Perhaps Prophet Job would have never dreamt of celebrating his birthday. His plaint is heart breaking: “Job said: let the day perishes in which I was born, and the night that said, a man-child is conceived. Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.” (Job.3: 3-5) Unlike Job, the Bl. Virgin Mary and her beloved children have every reason to sing and dance for joy on her birthday as she was conceived immaculate, immune from original sin and destined to be the spotless flower from whom would bloom our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The Sacred Scriptures are silent about the birth and early life of Mary. This vacuum was filled up by the Protoevangelium of St. James, an apocryphal book, written around the year 170 AD. Although this and other apocryphal books are not recognized by the Church as inspired writings, nevertheless these reflect the sentiments and piety of the primitive Church. In 330 St. Helen constructed a Basilica in Jerusalem dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. As early as the fifth century, hymns were already being composed to honour the birth of Mary. St. Epiphanus (…+403) and St. Chrysostom (…+ 407) make mention of the celebration of Nativity as a feast dear to every Christian. By the seventh Century, this feast rapidly spread to different countries. Hence, Nativity is one of the oldest festivals of Mary, though the exact date of its origin cannot be pinpointed with accuracy.
According to the Protoevangelium of St. James, Joachim and Anne were barren and advanced in age. Their fasts and prayers for a child were heard by Yahweh, who blessed them with a girl named Mary. Sacred Scriptures record the miraculous intervention of God in the birth of individuals who were destined to play a major rule in Jewish history. Thus we have the births of Isaac (Gen.21: 1-3), Samson (Judges.13: 2-7), Samuel (1 Sam. 1:9-19), John, the Baptist (Lk.1:5-24) and Jesus Christ. (Lk.1:26-39). Understandably, the birth of the Mary, the mother of the Messiah, had to be quite sensational too.
Reflection: Every human birth is a fresh reminder that God has not despaired of mankind. When a husband and wife cooperate with the creative work of God, the outcome would be a child that has the potentialities of becoming the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
Today the barren Anna claps her hands for joy, the earth radiates with light, kings sing their happiness, priests enjoy every blessing, the entire universe rejoices because she who is queen…buds forth from the stem of Jesse. (Byzantine Liturgy.)
