Behold, Your Mother

“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.’”

John 19:26-27

One of the very last words Jesus spoke from the Cross before He handed over His spirit, breathing life into the world by His death was spoken to John and by extension to all of us today, “Behold, your mother.” As a faithful son, Jesus made sure Mary will be taken care of in His absence but He also makes provisions for His disciples. Jesus entrusted John and all of us to Mary. In Christ, we have a mother, a mother who loves us, prays for us, and leads us to Her Son.

Mary plays a special role in the lives of Catholics, but really, Mary should also play a role in the lives of all who call themselves Christian. Mary is not someone who was merely chosen by God to be used in His plan of salvation, but someone who exemplifies and personifies the great mystery that is the Church. A few years ago Pope Francis promulgated that the Monday after Pentecost Sunday would be celebrated as the “Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.” Think about this. Mary was there at the foot of the Cross, watching her Son take His very last breaths, and by doing so, He was really breathing life into the people, into the Church. Weeks later, Mary was with the disciples in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended upon all those present — she was present at the moment the Church was birthed. Mary was there (for obvious reasons!) when the the Word was made flesh, when Jesus entered into the world — the head of the body that is the Church, and she was there at the gestation, if you will, of the Church, and she was there when the Church — the body, was born at the descent of the Holy Spirit. Mary is the only one who was there at every moment of the Church’s development, from the Head to the body. How fitting and true it is then that we celebrate Mary as the Mother of the Church.

At the Cross, blood and water flowed from the pierced side of Christ, the blood and water that gave rise to the Church (just as our bodies are physically blood and water, so too the Church), flowed from Christ, and this blood and water first came from Mary in whose womb Our Lord was carried and nurtured. Truly, Mary is the Mother of the Church, Our Mother, through whom we have the source of our salvation — Jesus Christ, Our Lord. How can any Christian, anyone who is a follower of Christ, deny this special woman and the importance she has in the life of the Church? Today, Our Lord looks intently at us once again, and directing our gaze to Mary and says, “Behold, your Mother.”