As I write this, I am very happy to be travelling to a mission in Michigan: my first foray, my first time on an airplane since COVID began. I must admit at the same time, I awoke this morning feeling something strange, so much so that it has called me to pray and ponder all day as I have travelled. What do I feel? What do we feel as a people? Do we know how we feel now? Are most of us feeling knocked around, at least a bit? Disorientated? Maybe vaguely stunned, and perhaps, even unconsciously, wondering, “who am I”?Among Pope Francis’ favorite sayings is, “God knows we need a mother, so He gives us Mary.” Those words are for NOW. The feast we celebrate the day after Pentecost, “Mary, Mother of the Church”, proclaims this message of hope and comfort to the whole world in a very deep way.
These unsettled feelings we carry are not new to COVID times; the pandemic has just served to accentuate currents that the urbanized world has been living with for decades. Aware of this, as a good shepherd, the profoundly perceptive Pope Saint Paul VI solemnly proclaimed Mary as “Mother of the Church” and consecrated the world to her at a high point of the Second Vatican Council in 1964.
It may be surprising that, in fact, this title, “Mother of the Church”, was not heard very much until recently. One finds it in the writings of the great theologian Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan in the 4th Century, but since then it was said only occasionally by a few popes. However, the Vatican Council Fathers dedicated extensive reflection to the relationship of Mary to the Church. In the Council document Lumen Gentium, Chapter 8, she is recognized as the image, model, exemplar, and symbolic representation (“type”) of the Church. She is called the “mother in the order of grace” of all believers. Saint Paul VI and the Popes since then have understood the importance of this line of thinking for the contemporary world, so much so that in 2018 Pope Francis instituted this feast of Mary, Mother of the Church, to be celebrated the day after Pentecost each year by the whole Church.
So many social currents clash together resulting in a widespread sense that many societies and cultures are cut adrift. Without something to hold us together, what basis is there for moral decisions and social relations instead of, on one hand, radical individualism, and on the other, absolute control of the state? Coursing in these waters, the Church (that’s us!) needs to know who she is! The world needs the Church to know who she is, offering another way – the true way - letting the Light of Christ shine!
As the Fathers of Vatican II taught, Mary, the Mother, in such a beautiful, tender, and human way shows the Church who she is, who she is called to be, and who she will become: the Bride of Christ! In Holy Mother Mary and Holy Mother Church we see who we are and who we are called to become. Her self-sacrificing YES to God at every step, beginning with her Immaculate Conception and throughout her continuing presence in the Church till the end of time, shows us our way to become, at the same time, fully human, happy, and holy. Her union of love with her Son invites all into the Communion that is the solid foundation of human fraternity.
Indeed, this is an inspirational vision, yet one to be lived simply, day by day. Today when I woke up feeling strange and disoriented, I knew what to do, what I so longed for: “We fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, our Mother.” Practically speaking, taking refuge in Mary each day, we find ourselves inside the Heart of Christ, moved to share His love.
The impact of turning to Mary as Mother of the Church is at once both very comforting, personally, and, interpersonally (socially), extraordinarily powerful and far reaching. We are Church. We are family. We are interwoven and inter-related. We are communion. How radically different from the nihilism (the thought that nothing has any real meaning), either in its individualistic or collective forms, some would force upon us.
A mother is a mother of particular children making up a family. In the case of Our Lady, she is the mother of one Child. To say that Mary is the Mother of the Church is to say the Church is Christ. The Church is the Body of Christ. In Christian circles it may seem almost commonplace to say that. However, the world needs us to believe and to know, that, as we say “Mary, Mother of the Church”, we recognize that, together, we are Christ.
Holy Mother, help us to show Him to the world.
