Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, tweeted about the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Thursday, calling on Catholics to pray to Mary to bring us to her Son. 

“As we celebrate the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary let us give thanks for her motherly care for all humanity,” Strickland tweeted. “Jesus her Son gave His life for our salvation. His mother Mary is constantly pointing to Him. Let us honor Mary’s birth by following her Son and worshiping Him as Lord!” 

The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Nativity of Mary nine months after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8. The Blessed Mother’s early life is not well known, but she is the daughter of St. Joachim and St. Anne, Catholic News Agency reports. CNA lists some of the Catholic beliefs of Mary, from early Church writers to the 20th century. 

CNA describes Mary’s coming into the world as sourced from the Protoevangelium of James. 

“And Joachim brought the child to the priests, and they blessed her, saying: 'O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations,’” according to CNA. 

Joachim and Anne, Mary’s parents, offered Mary to the temple as a consecrated virgin. Mary’s birth was described by St. Augustine as “the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley,” the agency reports.

"The fruit of their marriage as they sought to live the will of God was to bring forth the Mother of God, the Immaculate Virgin Mary,” Strickland wrote in a letter from July.

Strickland also calls for a remembrance of the sanctity of the sacrament of marriage, between one man and one woman, and Catholics to believe and promote this.