Homily for Feast of Birth of Blessed Virgin Mary

Homily for the Feast of the
Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sept. 8, 2026
Rom 8: 28-30
Collect
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, N.R.

Madonna & Child with angels & saints (Ottaviano di Martino Nelli)

“Those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8: 28).

We celebrate the birth of the Blessed Virgin 9 months after we celebrate her immaculate conception.  Our celebration is about her, but even more it’s about “her Son, the dawning of salvation” (Collect).

St. Paul writes of God’s purpose, which is the salvation of the human race.  For that purpose he foreknew, predestined, and called a chosen woman.

In Mary’s immaculate conception we acknowledge that God justified her from the beginning of her existence.  The divine choice and justification are in light of the divine purpose.  God “conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom 8:29) her who would bear the Son “so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” and sisters (8:29).  The 1st of the Lord Jesus’ many brothers and sisters, in a marvelous Christian paradox, is his mother.

“Those he justified he also glorified” (8:30).  He glorified her with the gift of the Holy Spirit thru whom she conceived her Son (Matt 1:20).  He glorified her by her Son’s giving her as a gift, from the cross, to his beloved disciple (John 19:26), thereby rendering all his disciples his brothers and sisters, and his mother our mother too.  He glorified her by assuming her into heaven when her earthly life was complete.

The birthday of our Blessed Lady becomes, in a sense then, also our birthday.  It foreshadows our birth by water and the Holy Spirit (cf. John 3:5), for we also have been called according to the divine purpose, called to be conformed to the image of the Son, predestined by God’s choice to be justified and glorified along with his mother, our mother.