Some Christians choose to believe in the words of the Bible
alone, forgetting that for hundreds of years there was no Bible. And during those years there were unwritten
memories, some deemed very important.
Some were Revelations, like the Trinity, and others were just common
sense good things. Birthdays are like
that.
As I write this it is September 8th, the day the
Catholic Church chooses to celebrate the birthday of Mary, the Mother of
God. It’s not in the Bible; who knows if
this date is the correct date --- and since over the years the numbering of the
calendar itself has changed, it is very unlikely that this is the actual date
of her birth, but we celebrate her birthday anyway, and we chose today. It’s common sense to celebrate the birthday
of someone we love, someone important.
Mary and Jesus are important people in Church history ---
and no, I’m not saying Mary is Jesus’ equal.
She lived with John and knew the apostles for many years after Jesus’
death, and therefore more than many, they knew her. They celebrated her birthday, and in
tradition the Church has continued to do so.
And even more, knowing that life begins at conception, we celebrate both
her and Jesus’ conception, on December 8th and March 25th,,
nine months before. It just makes sense
to do so. And the reason is because we
believe that both were not JUST conceived, there was a mystery about their
conception, a miracle if you will.
Theirs were no ordinary conceptions, or births.
There was a head of the theology department at a local “Catholic”
university (where I got my MBA) who was quoted in Time Magazine as saying that
Mary was likely a slut, and Jesus conceived in the gutter. She had difficulty accepting mysteries (and
when the dean of the school offered no countering arguments --- “Freedom of
expression is allowed at our college,” he wrote me --- I wrote him that I was
using my freedom of expression to cancel my annual support of the school). This head of theology couldn’t even accept
the Bible, which described Jesus’ conception.
She reminds me of Thomas, if she didn’t see it, she couldn’t believe it,
or teach it, I guess. But to my mind the
specialty of Jesus and Mary doesn’t need proof, all history and reason says so,
and reason says we should celebrate their births.
I recall how my nieces flew every year across the country to
visit me and mom on mom’s birthday. Every
year that I cared for her, they were there to celebrate with me the birth of
this special woman --- to us. Growing
up, all my aunts and uncles and cousins lived across the street from us or down
the block. Families knew each other, and
celebrated together. And so when sis got
married it seemed natural that she bought a home two blocks from mom and
dad. And as her kids, my nieces, grew up
and went to school it was grandma’s house they returned to when school was out,
for snacks, help with their homework, and dinner if sis had to work late. That was --- and should be --- family life,
and so when dad died and I began caring for mom, it was only natural for my
nieces to come and celebrate the birthdays of their second mom. Mary is like that to me, a second mom, and is
for many in the Catholic Church.
This morning I lit three candles next to the image of Mary
in the church, and softly sang “Happy Birthday.” For all that she has done for
me in my life, all of her prayers, I will always celebrate her birth, as I
remember the three Hail Mary prayers that I say each night at bedtime. She has not forgotten me; I will not forget
her.
Her birthday is not in the Bible, but I will celebrate it
anyway. It requires no special
Revelation to know that she was born, and that she was special. How special she was is a mystery; we can
never know for sure --- but I am very confident when I say she was not a slut!!
I think I will go back over this blog’s history sometime
today and look at the words and pictures of those days when my nieces and I
celebrated our mother’s birthday. She,
for us uniquely, was a very special woman.
We believe.
- - - - - - - - - -
Tonight I plan on going out to dinner with some people from
the Caregiver’s Support Group I help coordinate. It almost seems kind of fitting that we chose
this day to get together and celebrate.
Like moms, these are special loving people who I am so privileged to
know. When times were difficult, often
alone or even against the wishes of their siblings or kids, they chose to love
someone who deserved love. Even as some
people relegate an hour on Sunday to God, many of these people’s loved ones
wanted them to put the special person they cared for in some home where “you
can visit them on Sunday”. But they knew
that is not how you show that you love someone, and remember how much they
loved you.
For some of these people, their loved ones have died, and so
in a way we are celebrating their loved one’s life and, of course, their
birth. But the real way to celebrate
their birth, even as Jesus did, is to live the life we were born to live, being
who God made us to be, and celebrating those special people He has put into our
lives.
Like you. Thank you
for being there.
Thank you for continuing to write as well, your words really highlight how blessed we are to have Our Lady.
ReplyDelete