Micah 5:1-4 or Romans 8:28-30 / Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23
A birthday celebration is a joyful celebration and an occasion to give thanks for the gift of life and love.
And in celebrating the birthday of a person, we acknowledge that person as a gift from God to us as well as that person's goodness to us.
In celebrating the birthday of Our Lady, we give thanks to God for giving her to be our spiritual mother.
And it is also through her that we receive the One who gives us life and love to the full.
Jesus is our Lord and Saviour and He is the Morning Sun that radiates the rays of salvation.
And we honour Mary who is like the dawn that prepares us to welcome that Morning Sun.
In celebrating Our Lady's birthday, we give thanks to God for the gifts of life and love.
Just as Our Lady's birth was the dawn of hope in God's promise of salvation, every birth is also an affirmation of the hope of God's love for us and for the world.
Let us give thanks to God for the gifts of life and love, and let us continue to be witnesses of hope in God's salvation for the world.