The Church’s commemoration of Mary’s birth leads us to meditate on her closeness to us in our human condition. She too was born a daughter of the human race. She is our sister in the human family. At the same time we joyfully recognize that she is far above us. We are happy to call her our beloved Mother in the spiritual order. Her special greatness is the result of the unique and extraordinary mystery of God’s intervention “in the fullness of time” when he no longer spoke through the prophets, but through his Son. Because Mary offered herself as the humble servant of the Lord, the eternal Word was made flesh in her womb and the immense riches of redemptive love were released into human history. The whole life of the Church in every age and in every place is inseparably linked to the young Jewish woman who responded to the Angel’s message with total obedience to God’s will: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1, 38).
In God’s eternal plan, Mary was called to give birth to the Savior whose Sacrifice on the Cross redeemed the world from its bondage to sin and death. In fulfilling her vocation she remained closely united to the saving work of her Son. As the Mother of the Church, “Mater Ecclesiae”, Mary invites all who have been reborn in Christ towards an ever deeper contemplation of the mystery of the Church. She inspires us to recognize the lofty vocation that each of us has received in Christ and guides us on our way towards the hope that has been stored up for us in heaven.
His Holiness Pope John Paul II
8 September 1989
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She is the Mother who loves, protects, advises, consoles and gives life so that life may be born and endure. She is the Daughter who honours her family, is ever attentive to the needs of her brothers and sisters and is prompt in making her home beautiful and welcoming; she is the Wife capable of faithful, patient love, of sacrifice and of hope.
I well know that Mary is in your hearts… Let us thank her today for her protection and renew our trust in her, recognizing her as the "Star of the New Evangelization" at whose school we may learn how to bring Christ the Saviour to the men and women of our time.
May Mary help you to bring Christ to families, little domestic churches and cells of society, which today more than ever are in need of both spiritual and social trust and support. May she help you to find appropriate pastoral strategies to ensure that Christ is encountered by young people who by their nature bring new dynamism but often fall prey to the widespread nihilism, thirsting for truth and ideals precisely when they seem to deny them. May she render you capable of evangelizing the world of work, the economy and politics which need a new generation of committed lay Christians who can seek competently and with moral rigour sustainable solutions of development. In all these aspects of Christian commitment you can always count on the guidance and support of the Blessed Virgin. Let us therefore entrust ourselves to her maternal intercession.
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
7 September 2008
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Father,
You prepared the heart of the Virgin Mary
to be a fitting home for Your Holy Spirit.
By her prayers,
may we become more worthy temples of Your glory.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You and the
Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington , DC
“The National Shrine Chapel Prayers”
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