8/11/2019 Our Lady's Nativity

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Saint JosemariaQuotations from Saint Josemaria

Our Lady´s Nativity Tags: Contemplation, Humility, Our Lady 

The entrance antiphon at Mass states:

Let us celebrate with joyful hearts

the birth of the Virgin Mary,

of whom was born the Sun of Justice,

Christ our Lord. 

Our mother

Our mother is a model of correspondence to grace.

If we contemplate her life, our Lord will give us thelight we need to divinize our everyday existence.

Throughout the year when we celebrate feasts

dedicated to Mary and frequently on other days, we

Christians can think of the Virgin. If we take

advantage of these moments, trying to imagine

how she would conduct herself in our

circumstances, we will make steady progress. And in the end we will resemble her, as children come

to look like their mother.

Mary, the most holy Mother of God, passes unnoticed, as just one more among the women of her

town.

Learn from her how to live with 'naturalness'. The way, 499

How great the value of humility! Quia respexit humilitatem...

It is not of her faith, nor of her charity, nor of her immaculate

purity that our Mother speaks in the house of Zachary. Her

 joyful hymn sings: 'Since he has looked on my humility, all

generations will call me blessed.' The way, 598

She is beautiful, and pure

Theologians have frequently come up with reasons to explain in some way the meaning of the

abundant graces showered upon Mary and culminating in her assumption to heaven. They put it this

way: "It was fitting; God could do so; therefore he did." This is the clearest reason why our Lord

granted his Mother, from the very moment of her immaculate conception, all possible privileges. Shewas free from the power of Satan. She is beautiful, spotless and pure in soul and body. Christ is

passing by, 171

Mary becomes transformed in holiness in the depths of her most pure heart on seeing the humility of

God: 'the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you;

and therefore the Holy One to be born of you shall be called the Son of God'. The Blessed Virgin's

humility is a consequence of that unfathomable depth of grace which comes into operation with the

Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity in the womb of his ever Immaculate Mother.

Friends of God, 96

Love our Lady. And she will obtain for you abundant grace to conquer in your daily struggle. And the

enemy will gain nothing by those foul things that continually seem to boil and rise within you, trying to

engulf in their fragrant corruption the high ideals, the sublime determination that Christ himself hasset in your heart. Serviam, I will serve! The way, 493 

First, let us imitate her love.Charity cannot be contentwith just nice feelings; itmust find its way into ourconversations and, aboveall, into our deeds

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Isn't that marvellous? The

blessed Virgin, our teacher

in all we do, shows us here

that obedience to God is not

servile, does not bypass our

conscience. We should be

inwardly moved to discover

the "freedom of the childrenof God." 

Let us imitate her love

First, let us imitate her love. Charity cannot be content with just nice feelings; it must find its way into

our conversations and, above all, into our deeds. The Virgin did not merely pronounce her fiat; in

every moment she fulfilled that firm and irrevocable decision. So should we. When God's love gets

through to us and we come to know what he desires, we ought to commit ourselves to be faithful,

loyal—

 and then be so in fact. Because "not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter thekingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven."

We must imitate her natural and supernatural refinement She is a privileged creature in the history of

salvation, for in Mary "the Word became flesh and dwelled among us." But she is a reserved, quiet

witness. She never wished to be praised, for she never sought her own glory. Mary is present at the

mysteries surrounding the infancy of her Son, but these are "normal" mysteries, so to speak. When

the great miracles take place and the crowds acclaim them in amazement, she is nowhere to be

found. In Jerusalem when Christ, riding a little donkey, is proclaimed king, we don't catch a glimpse

of Mary. But after all have fled, she reappears next to the cross. This way of acting bespeaks

personal greatness and depth, the sanctity of her soul. Christ is passing by, 173

To serve delicately 

It was a compliment to his Mother on her fiat, her "be it

done." She lived it sincerely, unstintingly, fulfilling its every

consequence, but never amid fanfare, rather in the hidden

and silent sacrifice of each day. Christ is passing by, 172

Following her example of obedience to God, we can learn

to serve delicately without being slavish. In Mary we don't

find the slightest trace of the attitude of the foolish virgins,

who obey, but thoughtlessly. Our Lady listens attentively

to what God wants, ponders what she doesn't fully

understand and asks about what she doesn't know. Then

she gives herself completely to doing the divine will:"Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me

according to your word." Isn't that marvellous? The

blessed Virgin, our teacher in all we do, shows us here

that obedience to God is not servile, does not bypass our conscience. We should be inwardly moved

to discover the "freedom of the children of God." Christ is passing by, 173