The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

A legend dating from the second century tells this story about the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary:1

Once upon a time there was a Jewish couple named Jo’-a-chim and Anne. They were elderly, and their neighbours reproached them for not having any children. But God heard Anne’s laments and sent an angel to tell her: “You shall conceive and bear, and your offspring shall be spoken of in all the world.”

Anne responded: “As the Lord my God lives, if I bear a child, whether male or female, I will bring it as a gift to the Lord my God, and it shall serve him all the days of its life.”

And so it came to pass that Anne conceived; and when the time was fulfilled, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Mary. Both parents vowed to dedicate their child to the service of God, and when she was three years old they presented her in the temple at Jerusalem. “And the high priest placed Mary on the third step of the altar, and the Lord God put grace upon the child, and she danced for joy with her feet, and the whole house of Israel loved her.” Such is the legend of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and we continue to tell the story because it bears witness to a deeper truth of faith — that Mary herself was the daughter of Israel’s hope and the child whose own offspring would fulfill the longing of the whole family of creation.

(For All the Saints. Prayers and Readings for Saints' Days. Anglican Church of Canada).