Monday, May 29, 2023 - Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church - How will you show that you are part of the Church of God founded by Jesus?

To read the texts click on the texts: Acts1:12-14; Jn 19:25-27

Pope, St. Paul VI declared Mary as Mother of the Church on November 21, 1964. In 2018, Pope Francis reinvigorated the title by proclaiming the Monday after Pentecost as the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Church. Through Scripture and tradition, we clearly see how Mary has been “Mother of the Church.”

The Synoptic Gospels provide an account in the ministry of Jesus, when the mother of Jesus and his brothers and sisters approach the house where Jesus was teaching (Mt 12:46–50, Mk 3:31–35, Lk 8:19–21). When word reaches Jesus that his mother is outside, he says, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Lk 8:21). In Luke more clearly than in the others Synoptic Gospels, Jesus is pointing to Mary no merely as his physical mother or the one who gave birth to him and brought him into the world, but also as one who is mother to him because like him she too does the will of God.

 

In the first reading chosen for the memorial, we read how Mary is with the eleven before the choice of Matthias and also before Pentecost. The presence of Mary with the disciples whom Jesus left behind is an indication that she was an integral part of the ministry of Jesus and also one of those on whom the Spirit was poured at Pentecost. As mother of Jesus, she is also the mother also of the disciples and all others who believe in Jesus. In the Gospel text from John, it is from the cross that Jesus hands his mother over to the beloved disciple. While the beloved disciple is indeed a historical figure, he/she can also be anyone who loves Jesus. The command of the Lord to such a disciple, who loves him, is that he/she must also take his mother into their home because she is an integral part of the family of Jesus. As a matter of fact in the Gospel of John this is how Church is described. The Spirit of Jesus (which he breathes before his death), the beloved disciple (anyone who loves Jesus) and the mother of Jesus. These three elements make up church. These three are what church is all about in the Gospel of John.

 

So today let us realize that we cannot really have a full church, the church of the Lord unless his mother is in that church as well. I am fond of saying that if Mary had to say NO we would never have had Jesus. We remember the words that we recite in the Memorare “It was never know that anyone who fled to her protection was left unaided.” And proof of that is again in the scriptures where the mind of Jesus has changed because of the intervention of Mary at Cana, (Jn 2:1-12) where Jesus turned water into sparkling wine.

 

How will you show that you are part of the Church of God founded by Jesus?