Happy Birthday Mary!

This is one I know my non-Catholic friends will have a little trouble with! "Why," they will ask, "does the Catholic Calendar include a day commemorating the Nativity of Mary? It's not like anyone knows what her real birthday was! And she's not Jesus, so why do this?"

All true. She is not Jesus. We do not know the real date of her birth.

We don't actually know the date of Jesus' birth either, come to that.

So, why bother?

I have not had time to write anything about this Feast of the Nativity of Mary. Thank goodness The Anchoress did ... and, naturally, much better than I would have anyway. She has a lovely and eloquent answer to that question that you really should go read.

If I was totally on top of things I'd be serving a birthday cake for Mary today ... good thing she's an understanding mother who knows that I've had too many back-to-school parents' night things coming up to fit in cake baking. So I will just wish her Happy Birthday and be thankful that she said, "Yes" to God for us all.