NIGHT PRAYER: Wednesday 9/8

 

Only three birthdays are celebrated on the church's annual liturgical calendar: the birth of Jesus on December 25, the birth of John the Baptist on June 24 and the birth of Mary on September 8. None of the actual dates of birth of these three are known but they are connected in interesting ways.  (See the footnotes at the end of this post.)

 

Birthdays are happy days, Lord, 

and oh, what joy in heaven there must be

when you celebrate, with angels and with saints,

the birthday of your Mother, our Mother, too, 

Mary, Mother of us all, brothers, sisters,

in your name...

And so we pray this evening...

 

Hail Mary, Happy Birthday!

    O woman full of grace,

        indeed, the Lord is with you! 

 

Chosen and blest are you among women,

    holy and divine, the fruit of your womb, Jesus,

        our Brother, Lord and Redeemer...

 

Holy Mary, Mother of God, Mother of all,

    pray for us now in the troubles we face,

        we're sinners who need all the help we can get!

 

Pray for us too when our time here is done

    when Jesus your Son will review all our days

        and reward us, we pray, with mercy and pardon

 

and take us home to be forever    

    with him and with you, and all our loved ones,

        marked with sign of faith...

Hail Mary, Happy Birthday!

    O woman full of grace,

        indeed, the Lord is with you!

 

Protect us, Lord, as we lie awake

and watch over us while we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

 

Amen.  

 

TWO songs for our musical reflection tonight

 

(If the videos don't appear below, click here!)

 

    1)  Franz Biebl's  exquisite Ave Maria, flawlessly performed by Chanticleer.  Composed in 1964, Biebl intersperses verses of the Angelus prayer with the familiar text of the Hail Mary. If you listen carefully, you can hear the voices and the texture of the melody gathering all of us up, enfolding us in Mary's arms...

 

    2) Birthdays are happy and joyful times so I've chosen a piece of happy, joyful music for our prayer tonight.  It's the wonderful Bobby McFerrin leading a large audience in singing with him the beautiful Bach-Gounod Ave Maria.  You'll recognize both tunes and I've added the lyrics for the Ave below if you want to join McFerrin's audience...

 MMMMMMMMM

1) BIEBL Ave Maria by Chanticleer 

Angelus Domini, nuntiavit Mariae,
et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.
The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary
and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum;
benedicta tu in mulieribus
et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus. 
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you;
blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Maria dixit, ecce ancilla Domini,
fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.
Mary said: behold the servant of the Lord,
let it be done to me according to your word.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum;
benedicta tu in mulieribus
et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesu.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you;
blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Et verbum caro factum est,
et habitavit in nobis. 
And the word became flesh
and dwelled among us.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum;
benedicta tu in mulieribus
et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesu.
Sancta Maria, mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you;
blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God,
pray for us, sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

2) BACH-GOUNOD Ave Maria by McFerrin  

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. 

Benedicta tu in mulieribus,

et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

 

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nobis peccatoribus 

nunc et in hora, in hora mortis nostrae. 

Amen. Amen.

*   

The early church celebrated the Annunciation (when an angel announced to Mary that she was carrying the Christ child in her womb) on March 25, long before the date for Christmas was established: exactly 9 months after the Annunciation on December 25.

The early church celebrated the birthday of Mary on September 8, long before it began to celebrate the Immaculate Conception on December 8: the date of Mary's conception was determined by counting 9 months back from the feast of her birth.

In Luke's account of the Annunciation (March 25) he reports that Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, was "in her sixth month" and so John's birth was assigned to June 24th (not the 25th, owing to a discrepancy between what was then the Roman calendar and our calendar today).

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