The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

At the time of Mary’s birth the whole world was plunged in darkness. The heathen nations were steeped in vice and pride. The Jews, too, had corrupted their ways and departed from God. Everywhere there was sin and gloom, no bright spot on the face of the earth. But when Mary was born a light arose amid the darkness: the dawn of the glorious day that was to usher in the Redeemer. So, too, the darkness of the sinner’s soul is dispersed by Mary’s holy influence. Where the love of her is born in the soul, all becomes full of light, and Jesus comes to make his habitation there. Mary, in the first hour of her life, brought more glory to God than all the Saints of the Old Testament. In her were made perfect the obedience of Abraham, the chastity of Joseph, the patience of Job, the meekness of Moses, the prudence of Josue. It is because she is the model and pattern of these and all other virtues that she can communicate them to us.

In honor of our Blessed Mother's birthday and the 850th Anniversary of the most important Marian shrine in Central Europe, Pope Benedict XVI offered Mass this morning at the shrine in Mariazell as part of his three day pilgrimage in Austria (you can read his homily here). The shrine houses a miraculous wooden statute (below) of the Blessed Virgin holding the child Jesus, which was brought here by a monk named Magnus in 1157.

The ITI was represented at Mariazell by two busloads of faculty, staff, and students, myself among them. We departed from the Kartause at 5:30am, and, upon arriving, walked about 4km to Mariazell where Mass began at 10:30. We were rained upon the entire time, reminiscent of my experience of WYD in Toronto. It was quite a zoo, but worth it in order to pay my respects to the successor of St. Peter. In the picture below you can see that we weren't favored with the best location. The Pope offered Mass under the white canopy that you can see in front of the Church. We were only able to watch on the enormous television screen.

Upon arriving by car rather than helicopter due to the rainy weather, the Pope first went in to pray for a few moments at the shrine:

He then retired in order to be vested and came out again wearing what can only be described as tie-dyed rainbow vestments. [Update: The American Papist has linked the below photo taken by yours truly, a "Papist-on-the-ground"]

Here, at the beginning of the Mass, you can see that the cardinal is also vested in like manner. How disturbing! I can't seem to remember in which liturgical feast or season the rubrics call for such colors to be used!