CATHOLICS SHOULD emulate the life and virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary to have a meaningful celebration of her nativity and to fulfill their divine calling, a Dominican priest said.
In his homily during the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, UST parish priest Fr. Paul Reagan Talavera, O.P. urged Catholics to emulate her obedience, humility and devotion to God, saying they are the greatest gifts to be good Christians.
“We pray to our blessed mother [so] that we may venerate her as our mother, that we may imitate her as a good Christian, [and] that we may [be] able to live our call and vocation as Catholics,” Talavera said on Friday, Sept. 8 at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church.
The Dominican priest added that the feast represents not only Mary’s birthday but the celebration of pure salvation.
“[The feast of the blessed mother] is a celebration of the history of salvation that has been promised that has been planned and fulfilled now through the birth of our blessed mother,” Talavera said.
He also noted the packed attendance of Catholics during the mass, which he considers as a display of their devotion to Mary and his her role as the mother of God and the Church.
“In the Philippines, there is a special title to her, ‘Mama Mary’… She is not just the mother of God; she’s not just the mother of Christ, she is the mother of the Church,” the priest said.
While Mary’s birth is not recorded in the Scriptures, the Catholic Church has been celebrating her birth every Sept. 8 since the sixth century, based on the opening of the Eastern Church’s liturgical year.
The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother is one of the only three birthdays celebrated on the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar, the other two being the Nativity of The Lord (December 25) and Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24). F
