This Thursday, 8th of September, is the very happy birthday of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Just one more way in which the Catholic Church has continually honored the Mother of our Blessed Lord in every age, fulfilling her prophesy recorded in the Gospels:
"...For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." Luke 1:48
These words are a prediction of that honour which the church in all ages should pay to the Blessed Virgin. Let Protestants examine whether they are any way concerned in this prophecy. (Lk. 1:48 footnote, Douay-Rheims Bible)
Pope Benedict XVI on Whether it is Proper to Celbrate Mary's Birthday
"The celebration of Mary's birth forms an exception to the way in which the Church usually celebrates the feast days of her saints. In contrast to the ancient world, in which the birthdays of important personages--a Caesar or an Augustus--were celebrated with great pomp as days of good tidings, as days of redemption, the Church ordinarily does not celebrate the birthdays of saints. The Church reasons quite simply that it is premature to celebrate birthdays because there is too much ambiguity in human life. At the time of birth no one knows whether this life is a cause for celebration or not, whether this person will some day have reason to be glad he was born; whether the world can be glad that this person existed or whether it will curse the day he was born. For twelve years Germans had to celebrate a birthday that marked the advent of the Fuhrer who was to save their nation but whom the world has since come to curse as one of the bloodiest tyrants of all times. By comparison, the Church celebrates only the day of death. The only one whose life is worthy of celebration is one who can give thanks for his life in the face of death and the severity of judgment; one whose life is acceptable also on the other side of the grave. The Church has made only three exceptions to this basic rule--or more exactly one exception to which the other two are so inextricably linked that they can be counted together as one. The exception is Christ. There is no ambiguity about his birth, only praise: Glory to God in the highest! He who became man though he was God; he whose birth was based on pure love; his birth can be celebrated. What is more: his birth is the real reason why we humans 'have anything at all to be happy about', that we have anything at all to celebrate and need no longer fear that life as a whole is only a plaything of death and is, consequently, even in its finest moments, only a mockery of joy. Through him who was born in Bethlehem, and through him alone, human life was become rich in promise and meaning. The birthday of John the Baptizer is also celebrated because he was so closely associated with Jesus [and himself sanctified in the womb cf. Lk 1:15b, 41]. He was born for no other reason than to light the way for him; the birth of Jesus is the fundamental reason and purpose of his birth. The other exception is Mary, the Mother of Jesus, without whom Jesus' own birth could not have taken place. She is the portal through which he came into the world--and not just the external portal. As Augustine once said, she received Jesus in her heart before she became his Mother according to the flesh. Mary's soul was the place from which God was able to enter our humanity. In contrast to the great and mighty ones of earth, she who believed, who bore the light of the world in her heart, changed the world from its foundation. Only by the powers of the soul can the world be truly changed and saved." Co-Workers of the Truth (entry for 8 September), p. 287-288
