May the Lord grant you grace and peace in the Holy Spirit.
It is on 29th May 2023. We celebrate the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. A Mother who never leaves the believing community, the Church. We reflect on Acts 1:12-14 and John 19:25-27
A boy saw a lot of flags in a church. He asked a lady what they were for. She said, “Oh, they are for those who have died in the service.” The boy said, “In the eleven o’clock service or the nine o’clock service?”
The title of “Mother of the Church” was bestowed on the Blessed Virgin Mary by Blessed Pope Paul VI during the Second Vatican Council. The understanding of Mary’s motherhood has developed in the decades following Vatican II, especially in chapter 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium).
We honour Mary as Mother of the Church on the day after Pentecost, reminding us that Mary was present with the disciples on Pentecost. Mary prayed with the first Christian community, awaiting the gift of the Holy Spirit for all believers. Mary prayed with them as the Holy Spirit descended. And Mary, our dear Mother, continues to pray for us.
As Eve, is the mother of all the living, Mary is the Mother of the Church for all who belong to believing community. The Church enjoys the prayerful accompaniment of Mary, Mother of the Church. “If in prayer we understand that each day given by God is a call, our hearts will then widen, and we will accept everything,” says Pope Francis
Through Jesus, we are saved, and through Mother Mary, we can come closer to Jesus.
The Mother keeps everything and brings it to her dialogue with God, Pope Francis remarked once: “Someone has compared Mary’s heart to a pearl of incomparable splendour, formed and smoothed by patient acceptance of God’s will through the mysteries of Jesus meditated on in prayer. How beautiful it would be if we too could be a bit like our Mother!”
“Today we meet the Virgin Mary as the prayerful woman.” She accompanies us individually as well as in the community.
Pope John Paul II taught us, “Mary is present in the Church as the Mother of Christ and at the same time as that Mother whom Christ, in the mystery of the Redemption, gave to humanity in the person of the Apostle John.” Mary is our mother too—Mother to the Church and Mother to us personally.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us as we seek new life through your Son, Jesus!