Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary
She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
Mt.1:21-23
Today the Church celebrates the birthday of Mary, the mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Rather than focussing on the holiness and purity of Mary, today's Gospel first chronicles the full genealogy of Jesus. This includes adultery, incest and murder; all the darker side of human nature. There are names that are great, names that are infamous and names that are mentioned nowhere else. The genealogy of Jesus includes the good, the bad and the ugly. Truly He is Emanuel, God with Us.
The "God with us" nature of Jesus is what makes him unique among religions. He is both truly God and truly man. In my brokenness I can still call Him "Brother", for that is who He is. Jesus is more than a friend to me, He is my brother. I take this intimate relationship with Jesus into my day today.
Jesus, my Lord, my King, my brother. Thank you for overlooking my brokenness to stay with me, to be my Emmanuel.
Mary, Mother of God, pray for me.
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