September 8 is Mary’s birthday. The Nativity of Mary is an ancient feast day in the Church, with evidence of its celebration since the 6th century, and theological and devotional literature about Mary’s birth dating from the 2nd century.
While the feast is suppressed this year in favor of celebrating the “little Easter” that every Sunday is, Mary remains a fitting aid to understanding this Sunday’s readings. We naturally think of her humble example of faith when we hear the Old Testament reading from Isaiah and participate in the responsorial psalm (Ps 146): “Thus says the LORD: Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you” (Is 35).
“[T]he LORD raises up those who were bowed down … Praise the Lord, my soul!” (Ps 146).
Rejoicing in our hearing
To see Mary clearly in these Old Testament passages, compare them with Luke’s scene of the Annunciation and with Mary’s Magnificat. In Luke’s scene of the Annunciation, Mary is told to “not be afraid” (Lk 1:30) for the Lord is with her. And in her Magnificat, Mary responds to the Incarnation of the Lord with praise: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior” (Lk 1:46-55).
| September 8 – Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time |
|---|
|
Is 35:4-7 Ps 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10 Jas 2:1-5 Mk 7:31-37 |
Mary is the first to believe in the fullness of God’s salvific love. Just as Isaiah told the Israelites, “Here is your God, he comes with vindication,” the angel Gabriel revealed the Incarnation to Mary, telling her to fear not, for the Lord is come to save you and to lift up the lowly, “according to his promise.”
When we hear these readings at Mass on Sunday, we are instructed and invited by Mary’s example to believe in the Lord’s incarnation — in the reality of a love that comes to be with us, just as God had promised.
There is a second part to the Lord’s promise in Isaiah 35 this Sunday. Isaiah also tells us that when the Lord comes, “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.”
In the reading from Mark’s Gospel for this Sunday, we find a corresponding passage that fulfills this prophecy of the Lord’s coming. Isaiah had said that the blind will see, the lame will leap, the mute will sing, and the deaf will hear, and Mark confirms that this has indeed come to pass in Jesus: “[Jesus] put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!“– that is, ‘Be opened!'” (Mk 7).
This word, Ephphatha, must have been to this deaf man something like the angel’s “Rejoice!” to Mary during the Annunciation. In both cases, God’s word announced his salvific presence, introducing the Gospel to our history. In both cases, it lifted up of the lowly.
And thus Mary remains a fitting aid to our understanding of Mark’s Gospel, too.
Mary, the Church Fathers often say, conceived of Christ “in her hearing.” Mary’s ears were open! That is, Mary first heard God’s word (Rejoice! Fear not!) and believed. She then responded to the angel, welcoming the Incarnation in her own womb. Mary was ready and waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises.
Our ears must be open, too. Like the deaf man in Mark’s Gospel, and after Mary’s example of faith, we must be open to receiving and believing God’s Word. For it is true, as Mary has shown, that God chose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him (cf. Jas 2:5).
