This Sunday, September 8th, is the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This ancient feast goes back to the 500’s and is thought to have been first celebrated on the day of the dedication of a church at the site of the home of Joacim and Ann where Mary was born.  At this same site, years later, the Angel Gabriel, sent by God, would come and kneel before her with bowed head and say, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.”  
 
This feast of Mary calls to mind the rising of the Morning Star signaling the coming of dawn.  Arising on the horizon of salvation history before, Jesus, the Son, the light of hope for a fallen world.  She is the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus, the ultimate embodiment of the victorious Christian who perseveres in faith and shares in Christ's messianic authority and victory over the darkness of sin and death.
 
Today, let us ask Mary, born in that humble home in Nazareth of Galilee, to pray for us, that we might follow her example of faith, always saying “yes” to the will of God in our life and so join her forever in that glorious beatific vision of her Son, Our Lord, Jesus.                                                                                                       
                                                                                              Deacon Scott Zogg