Feast of the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Lectionary: 636
Reading 1
The LORD says:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah,
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
From you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
Whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
(Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne,
And the rest of his brethren shall return
to the children of Israel.)
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
And they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
he shall be peace.
Or
Brothers and sisters:
We know that all things work for good for those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose.
For those he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son,
so that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers.
And those he predestined he also called;
and those he called he also justified;
and those he justified he also glorified.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (Isaiah 61:10) With delight I rejoice in the Lord.
Though I trusted in your mercy,
let my heart rejoice in your salvation.
R. With delight I rejoice in the Lord.
Let me sing of the LORD, “He has been good to me.”
R. With delight I rejoice in the Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise;
from you rose the sun of Justice, Christ our God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham became the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah,
whose mother was Tamar.
Perez became the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab became the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
whose mother was Rahab.
Boaz became the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth.
Obed became the father of Jesse,
Jesse the father of David the king.
David became the father of Solomon,
whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.
Solomon became the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asaph.
Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah.
Uzziah became the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amos,
Amos the father of Josiah.
Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers
at the time of the Babylonian exile.
After the Babylonian exile,
Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud.
Abiud became the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok.
Zadok became the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar became the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”
or
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090820.cfm
Meditation: Mary's
Call to Be the Mother of Jesus the Savior
Do
you rejoice in the promises of God and trust in his saving plan for your life?
There is a long venerable tradition among many Christians of celebrating the
birth of Mary, the mother of Jesus our Savior, on this day. Her birth prepared
for our redemption in Jesus Christ. Matthew begins his Gospel account with the
genealogy of Jesus from Abraham's lineage through the line of David, King of
Israel. Matthew concludes his genealogy by indicating that both Mary, Jesus'
mother and Joseph, his legal foster father, came from the line of David.
Do you believe and trust in God's promises?
Mary was asked to assume in faith a burden of tremendous responsibility. It had
never been heard of before that a child could be born without a natural father.
Mary was asked to accept this miraculous exception to the laws of nature. That
required faith and trust. Second, Mary was not yet married. Pregnancy outside
of wedlock was not tolerated in those days. Mary was only espoused to Joseph,
and such an engagement had to last for a whole year. She was asked to assume a
great risk. She could have been rejected by Joseph, by her family, by all her
own people. Mary knew that Joseph and her family would not understand without
revelation from God. She nonetheless believed and trusted in God's promises.
Joseph, a just and God-fearing man, believed the message given to him to take
Mary as his wife and to accept the child in her womb as the promised Messiah.
Like Mary, Joseph is a model of faith for us. He is a faithful witness and
servant of God's unfolding plan of redemption. Are you willing to trust and
obey the Lord as Mary and Joseph did?
Jesus the Messiah is a direct descendant of King David and Abraham
What is the significance of Matthew's genealogy? His genealogy is arranged in
three sections portraying three great stages in the spiritual history of the
people of the old covenant. The first stage begins with Abraham, the father of
the chosen people, and ends with David, God's anointed King. The second stage
takes us to the exile of God's people in Babylon. This is the period of
Israel's shame and disaster due to her unfaithfulness.
The third stage takes us to Jesus, God's anointed Messiah. Jesus the Messiah is
the direct descent of Abraham and David, and the rightful heir to David's
throne. God in his mercy fulfilled his promises to Abraham and to David that he
would send a Savior and a King to rule over the house of Israel and to deliver
them from their enemies.
Jesus the Savior is the fulfillment of God's promises to us
Jesus is the fulfillment of all God's promises. He is the hope not only for the
people of the Old Covenant but for all nations as well. He is the Savior of the
world. In him we receive adoption into a royal priesthood and holy nation as
sons and daughters of the living God (see 1 Peter 1:9). Do you recognize your
spiritual genealogy and do you accept God as your Father and Jesus as the
sovereign King and Lord of your life?
Lord
Jesus, you came to save us from the power of sin and death and give us abundant
everlasting life in your kingdom. May I always rejoice in your saving work and
trust in your plan for my life.
Daily
Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Jesus' humanity revealed in the
genealogy, by Severus of Antioch (488-538 AD)
"One
must bear in mind therefore that the Evangelists, or rather the Spirit speaking
through them, took pains to ensure that their readers believed that Christ was
truly God and truly human. Because of what they wrote, no one could possibly
doubt that he is God by nature, beyond all variation, mutation or illusion, and
that according to the ordered plan of God he was truly human. This is why John
could say, on the one hand, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.' John immediately adds, 'The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us' (John 1:1-2,14). Hence Matthew wrote appropriately,
'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of
Abraham.' On the one hand he is not able to be counted simply from natural
generation among families, since it is written, 'Who shall declare his
generation'? (Isaiah 53:8)
"He is before the centuries and of one substance with the Father himself,
from the standpoint of eternity. But by this genealogy he is also numbered
among the families of humanity according to the flesh. For in truth, while
remaining God, Christ became man without ceasing to be God, unaltered till the
end of time. This is why there is also mention of the ancient patriarchs in the
lineage, the narrative and observation of the times and vicissitudes that are
indeed proper to human history. Through all this Matthew made it clear that
Christ participates in our human generation and in our nature. Otherwise some
might claim that he appeared in illusion and in imagination only, rather than
by becoming genuinely human. Think of what might have been said if none of this
had been written?" (excerpt from CATHEDRAL SERMONS, HOMILY 94)
https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2020&date=sep8a
FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 8, MATTHEW 1:1-16, 18-23 or 1:18-23
(Micah
5:1-4a or Romans 8:28-30; Psalm 13)
KEY VERSE: "For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her" (v.20).
TO KNOW: Matthew constructed his opening genealogy to show that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures concerning the messiah. Except for Mary, the mother of Jesus, the other four women mentioned were all non-Jews: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Yet each woman played a part in bringing about the birth of the messiah. Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus inaugurated the new era of salvation. When Mary was found to be with child, Joseph, a righteous man, was afraid to expose her to the law because the penalty for adultery was death by stoning. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, since the child had been conceived through God's Spirit. Joseph was told to name the infant "Jesus" (Hebrew, Yeshua) meaning "Yahweh saves." Jesus was also given the title "Emmanuel," meaning "God is with us." At the end of Matthew's gospel, Jesus told his disciples, "Know that I am with you always, until the end of the world (Matt 28:20).
TO LOVE: Do you turn to Mary to intercede for your needs?
TO SERVE: Mary my mother, pray that I might be faithful to your son all my life.
NOTE: The source for the story of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal gospel written about A.D. 150. From it, we learn the names of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, as well as the tradition that the couple was childless until an angel appeared to Anna and told her that she would conceive. The traditional date of the feast, September 8, falls exactly nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, December 8, which declares that Mary was preserved free from all stain of original sin from the moment of her conception in her mother's womb.
http://www.togetherwithgodsword.com/commentaries-on-the-daily-gospel-of-the-mass.html
Tuesday 8 September 2020
Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Romans 8:28-30. With delight I rejoice in the Lord – Psalm
12(13):6-7. Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23.
Humankind’s enemy is our own frailty
The psalm for the birthday of Mary is a short psalm, a prayer of
deliverance from our enemies. It begins ‘How long, O Lord? Will you forget me
forever?’ Humankind’s enemy is our own frailty that separated us from God as
described in the sacred mythology of Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve chose the
fruit of the tree of knowledge. How long will God take to remedy that situation
because we cannot do it ourselves?
The psalm tells us that God has acted. A woman has been born and
through her, God will become human in the person of Jesus and we will be
returned to the fullness of a relationship with God.
http://www.pray.com.au/gospel_reflection/tuesday-8-september-2020/
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Saint of the Day for September 8
The Birth of the Virgin | fresco by Giotto
The Story of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Church has celebrated Mary’s birth since at least the sixth
century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its
Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for
the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.
Scripture does not give an account of Mary’s birth. However, the
apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This
work has no historical value, but it does reflect the development of Christian
piety. According to this account, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a
child. They receive the promise of a child who will advance God’s plan of
salvation for the world. Such a story, like many biblical counterparts,
stresses the special presence of God in Mary’s life from the beginning.
Saint Augustine connects Mary’s birth with Jesus’ saving
work. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of her birth.
“She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the
valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is
changed.” The opening prayer at Mass speaks of the birth of Mary’s Son as the
dawn of our salvation, and asks for an increase of peace.
Reflection
We can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the
world. The love of two human beings has joined with God in his creative work.
The loving parents have shown hope in a world filled with travail. The new
child has the potential to be a channel of God’s love and peace to the world.
This is all true in a magnificent way in Mary. If Jesus is the
perfect expression of God’s love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If
Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning.
Birthday celebrations bring happiness to the celebrant as well
as to family and friends. Next to the birth of Jesus, Mary’s birth offers
the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth,
we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and in the world
at large.
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/nativity-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/
Lectio Divina: Birthday of Mary - Mt:1,1-16.18-23
Lectio Divina
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
God our Father,
You redeem us
and make us Your children in Christ.
Look upon us,
give us true freedom
and bring us to the inheritance You promised.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23
The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the
son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez
and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron
the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of
Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother
was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became
the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king. David became the
father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the
father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph.
Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram
the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of
Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the
father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile. After
the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the
father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father
of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became
the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the
father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the
Christ. Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother
Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found
with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a
righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her
quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to
him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary
your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has
been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to
fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be
with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God
is with us.”
3) Reflection
• Today, September 8th, Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, the
Gospel gives us the genealogy, or birth certificate, of Jesus. By means of the
list of His ancestors, the Evangelist tells the communities who Jesus is and
how God acts in a surprising way in order to fulfill His promise. On our birth
certificate there is our name and the name of our parents. Some people, to say
who they are, also recall the names of the grandparents. Others are ashamed of
their ancestors, of their families, and hide behind appearances which deceive.
The birth certificate of Jesus has many names. On the list of names there is a
great novelty. At that time, the genealogy indicated only the names of the men.
This is why it is surprising that Matthew also mentions five women among the
ancestors of Jesus: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah and Mary. Why does he
choose precisely these five women and not others? This is the question which
the Gospel of Matthew leaves for us.
• Matthew 1:1-17: The long list of names – the beginning and the end of the
genealogy. At the beginning and at the end of the genealogy, Matthew clearly
makes us understand Jesus’ identity: He is the Messiah, son of David and son of
Abraham. As descendant of David, Jesus is the response of God to the expectations
of the Jewish people (2 Sam 7, 12, and 16). As descendant of Abraham, He is
source of blessings and of hope for all nations of the earth (Gen 12-13).
Therefore, in this way, both the Jews and the pagans who formed part of the
communities of Syria and of Palestine at the time of Matthew could see that
their hope was fulfilled in Jesus. .
Drawing up the list of the ancestors of Jesus, Matthew adopts a plan of 3 X 14
generations (Mt 1:17). The number two is the number of the divinity. Number 14
is two times 7, which is the number of perfection. At that time, it was
something common to interpret or calculate God’s action by using numbers and
dates. By means of these symbolic calculations, Matthew reveals the presence of
God throughout the generations and expresses the conviction of the communities
who said that Jesus appeared at the time established by God. With His coming
history reaches its fulfillment.
The message of the five women mentioned in the genealogy. Jesus is the response
of God to the expectation both of the Jews and of the pagans, but it is in a
completely surprising way. In the stories of the four women of the Old
Testament, mentioned in the genealogy, there is something abnormal. The four of
them were foreigners, and they will conceive their sons outside the normal
schema of the behavior of that time and they do not keep the requirements of
the laws of purity of the time of Jesus. Tamar, a Canaanite, a widow, dresses
as a prostitute of Jericho to oblige Judah to be faithful to her and to give her
a son (Gen 38:1-30). Rahab, a prostitute from Jericho, makes an alliance with
the Israelites. She helped them to enter the Promised Land and professed faith
in a God who liberates from the Exodus. (Judg 2:1-21). Bathsheba, a Hittite,
wife of Uriah, was seduced, abused and made pregnant by King David, who in
addition to that, ordered her husband to be killed (2 Sam 11:1-27). Ruth, a
Moabite, a poor widow, chose to remain with Naomi and adhere to the people of
God (Rt 1, 16-18). Advised by her mother-in-law Naomi, Ruth imitates Tamar and
spends the night together with Boaz, obliging him to observe the law and to
give her a son. From their relation Obed was born, the grandfather of King
David (Ruth 3:1-15; 4:13-17). These four women question the models of behavior
imposed by the patriarchal society. And thus, their conventional initiative
will give continuity to the descendants of Jesus and will bring salvation to
all the people. Through them, God realizes His plan and sends the promised
Messiah. Truly, God’s way of acting surprises and makes one think! At the end
the reader will ask, “And Mary? Is there something irregular in her? What is
it? We get the response from the story of Saint Joseph which follows in (Mt
1:18-23).
• Mathew 1:18-23: Saint Joseph was just. What was irregular in Mary is that she
became pregnant before living together with Joseph, her betrothed, who was a
just man. Jesus says, “If your justice is not greater than the justice of the
Pharisees and the scribes, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” If Joseph
had been just according to the justice of the Pharisees, he would have
denounced Mary and she would have been stoned. Jesus would have died. Thanks to
the true justice of Joseph, Jesus was able to be born.
4) Personal questions
• When I present myself to others, what do I say about myself
and about my family?
• If the Evangelist mentions only these five women together with over forty
men, no doubt, he wants to communicate a message. What is this message? What
does all this tell us about the identity of Jesus? And what does this say about
us?
5) Concluding Prayer
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingship
and tell of Your might,
making known Your mighty deeds to the children of Adam,
the glory and majesty of Your kingship. (Ps 145:10-11)
https://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/lectio-birthday-mary-matthew-11-1618-23
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