MOTHER OF CHRIST & MOTHER OF THE CHURCH

MOTHER OF CHRIST & MOTHER OF THE CHURCH

            By virtue of becoming the Mother of Christ Mary also became the Mother of the Church.  St. Augustine states that she is “clearly the mother of the members of Christ.”  The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council state in their Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) that by her charity Mary has “joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church.”  In this way she is our Mother in the order of grace.  She began to act in this role when she responded to the invitation of the angel to become the Mother of the Messiah by saying, “Be it done to me according to your word.”  “This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the Cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect.  Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation…Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix” (LG 62).

            Mary continues to be active in the world.  Certainly, the witness of her apparitions in so many different regions of the world over the centuries is powerful evidence of this fact.  But our faith in her continuing involvement in the mission of the Church does not rely on miracles but on the infallible ordinary magisterium of the Church, which all Catholics are bound to believe.  The Scriptures themselves point to Mary’s vocation as going beyond only providing the means for God to become man.  Mary herself foresaw this when she sang her song of praise: “For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.  The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.  His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him…” (Luke 1:48-50).  Despite her great humility, Mary anticipated being part of God’s work of mercy “from age to age.”  So does Jesus, when he looked down from the Cross at Mary and the beloved disciple and said, “Woman, behold your son…Behold, your Mother.  And from that hour the disciple took her into his home” (John 19:26-27). 

            God has given us Mary for our Mother in the order of grace.  It is his desire that we turn to her with our needs.  God did not choose just any woman to become the Mother of his Son, he chose Mary.  And his Son chose to share her with us that we also may also experience her maternal love and care.  For in us, she sees her Son, as we indeed have been united with Christ by faith and baptism into one Body, with Christ the head.  The beloved disciple’s given name is never revealed in the Gospel so that he might be identified with every disciple – every one who is beloved of Jesus.  He takes Mary into his home, and in doing so brings her into the spiritual home of every Christian…and she accepts!  Grace upon grace.

            All the prerogatives of our Blessed Mother Mary derive from her Son, and Mary’s role in the Church and in our lives cannot be separated from her union with Jesus.  She is the Mediatrix of grace, not its source, which can only be God himself.  Devotion to Mary helps us to open to the source of grace.  Pope St. John Paul II chose these words from St. Louis de Montford’s prayer to Mary as the motto for his episcopal coat of arms: Totus tuus, “All yours!”  By being devoted to Mary he came closer to Jesus Christ, who is the end point and center of all Christian devotion.  Our spiritual life will be poorer if we neglect devotion to Mary.  After all, it is never a good thing to ignore one’s Mother!

 FATHER SCOTT