Happy birthday, Momma Mary!

Today is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The celebration of this day has grown as my understanding of the faith has grown — a little bit at a time, more often than not in baby steps, and then, pow! Suddenly I got it.

from amerciancatholic.org:

 If Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning.

I’ve commemorated this day quite differently, mostly as  a cultural observance with other Cubans and Cuban-Americans celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the patroness of Cuba. But like I said — I wasn’t quite grasping the immensity of Mary’s life in salvation history.

I’ve gone full circle, from having a child-like understanding of Mary as a mommy, to a deeper understanding of Mary as the spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the Mother of God. To call her, affectionately, Momma Mary, my mother, too.

This is significant for me this year because I am about to embark on a pilgrimage I never believed would happen. I will be going to Cuba next week, coinciding with Pope Francis’ trip. I will arrive in the province of Holguin and  pay a visit to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity.

It will be almost 50 years to the day I left Cuba as a child. To say I am in a whirlwind of emotions is an understatement. It will be a return to family. An opportunity to see places I’ve only heard about from my parents and grandparents. It will be … something I can’t begin to imagine. But whatever it is — I know I’m going to be received with open arms by the virgencita who longs to have all her children together.