REFLECTION:

🎵 Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Mary, happy birthday to you! 🎵

Whenever we celebrate a birthday, there are certain things we usually do. We sing Happy Birthday. We get a cake, light the candles, gather family and friends, and, of course, there are gifts. Because you cannot show up to someone's birthday party, eat their food, eat their cake, and then say, “Oh, I forgot your gift!”

But underneath all of those traditions, a birthday is really about something very simple: we celebrate that this person was born. In a way, whenever we sing Happy Birthday, we are saying, “Thank God you were born. Our lives are different because you are here.” And today we say that in a very special way about the Blessed Mother: Mary, thank God you were born. Our world is different because you were here.

Our first reading from Micah speaks about another seemingly small beginning. The prophet says, “You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.” Bethlehem was small and insignificant. It was probably the last place anyone would expect something extraordinary to happen. But God chose it. And that seems to be God's way. God takes small beginnings and does extraordinary things with them.

The same is true with Mary. When Mary was born, her parents could not have looked at that little baby and known everything God was going to do through her life. They could not have imagined the Annunciation. They could not have imagined Bethlehem, the shepherds and the Magi. They could not have imagined Cana or Calvary. And they certainly could not have imagined that thousands of years later, people all over the world would still be celebrating their daughter's birthday! They didn't know, but God knew. God knew what this little girl's life would become.

And that is something beautiful about birthdays. We celebrate not simply the day someone was born, but what that person's life has become and what that life has meant to others. Think about the people whose birthdays you celebrate: your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends. Why do we celebrate them? Because somehow their life has touched ours. Their presence has made a difference. And Mary's life has touched all of ours because her life ultimately brought us to Jesus.

In today's Gospel, the angel tells Joseph, “She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus.” Matthew then reminds us that He will be called Emmanuel, “God is with us.” That is why Mary's birthday is worth celebrating. Because Mary gave her life to God, she gave the world Jesus.

So maybe there is one more birthday tradition we should think about today: the gift. What do you give the Blessed Mother for her birthday? She probably doesn't need another rosary. She certainly doesn't need an Amazon gift card. So what would Mary actually want from us? I think the greatest gift we could give Mary is the same thing she gave to God: our yes.

Maybe today our yes is forgiving someone. Maybe it is being a little more patient. Maybe it is reaching out to someone we have been avoiding. Maybe it is finally doing something God has been asking us to do that we keep putting off. Mary's life reminds us that God can do extraordinary things with one simple yes.

So today we sing, “Happy Birthday, dear Mary.” We celebrate that she was born. We thank God for the life she lived. And above all, we thank Mary for the gift she gave us in Jesus. But perhaps the best way we can say “Happy Birthday, Mary” today is to make our own lives a gift to God and to others. Mary, on your birthday, teach us to give God our yes, just as you gave Him yours.