Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, grandmothers, and godmothers!
This day can be joyful to some, but it can be difficult for those who have lost their mothers, long to be mothers, or carry complicated grief. But Christ did not leave us motherless. From the cross, he gave us Mary as our mother, and she is near to all who belong to him. Not only is she near, but she understands the pains of loss.
In this excerpt from Bible Mary, Father John Waiss reflects on Mary as the Mother of All Christians and what it means to receive her as our own.
Mary’s relationship with Jesus reaches its high point at his crucifixion, when he says his parting words to her and his disciple John: “Woman, behold, your son!” “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26,27).
John is the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” yet early Christians saw an ongoing fulfillment of this passage, as every Christian is called to be a “beloved disciple.” Origen (d. 253) saw this as key to understanding John’s Gospel:
"Thus we should be bold and say that . . . the firstfruits of the Gospels is the Gospel of John, whose profound meaning cannot be perceived except by him who rested his head on Jesus’ breast (see John 13:23) and who received Mary to be his mother also."
Christ is the only-begotten Son of the Father. To image our firstborn brother as God’s children, we must embrace God as our spiritual father. But to fully image Christ, we must also have the same spiritual mother—otherwise, Christ would be only our half-brother. So, following Origen’s interpretation, we must honor Mary as Jesus would, so as to be fully Christlike.
In this interpretation, the Holy Spirit seems to call every Christian to be a beloved disciple (John 19:25-27, CCC 964), with Jesus applying the words, “Behold your
mother” to each one of us. To be a beloved disciple is to accept Mary as his mother; to reject Mary would be to disobey and reject Christ.
Pope John Paul II links this interpretation to the prophecy that one man “should die for the nation . . . to gather into one the children of God” (John 11:51-52):
"On Calvary, Mary united herself to the sacrifice of her son and made her own maternal contribution to the work of salvation, which took the form of labor pains, the birth of the new humanity. In addressing the words “Woman, behold your son” to Mary, the crucified one proclaims her motherhood not only in relation to the Apostle John but also to every disciple. The Evangelist himself, by saying that Jesus had to die “to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:52), indicates the Church’s birth as the fruit of the redemptive sacrifice with which Mary is maternally associated."
Typology confirms this maternity over all Christians. Mary is more blessed than Eve, who became the mother of all the living according to the flesh; therefore, as a mother blessed with many children, she is the mother in Israel for all Christians. God promised that Sarah would become mother of all nations and of his people, not according to the flesh, but according to the promise. This is fulfilled in the mother of the true Isaac, Jesus—truly sacrificed on Mount Moriah, Calvary, where our Lord becomes “the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29) and where Mary becomes the mother of all his descendants (Isa. 44:1-3,24-28).
Paul alludes to the common parentage of all the baptized: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”; thus, there is no longer distinction of Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free, because we “are all one in Christ Jesus” as Abraham’s children (Gal. 3:27-29). Like Mary, Abraham was blessed for his faith as the father of all believers:
Thus Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed” (Gal. 3:6-8).
The Word became a son of Abraham by taking on our human form. By faith and baptism we put on Christ, becoming children of Abraham and of Woman—that is, of Mary. With Christ, the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep, we belong to Christ and become fruit of Mary’s womb, born again not by entering that womb, but by spiritual rebirth of water and the spirit at baptism.
Scripture also prefigures Mary as Lady Wisdom, mother of all good things, mother of all. She satisfies our spiritual needs with good fruits and produce, filling our storehouses with an abundance that we can share with others. As a good mother, she protects us, shelters us, and gives rest to those who seek and obey her in serving God.
This Mother’s Day, reflect on the Blessed Mother's love for us. She is the mother who never leaves her children.
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