HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMY!

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mt 1:1-16, 18-23

Before I became a priest, my mother’s birthday was a simple family gathering. We either attend a Mass together or, when hearing Mass together was not possible, offer a Mass for her. Sometimes we had a family dinner in a special restaurant. Sometimes we watched a movie together. Sometimes we just stroll together. But always, the affair was simple and very private.

Now that I am a priest, commemorating mommy’s birthday is somehow different. The former simple and very private family affair is now “upgraded” and a concern of more people. Most of those people are people who love me too. They met mommy because they met me. They came to know her more because they came to know me better. They developed a special affection for her because I, her son, am a priest. When her birthday comes, she has more gifts than before. More people are excited about April 30 and not a few greet mommy, “Happy Birthday”. The otherwise exclusively family celebration has become a community affair. Mommy’s birthday is remembered because she gave birth to son who, later on, became a priest.

The same is true with the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate her birth in a very special way because she gave birth to the Son of God. The Blessed Virgin Mary’s significance to us is always seen in the light of her son, Jesus. Her birth signals the end of the period of promise and expectation of the Old Testament and the beginning of the time of grace, the kairos, of the New Testament. Because she was born, the birth of the Blessed Savior was near. Salvation was at hand more than before.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is karithomene, full of grace, because it was IN her, then THROUGH her, that karis, (“grace”) first appeared. Jesus is Grace in person. And the Blessed Virgin Mary was not only the first to have been saved, she was also the first human vessel of salvation and the first tabernacle of Jesus Christ Himself.

But unlike my mother’s birth, the Blessed Mother’s birth was ordained by the birth of her Son, Jesus. Mary was predestined to be the mother of the Lord. This is also the reason why she was immaculately conceived, that she was conceived without original sin, that even before the actual events of the Lord’s Paschal Mystery she was already saved. This must be the reason why on her birthday, the Gospel enumerates not her genealogy but that of her Son’s. The Gospel is not about her birth but the birth of the Lord.

Many people, though they are not my siblings, call my mother, “mommy”. They met her, they knew her, and they continue to love her. The Blessed Virgin Mary is our mommy too because of Jesus. We celebrate her birthday in a special way because of Jesus. May people rejoice and thank God for our birthdays because of Jesus too.

Happy Birthday, Mommy! (No, it is not my mom’s birthday today. But, yes, it is mommy’s birthday.)