I have two reasons for liking the date September 8. No matter what year!
First of all, of course, on that day we celebrate the birthday of Our Blessed
Mother. Can you imagine the party there is in Heaven? Can you imagine the singing of the
angels and the songs of the saints? One thing I am confident of is that the music in heaven is not
BLASTING loud and monotonous like so much wedding reception music I’ve heard in recent years. (I just want
to get out of the room because it hurts my ears. It’s so loud! What do people see in that to be so
wonderful? I have never been able to figure it out. I feel sorry for the musicians because they’ll go deaf
before their time, I’m sure!)
I think Our Lady dresses up specially on her birthday! I wonder if she has a
special dress she particularly likes! Actually, I wonder if Our Lady celebrates her birthday
twice, because she revealed to the visionaries in Medjugorje that her birthday is really on August 5th.
September 8th is the date the Church assigns the “birthday celebration” of Our Lady because evidently, Our
Lady didn’t inform the “calendar arranger” when her birthday really was.
I don’t mind if Our Lady celebrates twice. She deserves any celebration she
wants for all that she had been through on earth as well as the heartbreak she must endure in our
modern times. So many of her children today don’t give her the respect that one should even give even
their earthly mother.
Yes, I’m for all the praise and loving the angels and saints in heaven can
give her on her birthday(s). I’m all for the praise and loving Our Lady’s earthly children
can give her -- not only on her birthday(s), but every day.
And for my Protestant brothers and sisters who may be reading this article,
the praise to which I refer is NOT synonymous with worship and adoration. That belongs to God
alone.
So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY DEAREST MOTHER! Please keep praying for us so that one
day we may be part of your heavenly celebration party.
So what is the second reason why I like September 8th?
It’s because it is the anniversary of my entering Religious Life. Forty-one
years ago this September 8th, I, as a 17 year-old, left my father and mother and walked
through the convent doors of the Sisters of Mercy. I had a sacrificial heart -- willing to leave
everything and anything to become the “bride” of Our Lord Jesus.
Time has worn me down. Martyrdom is a lot easier when it happens quick-like,
but when it is drawn out -- slowly -- over a period of many years -- well, the spirit is
still willing, but now I’m tired of pulling the plow and give all to Jesus that He might make up for what I lack.
Happy Birthday, my sweet Heavenly Mother! Thank you for accepting me as a
bride of your Son, inadequate that I am!
Praised be Jesus Christ!