A great reason to rejoice

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

YES, indeed, we have great reason to rejoice as we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s on this day that we are somehow assured that God and man share the same life and nature! That God can become man and that a woman can be the mother of God simply prove that.

With the Virgin’s birth, we are given a preview of the greatest work on earth—the salvation of mankind—accomplished by the Son of God made man and with the full cooperation of a woman, the Blessed Virgin. Mary paved the way for the salvation of mankind by giving birth to the Redeemer who would ultimately conquer sin and death through his sacrifice.

The Virgin Mary is the “new Eve” who with her full obedience of faith to God’s will “cured” the disobedience of the original Eve. She is the best example for all of us in terms of how we have to trust in God and follow his will.

While only Christ is the mediator of salvation, Mary somehow is the closest person who cooperated in human redemption. She continues to play this role with her ever-powerful intercession, presenting our needs and prayers to God. She is regarded as our spiritual mother, guiding and protecting us and the Church.

She is truly a mother to us too, ever solicitous of our needs and most interested in our own salvation. This she does with her invincible fidelity to the will and ways of God, showing us also how to be faithful even if there are things that we do not understand or are contradictory to our liking.

She faithfully mirrors the life and mission of Christ. She is the ideal model of a true disciple of Christ. She followed Christ with thoughtfulness, reflection, obedience and faith, and now inspires us to follow Christ also with similar devotion and dedication.

We should not hesitate to go to her, asking for her intercession, whenever we are faced with challenges and trials that are difficult or even impossible to tackle and resolve. Like her, we may be subjected also to the most painful of suffering, but let’s never forget that there is glorification assured as long as we are faithful to Christ through Mary.

With Mary, we are brought closer to Christ. As one saint would put it, she is the “shortest, safest and surest way to Christ.” She is the one who knows Christ best and how to deal with him properly. She certainly helps us to understand Christ’s teachings and to live them out in our daily lives.

With her, too, precisely because of her full identification with the will of God, we would find ourselves drawn with love to everybody else. She would put our love and concern for the others in synch with Christ’s love for all of us.

It, indeed, is highly recommendable that we develop a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin. We would have nothing to lose. On the contrary, we would have everything to gain. With her we can face all kinds of conditions in life and yet manage to have faith, hope and charity burning in our hearts.

To be sure, with her we can manage to become more patient, kind and forgiving, contributing to stronger and more loving relationships with those around us. Let us be truly Marian to be truly Christian!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com