“A virgin will become pregnant and have a son,
and he will be called Immanuel (which means, ‘God with us’).” (Mt 1:23)
Today’s
Passage: Mt 1:1-16, 18-23
Meditation: Today is our holy mamma’s birthday. Therefore, let us
together wish her a very happy birthday. How do we celebrate birthdays of our
family members, relatives and friends? It is with singing, rejoicing,
felicitating, cutting cake, and sumptuous dinner. Today we also celebrate our
holy mamma’s birthday with great joy and happiness. Of course, bouquets to our
holy mamma are made not flowers, but of prayers, virtues, charity and
sacrifices. The main item of the birthday celebration is the sumptuous heavenly
meal; the holy Eucharist. Don’t miss any of these today. It is very happy to know
that many are nowadays preparing for this feast of nativity of Our Lady with
eight days of prayer and fasting. Somebody was asking me the other day, why do
we celebrate only the birthdays of mother Mary and St. John the Baptist, not of
other saints? It is true that in the Catholic Church only two birthday
celebrations of the saints are there;
one of John the Baptist and the second that of mother Mary. What is the reason
behind it? All men are born with original sin and through the reception of
baptism only they get forgiveness of both the original sin and all those sins
he committed before the reception of baptism. One faithful is publically
declared a saint only after his/her death which is the final moment of his
witness to Jesus on earth. Therefore, we celebrate not the birthday of the
saint for he is born of original sin, but the day of his death as a living
souvenir of his fidelity until his/her death. Why then, the birthdays of mother
Mary and John the Baptist? Both of them filled with the Holy Spirit from the
very beginning, kept protected by god from all sins, played a great role in the
life of Jesus and gave witness to him. St. John Maria Vianney will say ‘no
saint has begun well, but all have finished well. Here we have two saints who
began well and finished well. Of these two, we celebrate today the birthday of
our Holy Mother Mary.
Prayer: Lord God, we thank you and praise you for
your daily eternal bread. On this day of birthday celebration of mother Mary,
we thank you for giving us a mother like Holy Mary. It is through her we
understand that Christian life is really becoming Christ. Until death we are
becoming Christ and Christians. A Christian’s death is the final point of one’s
witness to Jesus. Therefore, Lord, give us your Holy Spirit in its fullness
that we may be able to keep ourselves away from sin and lead a life of witness
to you till the end of our life. Amen!
Greetings: Take courage!
God is with you! Have a nice and blissful Monday…
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