Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

Reading 1 Gn 3:9-15, 20

After Adam had eaten of the tree,
the LORD God called to him and asked him, "Where are you?"
He answered, "I heard you in the garden;
but I was afraid, because I was naked,
so I hid myself."
Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked?
You have eaten, then,
from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"
The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me—
she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it."
The LORD God then asked the woman,
"Why did you do such a thing?"
The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."

Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
"Because you have done this, you shall be banned
from all the animals
and from all the wild creatures;
On your belly shall you crawl,
and dirt shall you eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
He will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel."
The man called his wife Eve,
because she became the mother of all the living.

Or Acts 1:12-14

After Jesus had been taken up to heaven,
the Apostles returned to Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a sabbath day's journey away.

When they entered the city
they went to the upper room where they were staying,
Peter and John and James and Andrew,
Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew,
James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot,
and Judas son of James.
All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 87:1-2, 3 and 5, 6-7

R. (3) Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.
His foundation upon the holy mountains
the LORD loves:
The gates of Zion,
more than any dwelling of Jacob.
R. Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.
Glorious things are said of you,
O city of God!
And of Zion they shall say:
"One and all were born in her;
And he who has established her
is the Most High LORD."
R. Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.
They shall note, when the peoples are enrolled:
"This man was born there."
And all shall sing, in their festive dance:
"My home is within you."
R. Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
O happy Virgin, you gave birth to the Lord;
O blessed mother of the Church,
you warm our hearts with the Spirit of your Son Jesus Christ.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Jn 19:25-34

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved,
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 into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, "I thirst."
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
"It is finished."
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately Blood and water flowed out.

From: Genesis 3:9-15, 20

Temptation and the First Sin (Continuation)

[9] But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
[10] And he said, “I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, be-
cause I was naked; and I hid myself.” [11] He said, “Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat?” [12] The
man said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the
tree, and I ate.” [13] Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you
have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.” [14] The Lord
said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle,
and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life. [15] I will put enmity between you and the woman, and
between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise
his heel.”

[20] The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all li-
ving.

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Commentary:

3:7-13. This passage begins the description of the effects of the original sin.
Man and woman have come to know evil, and it shows, initially, in a most direct
way — in their own bodies. The inner harmony described in Genesis 2:25 is bro-
ken, and concupiscence rears its head. Their friendship with God is also broken,
and they flee from his presence, to avoid their nakedness being seen. As if his
Creator could not see them! The harmony between man and woman is also frac-
tured: he puts the blame on her, and she puts it on the serpent. But all three
share in the responsibility, and therefore all three are going to pay the penalty.

“The harmony in which they found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now
destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered:
the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions (cf. Gen 3:7-16),
their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation
is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man (cf. Gen 3:17,
19). Because of man, creation is now subject ‘to its bondage to decay’ (Rom 8:
21). Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come
true: man will ‘return to the ground’ (Gen 3:19), for out of it he was taken. ‘Death
makes its entrance into human history’ (cf. Roman 5:12)” (”Catechism of the
Catholic Church”, 400).

3:14-15. The punishment God imposes on the serpent includes confrontation
between woman and the serpent, between mankind and evil, with the promise
that man will come out on top. That is why this passage is called the “Proto-
gospel”: it is the first announcement to mankind of the good news of the Re-
deemer-Messiah. Clearly, a bruise to the head is deadly, whereas a bruise to
the heel is curable.

As the Second Vatican Council teaches, “God, who creates and conserves all
things by his Word, (cf. In 1:3), provides men with constant evidence of himself
in created realities (cf. Rom 1:19-20). And furthermore, wishing to open up the
way to heavenly salvation, by promising redemption (cf. Gen 3:15); and he has
never ceased to take care of the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life
to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing (cf. Rom 2:6-7)” (”Dei
Verbum”, 3).

Victory over the devil will be brought about by a descendant of the woman, the
Messiah. The Church has always read these verses as being messianic, refer-
ring to Jesus Christ; and it was seen in the woman the mother of the promised
Savior; the Virgin Mary is the new Eve. “The earliest documents, as they are
read in the Church and are understood in the light of a further and full revelation,
bring the figure of a woman, Mother of the Redeemer, into a gradually clearer
light. Considered in this light, she is already prophetically foreshadowed in the
promise of victory over the serpent which was given to our first parents after
their fall into sin (cf. Gen 3:15) [...]. Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly
assert with Irenaeus in their preaching: ‘the knot of Eve’s disobedience was un-
tied by Mary’s obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary
loosened by her faith’ (St Irenaeus, “Adv. haer.” 3, 22, 4) Comparing Mary with
Eve, they call her ‘Mother of the living’ (St Epiphanius, “Adv. haer. Panarium”
78, 18) and frequently claim: ‘death through Eve, life through Mary’ (St Jerome,
“Epistula” 22, 21; etc.)” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 55-56).

So, woman is going to have a key role in that victory over the devil. In his Latin
translation of the Bible, the “Vulgate”, St Jerome in fact reads the relevant pas-
sage as “she [the woman] shall bruise your head”. That woman is the Blessed
Virgin, the new Eve and the mother of the Redeemer, who shares (by anticipa-
tion and pre-eminently) in the victory of her Son. Sin never left its mark on her,
and the Church proclaims her as the Immaculate Conception.

St Thomas explains that the reason why God did not prevent the first man from
sinning was because ‘God allows evils to be done in order to draw forth some
greater good. Thus St Paul says, ‘Where sin increased, grace abounded all the
more’ (Rom 5:20); and the “Exultet” sings, ‘O happy fault,...which gained for us
so great a Redeemer’” (”Summa Theologiae”, 3, 1, 3 and 3; cf. “Catechism of
the Catholic Church”, 412).

********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Acts 1:12-14

The Apostolic College

[12] Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near
Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away; [13] and when they had entered, they
went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James
and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of
Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. [14] All these with
one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary
the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

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Commentary:

13-14. St Luke mentions the twelve Apostles by name, with the exception of Ju-
das Iscariot.

This is the first passage which tells of the spiritual life and devout practices of
the disciples. Significantly it places the emphasis on prayer, in keeping with our
Lord’s own practice and with his constant recommendation to his followers (cf.
Mt 6:5, 14:23; etc.).

“Prayer is the foundation of the spiritual edifice. Prayer is all-powerful” (St. J. Es-
criva, “The Way”, 83). It can truly be said that prayer is the bedrock of the Church,
which will be made manifest with the coming of the Holy Spirit. The prayer of the
disciples, including the women, in the company of Mary would have been a sup-
plication of entreaty and praise and thanksgiving to God. This union of hearts and
feelings produced by prayer is a kind of anticipation of the gifts the Holy Spirit will
bring.

“We are told this time and again in the passage narrating the lives of the first fol-
lowers of Christ. ‘All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer (Acts
1:14). [...] Prayer was then, as it is today, the only weapon, the most powerful
means, for winning the battles of our interior struggle” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of
God”, 242).

Here we see Mary as the spiritual center round which Jesus’ intimate friends ga-
ther: tradition has meditated on this “tableau”, and found it to depict our Lady’s
motherhood over the whole Church, both at its beginning and over the course of
the centuries.

On 21 November 1964, at the closing of the third session of Vatican II, Paul VI
solemnly proclaimed Mary Mother of the Church: “Our vision of the Church must
include loving contemplation of the marvels which God worked in his holy Mother.
And knowledge of the true Catholic doctrine about Mary will always be the key
to correct understanding of the mystery of Christ and of the Church.

Reflection on the close ties linking Mary and the Church, so clearly indicated by
the present constitution [”Lumen Gentium”], allows us to think this is the most
appropriate moment to satisfy a desire which, as we pointed out at the end of
the last session, many council Fathers have made their own, calling insistently
for an explicit declaration during this council of the maternal role which the Bles-
sed Virgin exercises towards the Christian people. To this end we have consi-
dered it opportune to dedicate a title in honor of the Virgin which has been pro-
posed in different parts of the Catholic world and which we find particularly tou-
ching, for it sums up in a wonderfully succinct way the privileged position which
this council has recognized the Blessed Virgin to have in the Church.

“And so, for the glory of the Virgin and for our consolation, we proclaim Mary
Most Holy to be the Mother of the Church, that is, Mother of the entire people of
God, faithful as well as pastors, who call her loving Mother, and we desire that
from now on she be honored and invoked by the entire people of God under this
most pleasing title.”

The text makes reference to Jesus’ “brethren”, an expression which also appears
in the Gospels. Given that the Christian faith teaches us that the Virgin Mary had
no children other than Jesus, whom she conceived by the action of the Holy Spi-
rit and without intervention of man, this expression cannot mean that Jesus had
blood brothers or sisters.

The explanation lies in the peculiarities of Semitic languages. The word used in
the New Testament translates a Hebrew term which applied to all the members
of a family group and was used for even distant cousins (cf. Lev 10:4) and for ne-
phews (Gen 13:8). See note on Mt 12:46-47. In the New Testament then; the
word “brethren” has a very wide meaning—as happens, also, for example, with
the word “apostle.”

At one point Jesus describes those who hear and keep his word as his “breth-
ren” (Lk 8:21), which seems to imply that, in addition to meaning belonging to
the same family group, the word “brother” in the New Testament may be a de-
signation for certain disciples who were particularly loyal to our Lord.

St Paul, for his part, uses this term for all Christians (cf., for example, 1 Cor 1:
10; etc), as does St Peter, according to Acts 12:17.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: John 19:25-34

The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (Continuation)

[25] So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mo-
ther, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. [26]
When Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing near, He
said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” [27] Then He said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

[28] After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished said (to fulfill the Scrip-
ture), “I thirst.” [29] A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full
of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. [30] When Jesus had received
the vinegar, he said “It is finished”; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus’ Side is Pierced. His Burial

[31] Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from re-
maining on the cross of the sabbath (for that sabbath was a high day), the Jews
asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
[32] So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who
had been crucified with him; [33] but when they came to Jesus and saw that he
was already dead, they did not break his legs. [34] But one of the soldiers pierced
his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

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Commentary:

25. Whereas the Apostles, with the exception of St. John, abandon Jesus in the
hour of His humiliation, these pious women, who had followed Him during His pu-
blic life (cf. Lk 8:2-3) now stay with their Master as He dies on the cross (cf. note
on Mt 27:55-56).

St. John Paul II explained that our Lady’s faithfulness was shown in four ways:
first, in her generous desire to do all that God wanted of her (cf. Lk 1:34); second,
in her total acceptance of God’s will (cf. Lk 1:38); third, in the consistency be-
tween her life and the commitment of faith which she made; and, finally, in her
withstanding this test. “And only a consistency that lasts throughout the whole of
life can be called faithfulness. Mary’s ‘fiat’ in the Annunciation finds its fullness in
the silent ‘fiat’ that she repeats at the foot of the Cross” (”Homily in Mexico Cathe-
dral”, 26 January 1979).

The Church has always recognized the dignity of women and their important role
in salvation history. It is enough to recall the veneration which from the earliest
times the Christian people have had for the Mother of Christ, the Woman “par ex-
cellence” and the most sublime and most privileged creature ever to come from
the hands of God. Addressing a special message to women, the Second Vatican
Council said, among other things: “Women in trial, who stand upright at the foot
of the cross like Mary, you who so often in history have given to men the strength
to battle unto the very end and to give witness to the point of martyrdom, aid
them now still once more to retain courage in their great undertakings, while at
the same time maintaining patience and an esteem for humble beginnings” (Va-
tican II, “Message To Women”, 8 December 1965).

26-27. “The spotless purity of John’s whole life makes him strong before the Cross.
The other apostles fly from Golgotha: he, with the Mother of Christ, remains. Don’t
forget that purity strengthens and invigorates the character” (St. J. Escriva, “The
Way”, 144).

Our Lord’s gesture in entrusting His Blessed Mother to the disciple’s care, has a
dual meaning (see p. 19 above and pp. 35ff). For one thing it expresses His filial
love for the Virgin Mary. St Augustine sees it as a lesson Jesus gives us on how
to keep the fourth commandment: “Here is a lesson in morals. He is doing what
He tells us to do and, like a good Teacher, He instructs His own by example,
that it is the duty of good children to take care of their parents; as though the
wood on which His dying members were fixed were also the chair of the teaching
Master” (St Augustine, “In Ioann. Evang.”, 119, 2).

Our Lord’s words also declare that Mary is our Mother: “The Blessed Virgin also
advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her
Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring
with her only begotten Son the intensity of His suffering, associating herself with
His sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of
this victim who was born of her. Finally, she was given by the same Christ Jesus
dying on the cross as a mother to His disciple” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”,
58).

All Christians, who are represented in the person of John, are children of Mary.
By giving us His Mother to be our Mother, Christ demonstrates His love for His
own to the end (cf. Jn 13:1). Our Lady’s acceptance of John as her son show her
motherly care for us: “the Son of God, and your Son, from the Cross indicated a
man to you, Mary, and said: ‘Behold, your son’ (Jn 19:26). And in that man He
entrusted to you every person, He entrusted everyone to you. And you, who at
the moment of the Annunciation, concentrated the whole program of your life in
those simple words: ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me ac-
cording to your word’ (Lk 1:38): embrace everyone, draw close to everyone, seek
everyone out with motherly care. Thus is accomplished what the last Council
said about your presence in the mystery of Christ and the Church. In a wonderful
way you are always found in the mystery of Christ, your only Son, because you
are present wherever men and women, His brothers and sisters, are present,
wherever the Church is present” (St. John Paul II, “Homily in the Basilica of Gua-
dalupe”, 27 January 1979).

“John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, brought Mary into his home, into his life.
Spiritual writers have seen these words of the Gospel as an invitation to all Chris-
tians to bring Mary into their lives. Mary certainly wants us to invoke her, to ap-
proach her confidently, to appeal to her as our mother, asking her to ‘show that
you are our mother’” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 140).

Sl. John Paul II constantly treats our Lady as his Mother. In bidding farewell to
the Virgin of Czestochowa he prayed in this way: “Our Lady of the Bright Moun-
tain, Mother of the Church! Once more I consecrate myself to you ‘in your mater-
nal slavery of love’. ‘Totus tuus!’ I am yours! I consecrate to you the whole Church
— everyone to the ends of the earth! I consecrate to you humanity; I consecrate
to you all men and women, my brothers and sisters. All peoples and all nations.
I consecrate to you Europe and all the continents. I consecrate to you Rome and
Poland, united, through your servant, by a fresh bond of love. Mother, accept us!
Mother, do not abandon us! Mother, be our guide!” (”Farewell Address” at Jasna
Gora Shrine, 6 June 1979).

28-29. This was foretold in the Old Testament: “They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps 69:21). This does not mean
that they gave Jesus vinegar to increase his suffering; it was customary to offer
victims of crucifixion water mixed with vinegar to relieve their thirst. In addition to
the natural dehydration Jesus was suffering, we can see in his thirst an expres-
sion of his burning desire to do his Father’s will and to save a souls: “On the
Cross he cried out “Sitio”!, ‘I thirst’. He thirsts for us, for our love, for our souls
and for all the souls we ought to be bringing to him along the way of the Cross,
which is the way to immortality and heavenly glory” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of
God”, 202).

30. Jesus, nailed on the cross, dies to atone for all the sins and vileness of man.
Despite his sufferings he dies serenely, majestically, bowing his head now that he
has accomplished the mission entrusted to him. “Who can sleep when he wishes
to, as Jesus died when he wished to? Who can lay aside his clothing when he wi-
shes to, as he put off the flesh when he chose to?... What must be hope or fear to
find his power when he comes in judgment, if it can be seen to be so great at the
moment of his death!” (St Augustine, “In loann. Evang.”, 119, 6).

“Let us meditate on our Lord, wounded from head to foot out of love for us. Using
a phrase which approaches the truth, although it does not express its full reality,
we can repeat the words of an ancient writer: ‘The body of Christ is a portrait in
pain’. At the first sight of Christ bruised and broken — just a lifeless body taken
down from the cross and given to his Mother — at the sight of Jesus destroyed in
this way, we might have thought he had failed utterly. Where are the crowds that
once followed him, where is the kingdom he foretold? But this is victory, not defeat.
We are nearer the resurrection than ever before; we are going to see the glory
which he has won with his obedience” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ is Passing By”, 95).

31-33. Jesus dies on the Preparation day of the Passover — the “Parasceve” —
that is, the eve, when the paschal lambs were officially sacrificed in the Temple.
By stressing this, the evangelist implies that Christ’s sacrifice took the place of
the sacrifices of the Old Law and inaugurated the New Alliance in his Blood (cf.
Heb 9:12).

The Law of Moses required that the bodies should be taken down before nightfall
(Deut 21:22-23); this is why Pilate is asked to have their legs broken, to bring on
death and allow them to be buried before it gets dark, particularly since the next
day is the feast of the Passover.

On the date of Jesus’ death see “The Dates of the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ”
in “The Navarre Bible: St Mark” pp. 48ff.

34. The outflow of blood and water has a natural explanation. Probably the water
was an accumulation of liquid in the lungs due to Jesus’ intense sufferings.

As on other occasions, the historical events narrated in the fourth Gospel are la-
den with meaning. St Augustine and Christian tradition see the sacrament and
the Church itself flowing from Jesus’ open side: “Here was opened wide the door
of life, from which the sacraments of the Church have flowed out, without which
there is no entering in unto life which is true life. [...] Here the second Adam with
bowed head slept upon the cross, that thence a wife might be formed of him, flo-
wing from his side while he slept. O death, by which the dead come back to life!
is there anything purer than this Blood, any wound more healing!” (St Augustine,
“In Ioann. Evang.”, 120, 2).

The Second Vatican Council, for its part, teaches: “The Church—that is, the king-
dom of Christ—already present in mystery, grows visibly through the power of God
in the world. The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood
and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus (Vatican II, “Lu-
men Gentium”, 3).

“Jesus on the cross, with his heart overflowing with love for men, is such an elo-
quent commentary on the value of people and things that words only get in the
way. People, their happiness and their life, are so important that the very Son of
God gave himself to redeem and cleanse and raise them up” (St. J. Escriva,
“Christ is Passing By”, 165).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible by Darton, Longman & Todd

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading	James 3:13-18 ©

Show wisdom and avoid ambition

If there are any wise or learned men among you, let them show it by their good lives, with humility and wisdom in their actions. But if at heart you have the bitterness of jealousy, or a self-seeking ambition, never make any claims for yourself or cover up the truth with lies – principles of this kind are not the wisdom that comes down from above: they are only earthly, animal and devilish. Wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony, and wicked things of every kind being done; whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it also makes for peace, and is kindly and considerate; it is full of compassion and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it. Peacemakers, when they work for peace, sow the seeds which will bear fruit in holiness.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 18(19):8-10,15 ©