21 May 2018 - behold your Mother

Today's Readings (Audio)

The man called his wife Eve,
because she became the mother of all the living.

She also became the mother of all of the dying. Her sin and the sin of Adam prevented God from doing everything he desired to do through them. They turned their backs on him and he was unable to bless the human race through them in the way he desired. However, fixing this was the plan from the very beginning.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel (see Genesis 3:15).

We never had the mother we were meant to have in Eve until the fullness of time came.

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."

God never planned to let sin have the last word. Therefore Mary was no accident or afterthought. God wrote her history exactly to address and undo the sin of Eve.

As Eve was seduced by the word of an angel and so fled from God after disobeying his word, Mary in her turn was given the good news by the word of an angel, and bore God in obedience to his word. As Eve was seduced into disobedience to God, so Mary was persuaded into obedience to God; thus the Virgin Mary became the advocate of the virgin Eve. (Saint Irenaeus)

Mary is given as mother, not just to John for a short time, but to the Church forever. 

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus (see Revelation 12:17)

This means that the Church is less than she is meant to be when she does not embrace Mary as her mother. Mary wants to show us how to say yes as she did. She wants to she us how to welcome the Spirit as she did.

All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Let us devote ourselves to prayer with one accord together with Mary. She will teach us to drink the streams of living water that flow from the side of Christ. We need the obedience she wants to teach in order to remain near enough to the cross to drink from this life-giving stream.

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."