If you have not seen the Latest version of FATIMA, please do so, for your sake, for your family’s and as a celebration of her birthday. You will be inspired and filled with hope at the fresh retelling of this braking into our world by God’s transcendence, power and love.
"Hail Mary" is prayed two billion times every day. Every year five to ten million people make a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Many others visit Marian sites at Fatima , Portugal, Lourdes in Southern France and Aparecida in Brazil. Mary is prayed to as advocate and helper. In American football, the last desperate pass by a losing football team is called a "Hail Mary pass." Mary is also venerated by Muslims. It is reported that when the Prophet Muhammad cleared the idols out of the Kaaba in Mecca, he allowed only a fresco of the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus to remain. In every Muslim mosque, the "mihrab" or prayer niche in the wall is dedicated to Mary. In the Qur'an, she is described as having been sent as "mercy for the worlds."
The three exceptions are Jesus’ birthday (Christmas), Mary’s birthday (September 8), and John the Baptist’s birthday (June 24). Mary’s birthday is celebrated because of her Immaculate Conception. John the Baptist, in Elizabeth's womb, was filled with the Holy Spirit during Mary’s visitation of Elizabeth.
We honor Mary because God has done great things for her (Luke 1:49),
- by choosing her as the mother of Jesus His Son,
- by filling her with His Holy Spirit twice,
- by making her the embodiment of all virtues (“full of grace"), and our Heavenly Mother and
- by allowing her to become the most consequential participant with Christ, her Son, in our redemption.
As Mary’s children, we can give a suitable birthday gift to our Heavenly Mother. Every mother wants her children to inherit and acquire all her good qualities. So, the best birthday gift to Mary is for us to become holy children of a Holy Mother.
Let us make this day a day to start practicing Mary’s virtues. Let us practice her virtues of
- trusting Faith in the power of God (“nothing is impossible for God’);
- perfect obedience to the will of God, (“be it done to me according your word”);
- the humility of “the handmaid of the Lord,” who surrendered her whole being to God unconditionally;
- the spirit of sacrificial and sharing love; and
- the acceptance of suffering with one hundred percent commitment to her heroic mission.
Father Peyton’s dying words were “Mary, My Queen, My Mother.”
Happy Birthday to you, Mary. Amen.
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