The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, September 8, 2005
The Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Micah 5:1-4 or Romans 8:28-30
Psalm 13:6
Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

She will bear a son Jesus and he will save his people from their sins.(see Matthew 1:21)

Today's reading in Micah contains the often repeated promise of "One" who is to come for the deliverance of Israel. The question is, how will God accomplish this? God had already given Israel the Law to guide them to holiness, to become an example to the world of God's loving power. However, their frequent disobedience of the Law prevailed over their living in the love upon which God's law is based. The Law alone did little more than reveal their sins to them; they required a total change of heart.

Psalm 13 defines God's means of effecting the needed change. He would show His loving mercy by coming to His people in human flesh as the rising "sun of justice," showing them how to live selflessly and sacrificially in His truth and love, and providing them with the power needed to live in obedience to His Law. This promise is fulfilled in the New Testament with the birth of His Christ.

The feast we celebrate today indicates God's careful preparation for the coming of His Son into this world. The Blessed Virgin Mary was a spotless vessel cleansed from original sin from her very conception in her mother's womb. This is why she is also called the Immaculate Conception; her being freed from the stain of sin from the first moment of her life made her fit to bear the Divine Child, Jesus. Hers was the most powerful utterance in human history when she said "Yes" to God. It is this same word spoken and lived by us in obedience to Him that can continue to bear His blessed life into this world.

O Redeemer King, may we always seek Your grace to live in the same wisdom, humility and loving obedience to our heavenly Father as You and Your mother Mary. Amen

- Marie Bocko, OCDS
(mlbocko at earthlink dot net)