Last Updated on September 4, 2022 by GMC
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Happy Birthday, Mother Mary!
Happy Birthday, Mother Earth!
First Genesis
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:1-2
Second Genesis
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew 1:1
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 1:18
Creation and Recreation
In the opening lines of the New Testament, the images in the Book of Genesis reappear with fresh life in a second Genesis and recreation of the earth.
The birth of the cosmos and the birth of Christ issue forth by the same primeval Wind, Breath and Spirit beyond all worlds.
In the first Genesis, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters of the earth (Genesis 1:2) and brought forth life of every kind. In the second Genesis, the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters of Mary’s womb and brought forth Emmanuel, “God with us.”
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:3). Mary said, “Let it be done to me according to your word,” and Light from Light became flesh in her womb (Luke 1:38).
Virgin Immaculate
Mary Immaculate, like Adam Immaculate, was born stainless and pristine, but unlike Adam and Eve, she gave birth to a deified humanity by the power of the Holy Spirit. Person begot person wholly without passion, beyond the union of male and female. In the image of the Virgin Father, the Virgin Mother begot the Word in the mysterious spiration of the eternal Breath. The formless void of Mary’s earthly womb received the fullness of the Son of God enfleshed.
Mary’s immaculate conception and perpetual virginity introduced an absolute break in the line of biological descent ending with Joseph, the foster father of Jesus Christ. From henceforth, the co-heirs of Christ, born of the Spirit, have God as their Father, Origin and End. Mary, the Mother of God, is the mother of all of Christ’s siblings in their journey back to the Father.
A New Genealogy
The genealogy of persons born in the Womb of the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit begins with the Blessed Virgin Mary and continues with St. Joseph, St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. James, St. John, St. Philip, St. Bartholomew, St. Thomas, St. Matthew, St. James (son of Alphaeus), St. Jude, St. Simon, St. Matthias, St. Stephen, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Mary of Bethany, St. Mary of Clopas, St. Priscilla, St. Aquila, St. Veronica, and all the saints throughout the centuries.
The second Genesis will see the return of the cosmos back to the Source who is Three One/One Three, and the reintegration of all divisions. Persons born again in the Spirit join the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Son in the upswing back to the Trinity—the multi-personal festival of eternal love and glory.
A profoundly beautiful reflection that carries many thoughts for contemplation and awareness. Thank you.
I have never heard before of Mary’s genealogy. I have never heard before the Father described as the Virgin Father and Adam as Immaculate Adam, and compared to Immaculate Mary by virtue of his stainless and pristine birth. And, the such original description of “the Virgin Mother who begot the Word in the mysterious spiration of the eternal Breath.” And, how the Saints continue in the genealogy of Mary. Such mystery and beautiful writing lead me to meditation and prayer. Thank you.
From chapter 2 of St. Gregory of Nyssa’s Work, On Virginity: “Deep indeed will be the thought necessary to understand the surpassing excellence of this grace. It is comprehended in the idea of the Father incorrupt; and here at the outset is a paradox, viz. that virginity is found in Him, Who has a Son and yet without passion has begotten Him. It is included too in the nature of this Only-begotten God, Who struck the first note of all this moral innocence; it shines forth equally in His pure and passionless generation. Again a paradox; that the Son should be known to us by virginity. It is seen, too, in the inherent and incorruptible purity of the Holy Spirit; for when you have named the pure and incorruptible you have named virginity.”
We are the inheritors of the great thought of the Fathers. Their spirit continues in the Church as we reflect on eternal truths as one Body in Christ.
Your response is a gift on many levels. Thank you for the blessing that you are to us.