Why do we celebrate someone’s birthday? The reason is very simple: a person’s birthday represents the moment they entered the world.
Every birth constitutes a favour, a grace from God, because every person – as much as they are conceived in original sin, and may additionally carry some family defect – is a creature of great value and represents a highly significant enrichment to humanity as a whole.
Thus, when we celebrate a person’s birthday, we commemorate their entry into the world with all that is characteristic of them in terms of “primordial light,”1 the virtues they are to practise, the riches of soul they possess, and even original sin and the defects they carry within themselves as something to be fought and overcome, which will result in an increase of glory.
Conceived without sin and full of gifts
Applying this principle to the feast of Our Lady’s Nativity, we are led to ask what enrichment She brought to humanity, and in what special capacity should mankind celebrate her birthday?
Putting ourselves in this perspective, we are at a loss for words…
Indeed, Our Lady was conceived without original sin. Being a lily of incomparable beauty, free from any stain, her birth should bring joy not only to mankind, but also to all the angelic choirs, for it signifies that, in this exile, amidst fallen humanity, an immaculate creature appeared!
Furthermore, Mary Most Holy possessed all the natural gifts a woman could have. Our Lord gave her, according to the order of nature, a most rich, precious, and priceless personality, and in this capacity, her presence among mankind represented a treasure of truly incalculable value.
Finally, with her we gain the treasures of graces that accompanied her and which are the greatest graces God has ever granted to anyone –immeasurable graces.
“Blessed be the day that saw her birth”
The most dazzling sunrise, the most magnificent natural phenomena are nothing as compared to the beauty of Our Lady’s entry into the world
We understand, then, that the most dazzling sunrise pales in comparison to the beauty of Our Lady’s entry into the world. All the most magnificent natural phenomena that are held as something precious, extraordinary, vanish from sight; the most solemn entrance imaginable of a king or queen into their domains is as nothing in comparison.
The jubilation of all the Angels in Heaven, as well as that of many of the righteous who became aware of the event, and the feelings of joy that began to spread here and there among good soul – all of this must have greeted the blessed moment when Our Lady entered the world.
There is an expression from Job that I like to paraphrase, and it seems fitting to express this reality: “Blessed be the day that saw me born, blessed be the stars that saw me when I was little, blessed be the moment when my mother said, ‘A man is born’” (cf. Job 3:3)!
One could also say: “Blessed be the day that saw Our Lady born, blessed be the stars that shone upon her when She was little, blessed be the moment when her parents saw that the virginal creature called to be the Mother of the Saviour had been born!”
Our Lady bursts suddenly into souls…
The Nativity of Our Lady also inspires another thought in us.
The world was immersed in paganism. The situation at that time was similar to that of today: every vice prevailed, idolatry dominated the earth, abomination had penetrated the Jewish religion itself, which was the harbinger of the Catholic Religion; evil and the devil predominated everywhere.
But, at the moment decreed by God in His mercy, everything changed! He broke down the wall, and the downfall of the “order” set up by the devil began at the moment when it was least imaginable! Our Lady was born, the blessed root from which the Saviour of humanity would spring.
How often does something similar happen in our spiritual life! There are times when our soul is struggling, overwhelmed by problems, writhing and revolving in difficulties! We have no idea when the blessed day will come when an extraordinary grace, a great favour, will put an end to our torments, allowing us to make substantial progress.
Suddenly, there is a birth in a special sense of the word: Our Lady bursts into our soul. In the night of the greatest darkness, She appears and begins to dispel the difficulties that were confronting us and, like a dawn in our spiritual life, She brings forth something new, something we could never have suspected.
…and into the world
There is another aspect as well. Our Lady seems absent from the world today. But if we consider that, from one moment to the next, She can begin to act, making her activity more constant, more continuous, more intense than it has been until now, with a view to establishing her Reign, it is likely that extraordinary miracles will occur that make us feel her presence. In this way, there will be another sudden irruption of Our Lady in the world.
Just as at the time of her birth, Our Lady will burst into history yet a second time, and will establish her Reign over the earth
And this irruption may occur through our movement, with all its humanly poor and weak aspects, but which – like David facing Goliath – through faith, dedication, and the use of the tactics of RCR2 must overthrow and crush the giant of the Revolution.
Such an action would be an irruption of Our Lady into history, a manifestation of her desire to triumph.
The walls we have torn down, the graces of which, despite our unworthiness, we have been channels – do they not also represent the manifestation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary’s will to establish her Reign through our actions?
This should give us great joy and hope, along with the certainty that Our Lady never abandons us. At the most difficult times, She visits us, her presence as it were bursting into our midst, resolving all our problems, healing our pain, giving us the combativeness and courage necessary to fulfil our duty to the end, however arduous, and strengthening our arm in the fight against the adversary.
“Her children proclaimed her blessed”
There are historical indications to suggest that all the great souls who fought against the heretics, the great hammers of heresy that have appeared throughout the centuries, were personally chosen by her.
The raising up of these souls recalls something very beautiful portrayed on the coat of arms of the priests of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It depicts St. Michael the Archangel at the top and, just below, the Heart of Our Lady, surrounded by these words: “Her children arose and proclaimed her blessed.”
This presence of warriors who, like soldiers of St. Michael the Archangel, rise up armed to fight the enemy, proclaiming the Heart of Mary blessed, is this not also an irruption of Our Lady into history?
We must ask Mary for the grace to be an irruption of her in today’s world, armed with a spirit of combat for the Holy Church’s glory
We must pray that we may be these iron warriors, indomitable, with an implacable hatred of the devil and his followers, of the Revolution and its works, destined for the greatest deeds, ready to carry out the most extreme feats of daring. It is this hatred of the Revolution that must fill the hearts of those who truly love Our Lady.
Let us ask Mary for this special grace: that we may be an irruption of her in today’s world, armed from head to toe with a fighting spirit, with implacable hostility to the Revolution, to definitively restore the Church’s glory, so tarnished at this time.
So that, when we die, the following words can be inscribed on each of our tombs: “This was a son of Mary, who rose up and proclaimed her blessed during a time of apostasy, humiliation and collapse of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
Influencing the destiny of humanity from her birth
Someone might say: “But what can a baby, who lacks the use of speech or reason, add to a society?”
This objection does not apply to Our Lady. Conceived without original sin and endowed with the use of reason from the first moment of her being, even from within her mother’s womb, She had the highest and most sublime thoughts, dwelling in the womb of St. Anne as in a true tabernacle.
We have indirect confirmation of this from what is recorded in the Gospel concerning St. John the Baptist. If the Precursor – who was not exempt from original sin, but freed from it before birth – leapt in his mother’s womb upon hearing Mary’s voice greeting St. Elizabeth (cf. Lk 1:41), could not the Mother of the Redeemer have known what was happening even in her infancy?
On account of the surpassing knowledge granted to her by the grace of God, from her mother’s womb Our Lady prayed for the coming of the Messiah and the defeat of sin. From that moment on, the lofty intention of becoming a servant of the Mother of the Saviour was formed in her spirit. In this way, Mary Most Holy influenced the destiny of humanity. Her presence on earth was already a source of grace for all who were close to her in her childhood and even before her birth.
The Gospel tells us that from Our Lord’s tunic flowed a power capable of healing (cf. Lk 8:43-48). If this was so, then His Mother, the Vessel of Election, should also be a source of graces flowing forth for all.
Although only a small child, already at her birth, enormous graces began to dawn upon humanity. Her birth constituted the crushing of the devil, who realized that something in his sceptre had broken and would never be repaired. The victory of the Counter-Revolution began to assert itself.
Like an “aurora” of the moonlight
To conclude, let us remember Christmas Eve. This celebration has been repeated for centuries, and we always have the feeling that an enormous blessing descends from Heaven upon earth and that, in some way, the spiritual energies of all people are renewed. There is a true dawn, and for this reason, the Holy Night is unique in the year.
Now, since everything related to the Blessed Virgin has an intimate connection with that which concerns Our Lord, we must imagine that something similar occurs at the Nativity of Mary.
What similarity exists between these two nativities?
When we speak of the Nativity of Jesus, we remember the sunrise. And how beautiful it is to see the light that appears!
The moonrise is similar in some way to that of the sun: beneficent, gladdening, and comforting, giving us an idea of what Our Lady’s birth was like
If Our Lord is symbolized by the sun, Our Lady is often compared to the moon. The rising of the moon does not have the glory of the sunrise, but how analogous it is! How beneficent it is, how gladdening, how stimulating and how comforting it is! This might give us an idea of what Our Lady’s blessed birth was like.
As children of the Blessed Virgin – not by our merits, but by her will – when celebrating her birth, we can ask her for a special grace.
In private revelations made to many saints, it is said that Our Lady frequently descends into Purgatory, consoles the souls there, and takes a large number of them to Heaven.
This fact gives us some idea of what She does in the Church Militant. Her grace descends upon us and obtains for us a multitude of favours. And her birth is a propitious moment to ask her to grant us one of these favours. What should we ask for?
Let each of us recollect ourselves a little, concentrate and ask for what he needs. But I suggest that the following grace be present, in a special way: that the Blessed Virgin establish with each of us a special covenant, a filial bond that is unique to our relationship with her, so that She takes us under her protection in a very particular way. And, in this capacity, may She heal us of the wound of soul that She most deems necessary to heal.
Sometimes it is not quite what we imagine, but something else. Whatever is most necessary for healing in our soul, may She grant us on this night of her nativity. ◊
Taken, with adaptations for the written language,
from: Conference. São Paulo, 8/9/1963
Notes
1 Term coined by Dr. Plinio to designate the specific aspect of God that each soul is especially called to reflect and contemplate.
2 Reference to the book Revolution and Counter-Revolution, in which Dr. Plinio set out the main lines of his thought and action.
