Word to the Wise
Monday, June 9, 2025 - Monday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 6:1-10 and Matt 5:38-42,989]MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2025 THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH [Monday after Pentecost]
[Genesis 3:9-15, 20 or Acts 1:12-14 and John 19:25-34]
The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living. [Genesis]
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdala. [John]
At the end of the Second Vatican Council, Pope St Paul VI proclaimed for Mary the title of "Mother of the Church." It was not a new idea since St. Ambrose taught it back in the 4th century. But the celebration of the title/status was not part of the general liturgical calendar of the Church, even though it appeared locally here and there. Pope Francis decided that given the general understanding of the feast of Pentecost as the "birthday of the Church," it makes sense to acknowledge universally the maternal care of the Blessed Mother for the Body of Christ. Hence, the Monday after Pentecost Sunday is now celebrated as the feast of "The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church."
Mary was referred to by early Church fathers such as Irenaeus and Justin Martyr to be a "new Eve." Her role in cooperating in God's plan of salvation made her mother of all those "living in Christ." The passage from Genesis is at the source of this tradition. The gospel scripture from the Gospel According to John offers the poignant moment when Jesus entrusted his mother to the care of the Beloved Disciple. In both scriptures, the emphasis is on maternity. Every human ever born, except Eve, had and has a "MOM!" So does the Church. AMEN!