The Nativity of the Virgin Mary

 Birth of the Virgin by Bertolome Murillo

The liturgy today commemorates the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast, very important to popular piety, leads us to admire in Mary the Child, the purest dawn of the Redemption. We are contemplating a little girl like every other, at the same time the only one who was "blessed among women" (Lk 1:42). Mary was the immaculate "Daughter of Zion", destined to become the Mother of the Messiah. ~ St. John Paul II

​​"Queen of Angels, Thou are our Queen also; accept us as Thy servants. On this day, when the first movement of Thy holy soul was towards God, and the first smile of Thy lovely eyes was for Thy happy parents, may holy Anne allow us to kneel and kiss Thy little hand, already filled with the divine bounties of which Thou are the predestined dispenser. And now, grow up, sweet little one! Let Thy feet be strengthened to crush the serpent, and Thy arems to carry the treasure of the world! Angels and men, the whole of nature, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all are awaiting the solemn moment, when Gabriel may fly down from Heaven to hail Thee full of grace, and bring Thee the message of eternal love." ~ Abbot Gueranger

Maria Bambina by Pietro Favaro