A Birthday Party for Mary
Last year on September 8th my husband and I had a birthday party for Mary. We invited the kids and grandkids over to celebrate. The little ones were very excited. Like all children they love birthday parties. They brought a beautiful cake, baked and decorated by their mom, with pink rosettes for the special occasion.
We started the party by praying one decade of the rosary using On a Mission to Love: Rosary Meditations for Children and Families. The book was brand new at that time and this was a personal test of it. 😊
Our oldest grandson led the group by reading the meditations and prayers. The younger ones followed along by looking at the pictures and taking turns placing a flower at Mary’s feet following each Hail Mary. I should mention that this wasn’t exactly the Hallmark moment that you might be envisioning. They were excited and full of energy, so there were more than a few interruptions. You could even say that it was chaotic at times BUT we did it. And they loved it!
After the Rosary, we had dinner, lit the candles on the cake, sang Happy Birthday to Mary, and let the kids take turns blowing the candles out.
But before we got to that point, we were midway through dinner when our four-year-old grandson leaned over to his mom and said “Mom, where’s Mary?” A bit surprised, she smiled and replied “Honey, Mary’s in Heaven.” Lucas kind of tilted his head and said “Oh, I thought she was coming to the party. Well if she’s not going to be here, let’s just give the cake to Pap-Pap.” We had no idea until that moment that Lucas thought all along that he was going to get to meet Mary that day. His total trust and inherent sense of wonder made it possible for him to believe that the Mother of God was in fact going to join us for dinner and cake that day.
His total trust and inherent sense of wonder made it possible for him to believe…
I suppose this is what Jesus means when he says we must “become like little children” in order to enter the Kingdom of God.
This year I’ll be out of town on Mary’s birthday, so we’re moving her party to the end of the month. But one thing’s for certain, we’re sticking with the tradition we started last year with the hope that it will be passed on for generations to come. Do you have a favorite Mary tradition?
