Mi 5:1-4a Rom 8:28-30 Is 13:6ab, 6c Mt 1:1-16, 18-23

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

What a welcome sight to see in the church today! Priests wearing white, dressing up for Mary’s birthday! Today we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of only three individuals whose births are honored in the church year.

The readings today speak of great hope, but we are reminded that where great hope lies, so also the potential for hope’s antithesis: despair. After Mary chose to bear the Christ child, her fiancé (in unofficial modern translation) nearly broke off their engagement, almost leaving Mary an unwed mother who would more than likely end up with a few large rocks thrown at her head. Mary could have so easily plunged into desolate hopelessness after she surveyed the path it seemed her life was headed down.

But she didn’t.

This woman, this beautiful woman we call 'Mother' stood right where God had called her to be. She recognized “that all things work for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28). She trusted that she was “called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, emphasis added)—a purpose and a plan greater than anything she could try to imagine. She, fully human and queen of all virtue, showed us how to hold onto hope when it seemed near impossible.

And because she hoped in the purpose God had for her from the moment of her conception, God justified her hope, glorifying her as his beloved daughter, spouse, and mother of his only Son.

God calls us to follow Mary’s example by hoping and trusting in the perfect plans he has for us. Each of us is a beloved child of God, just as that young woman from Nazareth is, and her Son beckons us to live in the light of his plan, no matter how dark our lives seem.

Lord Jesus, help us to revel in the hope and the beauty of your intricate plans today. Set our souls at peace knowing that you know our hearts.