The Church’s prayer today
United States Roman Calendar · Year C → Year A at Advent · Cycle II. Liturgical color: white.
Scripture for the liturgy
Mi 5:1-4a or Rom 8:28-30/Mt 1:1-16, 18-23 or 1:18-23 (636)
These references follow the annual calendar, including permitted reading choices. Optional memorials ordinarily retain the weekday readings. Daily reading pages for this future year may not yet be published. Use these references with the USCCB Bible, or open the annual calendar.
Enter the Marian mystery
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Saint Alphonsus rejoices in Mary’s birth, the grace God gave her, and her faithful response.
Read the teaching, meditation, and prayer →Contemplate with Mary
From Jesus, however (we must understand), we receive Grace as from the Author of Grace; from Mary as from the Mediatress; from Jesus as from the Saviour, from Mary as from the Advocate; from Jesus as from the Fountain, from Mary as from the Channel.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary, Part II, Discourse II, On the Birth of Mary (excerpt)
Make this prayer your own
Permit me, then, to say to you: my mother, my most amiable mother. So I call you, and so I will always call you. You, after God, are to be always my hope, my refuge, and my love in this valley of tears.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori · The Glories of Mary · Mary Our Mother, prayer (excerpt)One faithful act
Pray a decade of the Rosary in thanksgiving for the birth of the Blessed Virgin.
Give thanks for Mary’s birthCalendar scope and local observance
Dates, ranks, and reading references follow the official calendar for the dioceses of the United States, with Ascension on Sunday. Diocesan, parish, patronal, and religious-family calendars may differ. Consult your parish for Mass schedules and obligations. The Marian meditation is a devotional aid accompanying the day.