As we celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 18-23) in which an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him ‘Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit’.

Fr Paul says the Scriptures do not give us an account of Mary’s birth. But this is one of the three birthdays celebrated in our Liturgical Year:

·        The birth of Jesus on December 25

·        The birth of St John the Baptist on June 24

·        and the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8.

The feast on this date has been celebrated since before the sixth century, with origins from Syria and Palestine. The Church then spread this feast throughout Europe, with it becoming one of the major feasts of Mary celebrated throughout the universal church by the twelfth century. In fact, September 8 was a holy day of obligation up until 1918.

Fr Paul says like many other feasts that we celebrate for Mary…. today we simply honour Our Lady because we are celebrating her birth.