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 is the mother of Jesus Christ, so she can be called the Mother of the Church founded by Jesus because the Church is the Body of Christ today.
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:
Scripturally and theologically Mother of the Church:
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:
Since the Virgin Mary’s role in the mystery of Christ and the Spirit has been treated, it is fitting now to consider her place in the mystery of the Church. “The Virgin Mary . . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer. . . . She is ‘clearly the mother of the members of Christ’ . . . since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head.” “Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 963
A mother to us in the order of grace:
The Mother of the Church was anticipated:
Mary of Nazareth is indeed worthy of our veneration and filial love. “In an utterly singular way she co-operated by her obedience, faith, hope and ardent charity in the Saviour’s work”. She changed all of human history by her Fiat, by her free consent to the will of God. By this act of faith and love, she allowed herself to be transformed by God. Submitting herself totally to God, she agreed to be the Mother of the Redeemer of the world: the eternal Word became flesh, God became man. From the moment of the Annunciation, she dedicated herself to her Son, to his person and to his work, to the mystery of the Redemption which He accomplished. From that day forward and for all time, she assists her Son in his mission of salvation. In every age, Mary is close to the Church, the Body of Christ. And thus, she is rightly called “Mother of the Church”.
Pope John Paul II, Angelus Address, 9 February 1986
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
Living according to Christ’s teachings:
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