Memorial of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
(Genesis 3:9-15.20; John 19:25-34)
Pentecost has been called the “birthday of the Church.” Perhaps it would be better to say that the
Church was founded on that day with the coming of the Holy Spirit. In any case, Pope Francis has established
today, the Monday after the great feast of the Spirit, as the Memorial of Mary,
the Mother of the Church. She stands for
the Church as its original member.
Of course, Mary is present at the Pentecost event in the
Acts of the Apostles. But today’s gospel
also shows the formation of the Church with Mary there. Jesus begins his family of disciples by
presenting Mary to the beloved disciple.
Then as he dies, he hands over his spirit, especially it may be said, to
them. It is an climatic moment. By giving himself to death, Jesus has
conquered the satanic serpent. This is
the evil power who instigated the downfall of humanity by deceiving Eve in the
garden. Now the human race begins again
with the Church imbued with grace so that it will not fail.
The corona virus pandemic has taken a great toll on the
Church. Collections, of course, are down
and in some cases this has meant that people are being laid off work. Probably some regular church-goers will not return,
either because of fear of crowds or just because they have lost the
routine. And the future is very
uncertain. There is more reason now than
ever to seek our Blessed Mother’s intercession.
We ask her to assist us with prayers for the Church and indeed the world during this pandemic crisis.
