Exit qui seminat: Happy Birthday!
Believe it or not, the Catholic Church focuses a lot on birthdays! In fact, many of the memorials, feasts and solemnities revolving around saints are placed on their date of death - or more importantly their "birthday" into
heaven (like our own patron saint, St. Pio of Pietrelcina who entered into eternal life on Monday, September 23, 1968). But the Church also celebrates special birthdays in a traditional sense as well. First and foremost we celebrate Christmas (December 25th). But along with the birth of our Lord we recognize the Birth of John the Baptist (June 24 - 6 months before Jesus' birth) and of course, the Birth of Mary which we celebrated on September 8th. The Church focuses on these birthdays because of the holiness of the lives of Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist: Jesus of course as the Son of God, Mary by being conceived without sin (the Immaculate Conception) and chosen to give birth to the Christ, and John the Baptist, who is considered to have his sins forgiven within his mother's (Elizabeth) womb when he leapt for joy at the arrival of his cousin, the Messiah. All three birthdays point toward the Incarnation (the coming of Christ as man, from the Latin in carnatus est "having become flesh"), the beginning of the fulfilment of the Lord's plan of salvation along with the other "Christmas" feast day, the Annunciation (March 25 - 9 months before Jesus' birth). In fact, if you do the math, September 8th is exactly nine months from (December 8) the Church's celebration of the Immaculate Conception, when Mary was conceived in her mother's womb. While our celebration of Christmas is a little more than 3 months away, the Birth of Mary is meant to help us recall everything that the Lord put into place throughout salvation history for our sake and these milestones of faith are meant to inspire us as we live out the Lord's plan. As we say, "Happy Birthday" to the mother of our Savior, let us continue to give thanks for the gift of her son and prepare our hearts for the beginning of Advent which will be here before we know it.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Fr. Rob Sinatra
