May 15 Fri
8. Why is Mary also the mother of Christians and the mother of the Church?
Jesus is Mary’s only Son. But Mary’s spiritual motherhood extends to all people whom He came to save: She gave birth to the Son, whom God appointed as the Firstborn among many brothers, that is, among believers, in whose birth and upbringing she cooperates with a mother’s love.
Standing by the cross, Jesus said to her, “Woman, here is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”
At the same time that she is recognized and venerated as the true Mother of God and of the Redeemer, it is even more said: "She is truly the Mother of the members (of Christ) because she collaborated with her love in the birth of believers, members of that Head, into the Church." Mary is the Mother of Christ, the Mother of the Church.
Mary is both virgin and mother because she is the figure and the most perfect realization of the Church: "The Church becomes a Mother through the word of God accepted with faith, since, through preaching and baptism, she gives birth to a new and immortal life to the children conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of God. She, too, is a virgin who keeps the fidelity promised to the Bridegroom intact and pure."
St. Josemaría:
Mother, you brought to earth Jesus, who reveals the love of our Father God. Help us to recognize him in the midst of the cares of each day. Stir up our mind and will so that we may listen to the voice of God, to the calls of grace.
9. What does the Assumption of the Virgin into heaven mean?
The Blessed Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she now shares in the glory of her Son’s resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all the members of his Body. That is why we Christians affirm: “We believe that the Most Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role toward the members of Christ.”
10. Why does the Virgin Mary occupy a central place in the lives of Christians?
“All generations will call me blessed”-with these words, Mary acknowledged what God has done for her: “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is an intrinsic element of Christian worship.” From the earliest times, the Blessed Virgin has been venerated under the title “Mother of God,” under whose protection the faithful seek refuge in all their dangers and needs.
The love that Christians have for the Virgin Mary and the devotion they show her, though unique, is essentially different from the worship given to the Incarnate Word, as well as to the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Love for the Virgin Mary is a path to God and finds its expression in the liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God, and in Marian prayer, such as the Holy Rosary, “a synthesis of the entire Gospel.”