Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
The Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, reminds us how Jesus Himself, through an act of entrusting, willed that the divine maternity be extended to all men and women, that is, to the Church herself. In 2018, Pope Francis established the Monday after the Solemnity of Pentecost, the day on which the Church was born, as the date for this memorial.
The title is not a new one. In 1980, Saint John Paul II, invited the faithful to venerate Mary as Mother of the Church. Even before that, on 21 November 1964, Saint Paul VI, on the conclusion of the third Session of the Second Vatican Council declared Mary as the “Mother of the Church”. And in 1975, the Holy See proposed a votive Mass in honour of the Mother of the Church, without it becoming a memorial on the liturgical calendar.
Besides these recent dates, we cannot forget how much the title of Mary, Mother of the Church, was already present in the thought of Saint Augustine and Saint Leo the Great, of Popes Benedict XV and Leo XIII, up until Pope Francis when, on 11 February 2018, the 160th anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin at Lourdes, he made this an obligatory memorial.
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. (Jn. 19:25-27)
Mary “stands” under the cross
Mary “stands” under the cross. “Stands” – this indicates presence, continuity, the strength of being there. Unlike the disciples, Mary never left her Son Jesus along the way of the Cross. It is here that Jesus entrusted the “disciple whom he loved” to His Mother (and vice versa). Mary faced this moment with great dignity. She did not take flight in the face of life’s events, but remained “standing”.
Another “let it be done to me”
Mary was invited by her Son to say “let it be done to me” once again. It is a new, a more convinced and mature “yes”. Her “standing by the cross” matures her experience of faith and of motherhood, making her capable of going beyond. From the beginning, Mary’s heart had been riddled with questions: “she pondered what sort of greeting this could be” (Lk. 1:29). Even in front of Simeon questions arose: “this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk. 2:34-35). Mary and Joseph “were amazed at what was said about him” (Lk. 2:33). Mary did not say, “let it be done to me” once and for all. Her consent grew, it matured through what happened in her life, including her Son’s “Cross”, by which she “stood”. It is here, in this fidelity Mary achieved, that she received her new mission, a sort of “supplement” to her motherhood that culminated in her becoming “Mother of the Church”. She is Mother because she regenerates us in grace, provided that we learn to grow to “the full stature of Christ” (see Eph. 4:7-13).
The Christian life anchored in the mystery of the Cross
This memorial “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 to the Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Redeemed, explains the decree establishing this memorial. As Mary knew how to “stand” by the Cross, without evading or fleeing the difficulty of understanding and of suffering, so too Mary, as Mother, knows how to “stand” by each of those whom her Son has made her children. This leads us to know how to invoke her as “Mother of the Church”:
Mother, help our faith!
Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognize his voice and call.
Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.
Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith.
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature.
Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.
Remind us that those who believe are never alone.
Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!
(Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter, Lumen Fidei)
