THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Monday of Week 10 Year II:

Gen 3:9-15, 20

Ps 87

John 19:25-34

Mary, Mother of the Church

Behold Your Mother…

Dear friends in Christ, on this day following Pentecost, the Church celebrates Mary, Mother of the Church. The title of “The Mother of the Church was given to the Blessed Mother by Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis added this special celebration to be observed the day following the Pentecost Sunday. Cardinal Sarah observed that “This celebration will help us to remember that growth in the Christian life must be anchored to the Mystery of the Cross, to the oblation of Christ in the Eucharistic Banquet and the Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Redeemed.” He noted that the “joyous veneration given to the Mother of God by the contemporary Church, in light of reflection on the mystery of Christ and on his nature, cannot ignore the figure of a woman, the Virgin Mary, who is both the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church.” 

Our first reading for today (Genesis 3:9-15, 20) following the fall of Adam and Eve in which they broke a loving relationship with God, they also failed to acknowledge their sinfulness, and ask for mercy and pardon from God, instead they traded blame. Adam accused Eve and God of the cause of his fall, “It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit and I ate it.” The woman also blamed the serpent. For this, they were punished for their lack of trust in their creator but with the hope of redemption as God said to the serpent, “Be accursed beyond all…I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.” Mary is the New Eve who fulfills this promise. She was addressed as “Woman” by Jesus as he worked his miracle at Canna and on the Cross as he gave his life for us. She is truly the Mother of the Living— the Mother of the Church.

The gospel (John 19:25b-27) presents the Mother of Sorrows by the Cross accompanied by some other women and the beloved disciple. When Jesus saw them, he said, “‘Woman, behold your Son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your Mother’” By this act, he handed his mother to the disciple but more importantly to the Church. Mary from then on became the Mother of all the disciples of Jesus as noted in the passage, “And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”

Every true follower of Jesus must take Mary home as Mother and Model. Every devotion and every teaching concerning Mary only points us to Jesus, to a more intimate union with God. Like Mary said to Cana—“Do whatever he tells you.” She is always directing the disciples and all who call on her to have a more perfect union with God. What devotion do you have to the Mother of the Lord? She has been greatly honored by God, the Church only prompts us to honor her whom God has already placed before us as a true model of discipleship of Jesus.

Let us pray: Hail Mary, full of Grace the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. 

+Remain blessed