Mary, Mother of the Church

 

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God and Mother of the Church, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ! 

Today we honor Mary as the Mother of the Church. This is because of Her presence at the birth of the Church at Pentecost which we commemorated yesterday. Today honors Mary as Mother of all Christians and that Her Motherhood is not limited to the “capital C” church as in Catholics only but instead She is the mother of the community of all Christian believers that is whoever does profess Her Son, Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. For it is only by the Holy Spirit that we can proclaim Jesus as Lord and as we recall the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost we also reflect on Mary’s role in Christianity. Following the feast of Pentecost, Mary continued to nurture the Church just as She nurtured Her Son, Jesus. While on the cross Jesus commended the Blessed Mother to us by His saying “Behold your Mother” to John, the Holy Spirit emboldens the Apostles to go out and build the church and look to Her for guidance so in the sense that by His resurrection and Pentecost the Apostles realize their call, they also realize Mary’s role. As Pentecost does close the Easter season and the annual commemoration of Jesus’ death and resurrection, in a sense today’s feast caps the Easter season’s reflection on Mary’s intercession. Today the praying of the Angelus resumes and the Regina Caeli won’t return until next Easter.  The next two Sundays are very important feasts of the Church but they fall during the season of Ordinary Time. 

Please take the next few days to recall the importance of the Holy Spirit! While there is no longer an Octave for Pentecost our devotion to the Holy Spirit must not be limited to one day! The Church has discontinued the Octave as Pentecost is the final day of the Easter season and the Octave prolongs the end of the Season past the sacred day of the incoming of the Holy Spirit. This mirrors the spiritual reality that the first Pentecost ushers us into the Era of the Holy Spirit   So now, continuing through Trinity Sunday and always we worship the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. But for those with home altars, I remove any red decor today and remove my Pentecost imagery tomorrow while still reflecting on the Holy Spirit in my spiritual life throughout Ordinary Time and always. 

About Mary, Mother of the Church

More About the Feast

Whitmonday

The Practices of St. Gertrude for the Monday and Tuesday Following Pentecost




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