, managed to visit the barricaded grotto under cover of darkness. There, on 25 March, she said she was told: "I am the Immaculate Conception"

On Easter Sunday, 7 April, her examining doctor stated that Bernadette, in ecstasy, was observed to have held her hands over a lit candle without sustaining harm. On 16 July, Bernadette went for the last time to the Grotto. I have never seen her so beautiful before, she reported. 

St.Bernadette in-corrupt body. 

 Our Lady of Lourdes with St.Bernadette.

Hail Mary, full of grace.

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,

Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

This is the sharing of me today. I hope it benefited those(particularly some of my friends )who  keen to know about the Catholic Faith. 

Sources: Wikipedia, Catholic Resources (many thanks )