Friends, today we celebrate the brand new Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
We
hear in today’s Gospel that, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus looked
to his mother and the disciple whom he loved, and he said to
Mary, "Woman, behold, your son," and then to John, "Behold, your
mother." We are told that "from that hour the disciple took her into his
home."
If
Mary is the one through whom Christ was born, and if the Church is
indeed Christ’s mystical body, then she must be, in a very real sense,
the mother of the Church. She is the one through whom Jesus continues to
be born in the hearts of those who believe. This is not to confuse her
with the Savior, but it is to insist on her mission as mediator and
intercessor. At the close of the great "Hail Mary" prayer, we Catholics
ask Mary to pray for us "now and at the hour of our death," signaling
that throughout one’s life Mary is the privileged channel through which
the grace of Christ flows into the mystical body.
God
delights in drawing secondary causes into the dense complexity of his
providential plan, granting to them the honor of cooperating with him
and his designs. The handmaid of the Lord, who is the mother of the
Church, is the humblest of these humble instruments—and therefore the
most effective.
After Jesus had been taken up to heaven,
the Apostles returned to Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a sabbath day's journey away.
When they entered the city
they went to the upper room where they were staying,
Peter and John and James and Andrew,
Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew,
James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot,
and Judas son of James.
All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved,
he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."
Then he said to the disciple,
"Behold, your mother."
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, "I thirst."
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
"It is finished."
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately Blood and water flowed out.
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