Mary is our Mother

Gospel

John 19:25-34

'Behold your son. Behold your mother.'

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.

After this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed, and to fulfil the scripture perfectly he said, ‘I am thirsty.’

A jar full of vinegar stood there, so putting a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus had taken the vinegar he said, ‘It is accomplished’; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit.

It was Preparation Day, and to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath – since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity – the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they found he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water.

Reflection

Jesus uses the word in his last moments before dying. He says to John, “‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!'” (John 19:26-27) This again points to something deeper. It is believed that Jesus used “woman” in this way to show how the Virgin Mary is not simply his own mother, but the mother of us all. He entrusts her to us, “the beloved disciple,” and encourages us to call her “mother.”Do you accept Christ as your mother?

Let us pray

Mary, I beg you, by that grace through which the Lord is with you and you will to be with him, let your mercy be with me. Let love for you always be with me, and the care for me be always with you.

Amen

Comments

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