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Having traveled all over the world to pray at the shrines honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary, there is one place that allowed me to feel her tender motherly love especially: Mexico. Our Lady of Guadalupe captured my imagination. Looking into her eyes, I felt the comfort and love of a mother. The tilma is like the little portrait I keep in my heart, a reminder that I am never alone.
Mary was declared Mother of the Church by Pope Paul VI on November 21, 1964. Pope Leo XIII eloquently spoke of Mary as Mother of the Church in Adiutricem, his Letter on the Rosary. In it, he said:
With wonderful care she nurtured the first Christians by her holy example, her authoritative counsel, her sweet consolation, her fruitful prayers. She was, in very truth, the Mother of the Church, the Teacher and Queen of the Apostles, to whom, besides, she confided no small part of the divine mysteries which she kept in her heart. (6)
Today, a prominent mosaic of Mother of the Church is located on the exterior wall of the Apostolic Palace. Pope St. John Paul II placed it there on December 7, 1981. He did so in thanksgiving to Mary for redirecting the bullet of his attempted assassination. Every title of Mary reveals a truth about her and Jesus.
What truths and messages can we ourselves garner from the Mother of the Church? Today’s Gospel account (see John 19:25-34) clarifies this loving relationship.
From the cross, we hear Our Lord’s final will and testament. He poured His blood for the Church. He gave His garments to His enemies. He offered an inheritance in Paradise for the repentant thief. Before He gives His body to the grave and His soul to the Father, what will become of His two greatest treasures: his mother and beloved friend? He gives them to each other.
Our Lord’s statement “Woman!” becomes the second Annunciation for Mary. At the first Annunciation, the Angel spoke the greeting “Ave Maria.” This Virgin was called to bear flesh and blood to the second person of the Trinity. What follows, therefore, teaches us much about who she is. Mary is full of grace. The Greek word kecharitomene means “full of grace” and suggests an abundance of grace from her very beginning. Mary overflowed with God’s favor, protection, and love from all eternity.
In her second Annunciation, there is no angel to bear the message. God himself gives the Virgin a vocation rooted in the grace that filled her whole being. From the cross, Jesus calls her to be Mother to the Beloved Disciple who stands in place of all believers. She does not become our mother by title of courtesy or simple figure of speech. She truly becomes the mother of us all by her perfect obedience, her immense sorrow, and her trust as she stood at the Tree of Calvary. What Eve could not do with Adam, Mary restored with her Son.
Finally, when her earthly pilgrimage reached its end, she became Queen Mother. As Queen Mother, Mary desires our sanctity as her sons and daughters. She wants us to bring about God’s Kingdom in the midst of our diverse love. In this Kingdom, rulers are cast down from their thrones, the lowly are lifted up, the hungry are filled with good things, and the rich are sent away empty (cf. Luke 1:52-53).
In his 15th-century marble masterpiece, Michelangelo Buonarroti depicts Mary’s desire to give Jesus to us in the Pieta. The pierced, scourged, and lifeless body of her Son lies on the Blessed Mother’s lap. Her lap is like the altar on which, in her serenity and unshakeable trust, she gives Him to the world. As we contemplate this, it is as if she gazes at us and says, “Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety, or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection?” (Our Lady of Guadalupe’s words to her servant, Juan Diego).
At the hour of our death, it will be Mary’s motherhood that will accompany us as we persevere to the end. She will stand with us in our suffering and, through her prayers, will exercise the shameless and joy-filled duty of motherhood, so that we may stand before her Son to receive the crown of eternal life.
Whether you visit Mary’s shrine in Mexico, the mosaic in the Vatican, or simply celebrate liturgy at your local parish, we celebrate Mary as Mother of the Church. This feast reminds us we belong to a family established by Jesus, who is king, and that Mary is His mother and ours. We are reminded that we are not alone in life. We have nothing to fear. Even in the greatest tragedies that come our way, Jesus never leaves us as orphans.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
