When it comes to gifts and talents some people seem to have more than their share, they seem to be filled with them, and they are bright, artistic, impressionable, good looking, lively, much sought after.

Some people have to strive hard to realise the gifts and talents which others seem to exercise without any effort.

There are people who train, study, sweat, struggle, try constantly to say and do the right thing, try to please everyone all the time, and yet, for all their efforts, they seem to be overlooked and passed by when such gifts and talents were handed out.

When we see how some people are chosen for some work or activity or privilege we sometimes ask ourselves, "What have they done to deserve that?" – presuming they did something special: and we get knotted up, criticising their endeavours, and forgetting in our pettiness "The Freedom" of the One who chose them in the first place, we forget the One who gave them their gifts and talents.

Next Monday we celebrate the Birthday of Mary, the Mother of the Lord and also celebrate the extravagance of the love of God, who freely chose Mary, and whose choice made her "full of grace" from the moment of her conception. Simply put, we proclaim the truth that Mary was loaded with gifts and talents from the very beginning of her life. There’s no point in asking what Mary did to acquire such good fortune because she didn't do anything – what she received by way of gifts and talents was "sheer gift".

Nobody "deserves" gifts, and nobody can claim them as by right, because gifts and talents reflect the generosity of " the giver", not necessarily the worthiness of the receiver.

Mary’s birthday doesn’t point to anything that she did – but to what God did in her.

That she was conceived wasn’t a reward for anything she had done on her part: it was the result of God’s freedom to create Mary in a special way for a special purpose.

When God chose Mary "that choice made her worthy", a truth reflected in the words of the Magnificat when Mary prays "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour because he has looked on the lowliness of his handmaid".

Because of God’s preference, because He had looked on Mary in a special way, all generations, as in our own day, "call her blessed": for Mary was indeed gifted and talented and equipped for a mission that was not for herself – her mission in God’s plan was to give Jesus to every generation of the human family.

Some people think that because Mary was so gifted and talented, she had ceased to be human.

Certainly Mary’s role was unique. As the Church teaches, she occupies a place in the Church which is ‘the highest after Christ’ and, after Christ, - "she is the closest to us".

Being ‘chosen as she was, didn’t exclude Mary from t†he human race or free her from her choice.

Mary still had to put "her" freedom at the disposal of God and His plan for her and the whole human race.

The difference between us and Mary though, is not that Mary is chosen and we are not: but that she fully responded to being chosen for her role – while we so often remain half-hearted about responding to the role we have been given.

S. Paul tells us "we are all chosen" – Christ chose us to be holy and spotless and to live through love in his presence".

Like Mary, we face God’s choice "of us". Like her we are challenged to say Yes to God, even to those things which seem impossible, and even ridiculous.

If we could "see ourselves" as a result of God’s choice, rather than some chance happening in the turmoil of the things of life in the universe, then we might be keener to say "Yes" to Him.

God chose each and everyone of us; and He has a definite role for each of us in His Divine Plan within the life of His Church – and He waits for us to respond to Him, as He did for Mary, by "putting our freedom" at His disposal and for His service.

God’s word to Mary in the Gospels is a word of supreme value; "Rejoice, highly favoured".

Perhaps we've never thought about that word "rejoice" before! Perhaps we don’t believe God values us! Perhaps we’ve reached the stage in life where we don’t think we are of any worth to God or to anyone else.

So, on the Birthday of Mary the Mother of the Lord, let that be God’s word to each of us: "Rejoice!" – rejoice you and I… you and I who are highly favoured by God, the God who has chosen us to be holy and to live through love in His presence.

Yes, that’s the call to you and me today. So with our varying gifts and talents let each of us "rejoice" and follow the Lord’s command "to us" – just as Mary did and would do again today – and see what great things the Almighty will do " for us" and "with us" in our homes, in our parishes, even here, in this place.

In the 7th C. S. Andrew of Crete, in a sermon, said of Mary’s birth

"Let the whole of creation therefore sing praise and dance and unite to celebrate the glories of this day.

"Today let there be one common feast of those in heaven and those on earth.

"Let everything that is, in the world and above the world, join together in rejoicing.

"For today a shrine is built for the Creator of the Universe.

"The Creature is newly made ready as a divine dwelling for the Creator."

Each time we receive Holy Communion taking Jesus into our lives "we provide am dwelling place" for this same Creator, Jesus, God Incarnate, as it was a privilege for Mary so it is for us – or should be.