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Sunday, August 29, 2010

Novena In Honor of Maria Bambina Day 5

Day 5: Mary ever virgin

9 Day Reflections in Preparation for the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 30- September 08,2010)

Mary ever Virgin

In the disciples’ eyes, as they gathered after the Ascension, the title “Mother of Jesus” acquires its full meaning. For them, Mary is a person unique in her kind: she received the singular grace of giving birth to the Saviour of humanity; she lived for a long while at his side; and on Calvary she was called by the Crucified One to exercise a “new motherhood” in relation to the beloved disciple and, through him, to the whole Church.

For these who believe in Jesus and follow him, “Mother of Jesus” is a title of honour and veneration, and will forever remain such in the faith and life of the Church. In a particular way, by this title Christians mean to say that one cannot refer to Jesus’ origins without acknowledging the role of the woman who gave him birth in the Spirit according to his human nature. Her maternal role also involves the birth and growth of the Church. In recalling the place of Mary in Jesus’ life, the faithful discover each day her efficacious presence in their own spiritual journey.

From the beginning, the Church has acknowledged the virginal motherhood of Mary. As the infancy Gospels enable us to grasp, the first Christian continuities themselves gathered together Mary’s recollections about the mysterious circumstances of the Saviour’s conception and birth. In particular, the Annunciation account responds to the disciples’ desire to have the deepest knowledge of the events connected with the beginnings of the risen Christ’s earthly life. In the last analysis, Mary is at the origin of the revelation about the mystery of the virginal conception by the work of the Holy Spirit.

This truth, showing Jesus’ divine origin, was immediately grasped by the first Christians for its important significance and included among the key affirmations of their faith. Son of Joseph according to the law, Jesus in fact, by an extraordinary intervention of the Holy Spirit, was in his humanity only the son of Mary, since he was born without the intervention of man.

Mary’s virginity thus acquires a unique value and casts new light on the birth of Jesus and on the mystery of his sonship, since the virginal generation is the sign that Jesus has God himself as his Father.

Acknowledged and proclaimed by the faith of the Fathers, the virginal motherhood can never be separated from the identity of Jesus, true God and true man, as “born of the Virgin Mary”, as we profess in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. Mary is the only Virgin who is also a Mother. The extraordinary co-presence of these two gifts in the person of the maiden of Nazareth has led Christians to call Mary simply “the Virgin”, even when they celebrate her motherhood.

The virginity of Mary thus initiates in the Christian community the spread of the virginal life embraced by all who are called to it by the Lord. This special vocation, which reaches its apex in Christ’s example, represents immeasurable spiritual wealth for the Church in every age, which finds in Mary her inspiration and model

Novena Prayer

Day 4

Hail admirable child Mary, Mystical rose, closed garden, open only to the heavenly spouse. O lily of the paradise , make me love the humble and hidden life; let the heavenly spouse finds the gate of my heart always open to the loving calls of his grace and inspiration. Amen

Hail Mary…

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