Feast of the Nativity of our Lord
Posted on December 25, 2019 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 1:46-56 (NKJV)
1:46 And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.
54 He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy,
55 as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.”
56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.
Devotion
In the previous verses of St. Luke’s gospel Elizabeth tells the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would be blessed because she believed the words spoken to her by the angel Gabriel. The Virgin Mary tells us that all generations will call her blessed. She is blessed because she is the Theotokos, the “God-bearer.” She is the Mother of God. She gives birth to God in the flesh.
Our first mother, Eve, allowed herself to be deceived by the serpent, the Devil, and so with her husband, Adam, cursed all of us, her offspring. Eve led us to be cursed, but through the Babe in the womb of Mary we are blessed. For He in His mercy comes down from Heaven to take upon Himself the flesh of mankind, in order that He may defeat the deceiving serpent, and win for us forgiveness, life, and salvation by His suffering and death on the tree of the holy cross.
We are blessed through His perfect fulfilling of the Law and innocent suffering and death, all because He chose to humble Himself by putting on our flesh. He purifies the flesh that was corrupted by sin, so that all those who are baptized into His flesh and believe on His name will be saved and live with Him for all eternity. Therefore, let us rejoice on this Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, for our Lord Jesus removed the curse from us, and made us blessed for all eternity.
We pray: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the new birth of Thine Only-Begotten Son in the flesh may set us free, who are held in the old bondage under the yoke of sin; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
