{"id":9944,"date":"2026-09-04T09:11:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=9944"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:11:33","slug":"nativity-of-the-virgin-mary-mt-118-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=9944","title":{"rendered":"Nativity of the Virgin Mary Mt 1,18-23"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dear brothers and sisters, we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The birth of the Mother of God, the birth of the Mother of Jesus Christ, the birth also of our spiritual Mother, the Virgin Mary, who was born into this world, thus was conceived in a miraculous way, since she was preserved from original sin. Yet she was born and grew, developed as an ordinary human being. For she was an ordinary human being, although preserved from sin, yet she was not God, she was not, like Jesus Christ, the Son of God. She was an ordinary human being.<\/h2>\n
We celebrate the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and right at the beginning of the Gospel we hear words about the birth of Jesus Christ. Is it a coincidence or did someone make a mistake, or is it meant to be so? On the one hand, we have no mention of the birth of the Virgin Mary in Holy Scripture, so we could hardly look for something about the birth of the Virgin Mary in the Gospel, although we have nothing written there about her birth, yet it will not be a coincidence that we hear about the birth of Jesus Christ, also because if we want to talk about man, we must talk about Jesus Christ. And if we want to talk about a true human being, about the kind of person we should be, then we must talk about Jesus Christ. That is, if we want to talk about the Virgin Mary, we talk about Jesus Christ and we come to the true human being. We come also to the Virgin Mary, that is, according to the faith of the Church, man was created in the image of God. We read this in the Book of Genesis. And this image, however, is not fully understandable without looking at Jesus Christ, because also in Holy Scripture, in the Letter to the Colossians, it is written that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. That means that in Him we see not only God, but also the original and pure meaning of man. If we want to talk about man, we must look at Christ, because in Him it is shown what man should be.<\/h2>\n
But we see what man really is – a man who succumbs to sin, to temptation, who succumbs to various difficulties, but such a man was not meant to be. The man as he was truly meant to be is precisely in the image of Jesus Christ. Theology often says that Christ is the archetype, that is, the model and original form of man. He is true man, not distorted by sin, but fully filled with the Holy Spirit. This means that human dignity, relationship to God, to neighbor, and to the world is shown in His life. Man finds his identity, value and vocation in Christ, in Jesus Christ. In Him we are true human beings. He, although He is the Son of God, is also true man. The Second Vatican Council in the document Gaudium et spes writes: “Only in the light of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man become clear.” Man often does not understand himself, searches for who he is, but only when he encounters Jesus does he find the truth about himself. And this is one of the main reasons why we should know Jesus Christ – so that we may know ourselves, so that we may find the meaning of life. Where are we going, what is the fulfillment of our happiness? We find this in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ we see what it means to love to the extreme. That is the cross. We see that to live in sonship with God, that is the relationship to our heavenly Father. And to live for others, that is the service that Jesus Christ Himself showed us. So, if we want to talk about man, we must start from Christ, because He is the norm of humanity. He is the original according to which we were created. So we are like copies that were then marked by sin, weakness and various difficulties. When we want to know man, his dignity, limits, possibilities and goals, we cannot do it without Christ. Otherwise we commit a reduction, that is, we make man only a biological being that is subject to various weaknesses. So we get to know Jesus Christ.<\/h2>\n
And therefore perhaps in today’s introduction, when we want to talk about the Virgin Mary, about her beginning, that is, about her birth, we talk about the birth of Jesus Christ. And precisely if Christ is the original and archetype of man, then Mary is the first person who allowed herself to be formed according to this original. We come to that first person who is without sin, who is not marked by sin – neither original nor personal. Although she is subject to pain and truly to the human condition, yet the Virgin Mary is the original that was formed according to Jesus Christ. In obedience and faith she said fiat and thereby became a model for every person who accepts God’s plan. She is the new Eve. If Eve once closed the way to life with her “no”, Mary with her “yes” opened it.<\/h2>\n
The Second Vatican Council says that the mystery of man becomes clear only in the light of the incarnate Word. In Mary we already see what it means to be a redeemed person and fully open to God. Christ is the archetype, that is, the original model of true man. Mary is the prototype, that is, the first model of redeemed man, who becomes according to this original.<\/h2>\n
So, dear brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the birth of the Mother of God, a beautiful model of one who was created according to the most beautiful original – Jesus Christ. We too become children of God, although we are marked by sin and difficulties. Yet our Mother, the Virgin Mary, is to lead us, to show us what obedience or perseverance in difficulties means, how to bear pain, how to always stand by Jesus Christ, how to literally perceive and accept who we are meant to be. This is the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, who was born, who grew up as an ordinary person, who encountered difficulties and sorrows. When we call her Our Lady of Sorrows, we too become close to Jesus Christ, we become close to the Virgin Mary and we become true human beings – those who are to come one day to heaven, to salvation.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"