Romans 8:28-30 God has called us to share his glory. “…it was those so destined that he called; those that he called, he justified, and those that he has justified he has brought into glory.”

Micah  5:1-4 Restoration through the Messiah.  “But you (Bethlehem) Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, from you will come for me a future ruler of Israel whose origins go back to the distant past, …Yahweh will abandon them only until she who is in labour gives birth, and then those who survive of  his race will be reunited to the Israelites...”

Psalm 13:6  “Let my heart delight in your saving help, let me sing to Yahweh for his generosity to me, let me sing to the name of Yahweh the Most High!”

Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23  The ancestry of Jesus  “…Look! The virgin is with child and will give birth to a  son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means God-is-with-us.”

Today the Church celebrates the Birth of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and the readings are rich with the prophecies of our Lord’s birth, and  the details of the lineage of who would bear the Christ child.  Mary, Jesus’ Mother, our Mother enlighten us on this feast day that we honor you and your birth.

Mary was a significant human being in Christ’s life, God thought so.  In Luke's gospel of this same version of where Mary and Joseph are being let in on God’s plan to send His Son Jesus to become Man, we find the Angel Gabriel, telling Mary that God has found favor with her.  Mary’s response is Yes.  There are not volumes written in scripture about Mary, but of what is written her humility in putting God before self is strongly heard.  The scriptures are almost silent about the Holy Family’s life, from Christ’s birth to his last three years of public ministry.  Mary knew God’s voice, for she seemed to know the way of God even before Jesus was born.  In her humility, she became worthy to be the Mother of God.

Humility seems to be a fleeting human quality, even though it was so present in this human being of so long ago.  Fleeting because it is not cool to be humble, we must be strong.  Sometimes when  I think of the human race, I think of a “race”, like a foot race, with the goal being to capture as many individual ‘rights’ as one can gather.  It does not seem to matter who we have to step on to get to the finish.  Many times I feel we live in a world today, that cares only about self, not about the whole human population.  It takes catastrophes of epic proportions to bring us out of the day-to-day “race” to show our true humanity.  Maybe my world is too small, I have only lived in the United States.

Mary can show each of us the steps along the path, no matter who we are or where we are on it.   Oh Mary, in our humanity today, we so often act before we ask for heavenly help.  Help us to see the value in being more humble.  Humble enough to ask for God’s help, humble enough to be able to do God’s will when we do ask.  We ask this prayer in your son’s name, Jesus Christ.