Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 18-23) in which the future of Mary’s son is revealed to Joseph. Afterwards, he shares a little about the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which we celebrate today.Fr Paul says the Scriptures do not give us an account of Mary’s birth; however, her birth is one of the three birthdays celebrated in our Liturgical Year: We celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25, We celebrate the birth of St John the Baptist on June 24, And today, September 8, we celebrate the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 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.Like many other feasts that we celebrate for Mary…. Today, Fr Paul says, we simply honour Our Lady to celebrate her birth.