Mary & SVD: Two Anniversaries & One Mission

The evening air in Mumbai carried something special on September 8, 2024. At St. Theresa’s Church in Bandra, hundreds of parishioners filled the courtyard, their hands cradling flickering candles and fresh flowers. Their voices rose together in ancient hymns as they processed around the sacred space, honoring the statue of Mother Mary. This was not just any Sunday, it was the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a day when three profound celebrations converged into one powerful moment of hope.

The feast itself celebrates something beautifully simple yet revolutionary: the birth of a little girl who would change the world. Mary’s story begins not with angels or miracles, but with the ordinary joy of parents welcoming their daughter. Born to Joachim and Anne, she entered a world that often dismissed girls as less valuable than boys. Yet this particular birth carried a quiet power that would reshape human history.

We know little about Mary’s childhood from scripture, but we can imagine her growing up like any other girl of her time, learning from her mother, playing with friends, perhaps helping with household tasks. What made her extraordinary was not her circumstances but her heart. When God’s messenger came to her as a young woman, asking her to carry the Savior of the world, her response revealed the courage that had been growing within her all along. Her simple “yes” became the hinge upon which salvation turned.

This ancient celebration takes on fresh meaning in modern India, where the Catholic Church has beautifully woven together Mary’s nativity with the Day of the Girl Child. In schools across the country, children create colorful displays declaring “Every Girl is Precious” and “Dreams Have No Gender.” They perform skits and recite poems that remind everyone present that girls, like Mary, carry infinite potential within them.

This connection feels especially poignant in a culture where some families still struggle to see daughters as blessings rather than burdens. The feast becomes a gentle but firm declaration that every girl deserves protection, education, and the chance to discover her unique purpose. Mary’s story reminds us that God often chooses the overlooked and undervalued to accomplish the most important work in the world.

The celebration at St. Theresa’s Church carried an additional layer of significance as the Society of the Divine Word marked the beginning of its 150th anniversary. Founded by Saint Arnold Janssen in 1875, this missionary community began in a small house in the Netherlands with a simple dream: to carry Christ’s love to every corner of the earth. Now present in over 80 countries, these missionaries have built schools, hospitals, and churches while serving the poorest communities worldwide.

During the Mumbai celebration, congregation members carried symbols of this global mission: a jubilee candle representing Christ’s light, a globe showing their worldwide reach, and a Bible symbolizing the Word they proclaim. Their anniversary theme, “Witnessing to the Light,” seemed perfectly matched to Mary’s own calling. She was, after all, the first person to carry the Light of the World within her own body.

What makes this convergence so powerful is how these three celebrations illuminate the same truth from different angles. Mary’s birth shows us that God delights in surprising the world through humble beginnings. The Day of the Girl Child reminds us to cherish every daughter as a bearer of unique gifts and possibilities. The Divine Word anniversary demonstrates what happens when people spend their lives responding to God’s call with the same wholehearted “yes” that Mary offered.

As families left the church that September evening, many carried more than just the memory of beautiful liturgy. They carried a renewed understanding of how ordinary lives can become extraordinary through faith and service. Perhaps some thought of the girls in their own families who need encouragement to pursue their dreams. Others might have considered how they could support the ongoing mission work that brings hope to forgotten places around the world.

The beauty of Mary’s feast lies in its timeless relevance. In every generation, the world needs people willing to say “yes” to God’s surprising invitations. It needs communities that recognize the sacred worth of every girl child. It needs missionaries who will leave comfort behind to serve where the need is greatest.

Mary’s birth was not just a happy family event two thousand years ago; it was the moment when God’s plan of salvation took human form in the most vulnerable way possible, through a baby girl. Today, that same divine life continues to enter our world through every child born, every person called to service, and every heart opened to love.

As we honor Mary’s nativity, we celebrate not just her unique role in salvation history, but the potential that lies within every human life. Her story whispers to us across the centuries: great things often begin small, in hidden places, through ordinary people who trust God with extraordinary faith.

(Fr. John Singarayar, a priest of the Society of the Divine Word from the Mumbai Province in western India, holds a doctorate in anthropology. He contributes regularly to journals and publications focusing on sociology, anthropology, tribal studies, spirituality, and mission.)