NOTES for Мф 1:1-16

As a rule, the Church celebrates not a person's birthday, but the day of his or her ascent to God. There are only three exceptions to this rule. First of all, there is the Nativity of Christ, and this is understandable because the Incarnation of God is an altogether unique moment in the relationship between God and humanity. Second, there is the Nativity of John the Baptist—the only human birth celebrated in the New Testament, and one connected, as we should note, with the Nativity of Christ. The third feast is today's, and the passages we read also connect it with Christ's Nativity. In this way the Church bears witness that the birth of the Most Holy Mother of God is sanctified by God's grace and that, in some mysterious manner beyond our understanding, this sanctification proceeds from the later overshadowing by the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of the Son of God in the womb of the Virgin Mary. On this day we glorify God and thank Him for Her Whom He chose as His Mother and ours.