8 September – The Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary, the mother of Jesus, features in the mosaics at Kariye Museum in Istanbul.  I have used my photographs of these mosaics to tell the story of Mary’s birth and early life according to the Protoevangelium of James.  This is an apocryphal writing which can be viewed here:Protoevangelium of James
I refer to the text using PJ #1 – the first paragraph in the Protoevangelium of James.
Mary was a woman who was called to have a key role in God’s plan of salvation for His creation.  She was a woman who was ready and willing to say yes to Jesus.  Once when a woman in the crowd around Jesus said ‘blessed are the breast that suckled you’ – Jesus turned and said of those who followed him that they were his mother, his sister and brother.  The test of our relationship with Jesus is whether we are his disciples.

Copyright © 2018 Rev Ros Wilkinson