Today, 8th September is the feast day of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church. The calendar of the western Church celebrates only three birthdays: Jesus, cousin John Baptiser, and mother Mary. We gather to say "Happy Birthday, Mom" to our lovely Lady.
The story of Mary's origins is contained in the Proto-evangelium of James, one of the many Christian books never selected to be in the New Testament, but still immensely influential in the Tradition of the Church. As the story goes, Joachim and Anne were a debout Jewish couple who had not been blessed with offspring. For that reason Joachim was made fun on by the other men and Anne was esteemed rejected by God. The holy couple continued to pray for a child, even adding that if their wish were granted the child would be specially dedicated to divine service.
The archangel Gabriel later appeared to Anne and told her that their prayers had been heard, so she would conceive a bear a child. The child she bore was Mary. At a proper time, young Mary was brought to the Temple for education and training. Some years later, when she attained childbearing age, an older widower named Joseph, who had three children to raise alone, came to the Temple to express his desire for a devout wife. The High Priest hooked him up with Mary and that is where the storyline picks up within the Christian Bible.
The Church has always believed that Mary was gifted with singular graces from the very moment of her conception to allow her to fulfil the roles God had in mind. In the same way, we who are also called to God's service can surely trust God to furnish us with whatever we need to get the job done.
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