THE CHILDREN OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH   

Acts 1:12-14; Ps 87; Jn 19:25-34

Behold Your Mother

The Church fittingly celebrates the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Church, following the Solemnity of Pentecost. For we marked Pentecost as the formal birthday of the Church. The commencement of the public activities of the Holy Spirit through and within the disciples marked the public manifestation of the body of Christ to the world. The celebration of this memorial is the Church’s way of recognising that we owe the spiritual or mystical life to the unique privilege and efforts of the Blessed Virgin Mary. No one understands the privilege of the mother of Jesus Christ and her place in our spiritual life without understanding the mystery of sin and human salvation. We always go back to the beginning, where God promised us salvation after the fall of Adam and Eve. The enmity God promised to create between the woman of our salvation and the ancient serpent, which is extended to the seed of the woman and that of the serpent, uniquely characterised the role of Mary in our salvation. Since reference to the seed of the woman is in the singular, we are without doubt that Jesus Christ is the seed in question. However, Christ is understood in the New Testament as both an individual person and a mystical person, comprising the Head and the Body. The former is the Son of Man, and the latter is Christ and his body, the Church, comprising all believers, housing the Holy Spirit.

The passage from the Acts of the Apostles tells us of those who were in the upper room. The mention of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, among those in the room praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples is significant. As we noted previously, she joined in the prayer not specifically for herself, for the angel called her full of grace, which implies she remained full of the Holy Spirit even after the birth of Jesus, for we know that she was conceived sinless and lived without sin through her life. So, there was never any cause of diminution of grace in her. This is the result of the divinely created enmity between her and the serpent, in anticipation of the salvific work of Jesus Christ, her son. Subsequently, she was full of the Holy Spirit while interceding for the disciples to receive the outpouring of the Father’s gift. “All these joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” By giving us this passage today, the Church considers her in the midst of the disciples as the mother bringing to birth her spiritual or mystical children. This understanding, as we can see, is deeply rooted in the expression of God’s will from the beginning as a remedy for the fall. Following the Church, we recall the insight of Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort, that the Holy Spirit is most active and productive in any soul that loves and cherishes Mary.

The beautiful insight of the Saint seems to be totally in accord with the mind of our Lord Jesus Christ. He presented this love and care of his dear mother to the beloved apostle, John the Evangelist, while he was in excruciating pain on the cross at Calvary. “Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’” The same apostle who vouched for the Gospel and testified to this event, understood the deep meaning of the Lord’s words and implications for all of us; for he added: “And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.” The Evangelist is indirectly telling each of us to make a place for the mother of Jesus in our home; that is, in our hearts. Again, this passage of the Gospel mentions her presence at the death of Jesus Christ. We could say that she sacrificed her single physical son, the Son of Man, to conceive the mystical Son, comprising all of human persons who would love her as their mother and have Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. These are mysteries, hidden in the scriptures, that the Church presents to us on this memorial. The Psalm contains echoes of these mysteries: “Of you are told glorious things, O city of God! Zion shall be called “Mother” for all shall be her children.” May the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary help us to be devoted to the will of God.

Let us pray: O God, Father of mercies, whose Only  Begotten Son, as he hung upon the Cross, chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother, to be our Mother also; grant, we pray, that with her loving help, your Church may be more fruitful day by day, and exulting in the holiness of her children, may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples. Through our Lord Jesus, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.