Just as her devotion for her Son is well known, the Blessed Virgin Mary’s maternal care for Jesus’ Church has been recognized for centuries. She can rightfully be called Mother of the Church.
Mary accompanied her Son during the most important events in his life and she stood at the foot of the Cross as Jesus died. It was there that He entrusted his mother to his disciples and made her the mother of all Christians.
Mary prayed for nine days with the Apostles in the upper room after Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven. She received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost with the other disciples and worked alongside them to fulfill the mission of the Church.
She accompanied the first Christians, not as a priest but as a mother, praying and giving witness with them until her body and soul were assumed into Heaven where she continues to pray for us.
Pope Paul VI formally declared Mary as Mother of the Church in 1964 and Pope Francis established an obligatory memorial in 2018.
The Church celebrates The Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church on the Monday after Pentecost, one day after the Church was born.
Mary is the mother of the Body of Christ:
God gave us the mother of his Son:
Mother of everlasting life:
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, 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 to his own home.
John 19: 26-27
The woman who is mother of all the redeemed:
Jesus gave his mother to the Church:
Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. “In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 968
A mother to us in the order of grace:
The Mother of the Church was anticipated:
The Blessed Mother received the Holy Spirit for a different vocation:
Mary accompanied Jesus’ entire life in prayer, right up to his death and resurrection; and in the end, she continued and she accompanied the first steps of the nascent Church. Mary prayed with the disciples who had witnessed the scandal of the cross. She prayed with Peter who had succumbed to fear and cried in remorse. Mary was there, with the disciples, in the midst of the men and women whom her son had called to form his Community. Mary did not act like a priest among them, no! She is Jesus’ Mother who prayed with them, in the community, as a member of the community. She prayed with them and prayed for them. And, once again, her prayer preceded the future that was about to be fulfilled: by the work of the Holy Spirit she became the Mother of God, and by the work of the Holy Spirit she became the Mother of the Church. Praying with the nascent Church, she became the Mother of the Church, accompanying the disciples in the first steps of the Church in prayer, awaiting the Holy Spirit.
Pope Francis, General Audience, 18 November 2020
She is the image of what the Church should be:
We are all one Church and Mary is our mother:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
God is in constant pursuit:
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