"She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of
the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first
parents is changed."
~St. Augustine of Hippo
“The Blessed
Virgin is the spoiled child of the Blessed Trinity.
She knows no
law. Everything yields to her in heaven and on earth.
The whole of
heaven gazes on her with delight.
She plays
before the ravished eyes of God himself.”
~Raissa Maritain
The feast of the Nativity of Our Lady is one of our favorites. It has, quite naturally, become one of the milestones of the liturgical year in our family. September is such a bittersweet month in the life of the Church; this week we celebrate the birth of the Blessed Mother, only to commemorate her seven sorrows a week from today. And, of course, between those two feasts we have the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on the 14th.
What makes this day - and, in fact, the entire month - even more beautiful is the way it is gravitated by the change in seasons and the harvest. In France, the feast of the Nativity of Mary was celebrated by a blessing of grapes. In Austria, cattle and sheep were brought down from the hills in a festive caravan, to prepare for the cold winter months ahead. September marks a period of transition, both in the patterns of the seasons and in the feasts we commemorate. In this month we remember the joyous event of the birth of the Theotokos, but we do not forget the tears she shed and the sword that pierced her heart.
This year we celebrated Mary's birthday by planting seeds for the fall. We also started this lovely novena from the Maria Bambina website:
Holy Child Mary of the royal house of David, Queen of
the angels,
Mother of grace and love, I greet you with all my
heart.
Obtain for me the grace to love the Lord faithfully
during
all the days of my life. Obtain for me, too, a great
devotion
to you, who are the first creature of God's
love.
Hail Mary, full of grace................
O heavenly Child Mary, who like a pure dove was
born
immaculate and beautiful, true prodigy of the wisdom
of
God, my soul rejoices in you. Oh! Do help me to
preserve
the angelic virtue of purity at the cost of any
sacrifice.
Hail Mary, full of grace................
Hail, lovely and holy Child, spiritual garden of
delight, where,
on the day of the Incarnation, the tree of life was
planted,
assist me to avoid the poisonous fruit of vanity and
pleasures of the world.
Help me to engraft into my soul the thoughts,
feelings,
and virtues of your divine Son.
Hail Mary, full of grace................
Hail, admirable Child Mary, Mystical Rose, closed
garden,
open only to the heavenly Spouse. O Lily of paradise,
make me love the humble and hidden life;
let the heavenly Spouse find the gate of my heart
always open
to the loving calls of His graces and inspiration.
Hail Mary, full of grace................
Holy Child Mary, mystical dawn, gate of heaven,
you are my trust and hope.
O powerful advocate, from your cradle stretch out
your hand,
support me on the path of life.
Make me serve God with ardor and
constancy until death and so reach an eternity with
you.
Hail Mary, full of
grace................
Prayer
Blessed Child Mary,
destined to be the Mother of God and our loving Mother, by the heavenly graces
you lavish upon us, mercifully listen to my supplications. In the needs which
press upon me from every side and especially in my present tribulation, I place
all my trust in you.
O holy Child, by the
privileges granted to you alone and by the merits which you have acquired, show
that the source of spiritual favors and the continuous benefits which you
dispense are inexhaustible, because your power with the Heart of God is
unlimited.
Deign through the immense profusion of graces with which the
Most High has enriched you from the first moment of your Immaculate Conception,
grant me, O Celestial Child, my petition, and I shall eternally praise the
goodness of your Immaculate Heart.
