September 8

The Birth of the Virgin Mary

Cause of our Joy

Birth of the Virgin

Giotto

Joachim and Anna return home to await the birth of Mary as foretold by the angel. The scene takes place in Anna's bedroom where Mary is born. Mary is shown twice. In the foreground where she is washed and wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then again as she is handed to Anna for the first time.

"Beginning with Mary's unique cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit, the Churches developed their prayer to the holy Mother of God, centering it on the Person of Christ manifested in His mysteries. In countless hymns and antiphons expressing this prayer, two movements usually alternate with one another: the first "magnifies" the Lord for the "great things" He did for His lowly servant and through her for all human beings. The second entrusts the supplications and praises of the children of God to the Mother of Jesus, because she now knows the humanity which, in her, the Son of God espoused." - from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; 2675.

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Flower of the Day

Little Mary

Zinnia

Zinnia Multiflora

Ave Maria!