Behold Your Mother {Part 1}
Posted 18th January 2012 at 06:56 AM by justinangel
When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." And to the disciple, "Behold your mother." From that time on, the disciple took her into his home."
John 19, 26-27
The child's mother said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." So he arose and followed her.
2 Kings 4, 30
All true disciples of Christ, those who faithfully keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus in their lives, take our Blessed Mother Mary into their hearts, as she leads the way in the order of grace taking them by the hand to their heavenly home. Mary must have assured John that she would never leave his side as long as his soul lives and taken him by the hand, as she led the way to his home never to be separated from him as long as she lived. The Gospel of John bears testimony to the traditional belief of the Church that our Lord has entrusted his mother to his faithful bride. In the Roman catacomb of St. Agnes there is an extant frescoe depicting Mary above the apostles Peter and Paul with her arms outstretched towards them. The image of these two chief apostles situated together has always symbolized the Church from earliest times. Thus it is clearly evident that the early Christians invoked Mary as Mother of the Church by the third century. The tradition of Mary as our spiritual mother and the anti-type of our biological mother Eve was just as vibrant in the eastern Church as well in the early centuries of Christendom.
"I love to call her the Church. This mother, when alone, had not milk, because alone she was not a woman. But she is once virgin and mother, pure as a virgin, and loving as a mother. And calling her children to her, she nurses them with holy milk -- viz., the Word for childhood."
St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1:6 (A.D. 202)
We the faithful truly believe in the profound words uttered by our Lord at the height of his physical agony on the cross just before he commended his spirit to the Father and accomplished his mission. It was just before the soldier pierced our Lord's sacred side and drew forth water and blood to mark the birth of the Church that Jesus said to his beloved disciple: "Behold your mother." The Church ought not to be born and raised without a mother to constantly nurse her and safeguard the souls of the faithful in the dispensation of divine grace through her maternal patronage and protection against the dragon. We understand how the conscientious words of Jesus were meant to be understood and subsequently related by the disciple, as he stood at the foot of the cross together with Mary after witnessing the last miracle before our Lord's death. St. John is notably more poetic and symbolic in his literary style than are the authors of the synoptic gospels. His narratives contain deeper meanings and convey more insight into the divine mysteries than what appears in the written word at first glance. What St. John the evangelist is acknowledging as belonging to the deposit of faith as an unwritten Marian tradition of the ancient Church can only be gleaned from the sacred text by reading it in a spiritual sense. For the Church's traditional beliefs originate from a declaration of the Holy Spirit, the principal author of the gospel who resides in Christ's mystical body to guide it in all truth (Jn 16:12-13).
Hence, the co-author is bearing testimony to the fact that our heavenly Father has granted Mary the divine privilege of being the spiritual mother of all the faithful, which embraces all of humanity, on account of her faith and obedience at the Annunciation. Not only did our Blessed Mother merit this favour because of her faith and charity, which served to undo the result of Eve's disobedience, but her motherhood of the human race naturally rests on her divine maternity. For all who live in Christ are his true brethren as adopted children of God. As a mother, Mary served to help give life to the Son of Man, and by doing so, she served to help give us new life in him. We must not overlook the symbolic importance of the expression "the disciple" used by the evangelist when referring to himself. He intends to identify himself with all true followers of our Lord. Mary is the mother of all Christ's disciples. She has adopted us no less than the Father has in our partaking in the divine life in virtue of our personal relationship with Jesus. In his divinity our Lord is the Son of the Father, and in his sacred humanity he is the Son of Mary his mother. We cannot be adopted sons and daughters of the Father while excluding our spiritual mother Mary who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. Such an aberration can only mar the divine perfection of God's redemptive plan, which calls for the participation of male (the new Adam) and female (the new Eve) in the restoration of the human race.
"Therefore this woman alone, not only in spirit, but also in body, is both Mother and Virgin. She is Mother in the Spirit, but not of our Head, the Saviour himself, for it is she who is spiritually born from him, since all who believe in him, among whom she too is to be counted, are rightly called children of the Bridegoom. Rather, she is clearly the Mother of his members ... because she cooperated by her charity, so that faithful Christian members might be born in the Church."
St. Augustine, De sancta virginitate 6 (A.D. 401)
As the woman is of a man, even so is the man also of a woman.
1 Corinthians 11, 12
Not unlike St. John, we the disciples of Christ have been offered Mary to be our mother in spirit by the Lord. It is significant that Jesus first addresses his mother just before he speaks to his apostle. In this order of moments our Lord offers his own mother expecting John to receive her as his spiritual own, now that he has confirmed her maternal prerogative in the order of redemption by calling her Woman. By using this appellation, Jesus is alluding to Mary as the new Eve: the mother of all the living in the new order of creation. And so Jesus refers to Mary as Mother when subsequently addressing John. If Adam and Eve did not sin against God, they would have transmitted spiritual life to their descendants along with physiological life. Since God has decreed that human life should emerge from the conjugal union between a man and a woman, but our original parents have forfeited any spiritual life to give on account of their disobedience, He ordained from all eternity, in view of the fall, that spiritual life should be restored to the human race through the intimate union between a man (the new Adam) and a woman (the new Eve). The Virgin Mary became the advocate of Eve when she pronounced her fiat at the Annunciation. Her act of obedience in faith informed by charity saved humankind from the bondage of sin and death by resulting in the Incarnation. One noble role of a mother is to protect or deliver her children from harm. Mary helped deliver us from the accusations of the evil one against us by consenting to deliver the Redeemer of the world - who alone cast out our accuser as he stood before God night and day (Rev 12:10). Thus, through the patronage of a faithful and loving mother, have "we escaped with our lives like a bird from the fowler's snare; the snare was broken, and we escaped" (Ps 124: 7).
The figure of the new Eve forms a biblical theme that runs from the Book of Genesis to Revelation. Israel and the Church, from whom all the true sons of Abraham are born, are presented as corporate anti-types of Eve, while the Blessed Virgin Mary is presented as Eve's personal anti-type (cf. Rev 12). God said to the serpent: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring" (Gen 3:15). The first community of Christians in Palestine believed that as Adam had a female helpmate named Eve (mother of all the living), so Jesus, the new Adam (1 Cor 15:45), had a woman, his mother Mary, intimately associated with him in his work of salvation (Lk 1:38; 2:35; Jn 2:3-5; 19:26-27). Eve succumbed to the enticing lies of the serpent and consequently contributed to the fall of mankind, namely Adam, by her disobedience (Gen 3:1-7). At the Annunciation Mary had faith in the words of the angel Gabriel that came from God (Lk 1:38), and so she became the mother of the divine Messiah who would save us from the consequences of the fall by reconciling us with the Father (Rom 5:19; 1 Cor 15:22). As Eve was personally involved in mankind's fall from grace through her infidelity, so Mary was personally tied to mankind's restoration to the life of grace by her faith. Thus as Eve became the mother of the those of the old creation in Adam (2 Cor 5:17), so Mary became the mother of those of the new creation in Christ (Rom 8:29). The spiritual life that Eve had lost on our behalf on account of her unfaithfulness and indifference towards God was regained for us by Mary's faith and love. As our spiritual mother, Mary helped reconcile us with the Father by the merits of her divine Son.
"For whereas the Word of God was without flesh, He took upon himself the holy flesh of the holy Virgin, and prepared a robe which He wove for himself, like a bridegroom, in the sufferings of the cross, in order that by uniting His own power with our mortal body, and mixing the corruptible with the incorruptible, He might save perishing man."
St. Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and antiChrist 4 (A.D. 202)
John 19, 26-27
The child's mother said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." So he arose and followed her.
2 Kings 4, 30
All true disciples of Christ, those who faithfully keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus in their lives, take our Blessed Mother Mary into their hearts, as she leads the way in the order of grace taking them by the hand to their heavenly home. Mary must have assured John that she would never leave his side as long as his soul lives and taken him by the hand, as she led the way to his home never to be separated from him as long as she lived. The Gospel of John bears testimony to the traditional belief of the Church that our Lord has entrusted his mother to his faithful bride. In the Roman catacomb of St. Agnes there is an extant frescoe depicting Mary above the apostles Peter and Paul with her arms outstretched towards them. The image of these two chief apostles situated together has always symbolized the Church from earliest times. Thus it is clearly evident that the early Christians invoked Mary as Mother of the Church by the third century. The tradition of Mary as our spiritual mother and the anti-type of our biological mother Eve was just as vibrant in the eastern Church as well in the early centuries of Christendom.
"I love to call her the Church. This mother, when alone, had not milk, because alone she was not a woman. But she is once virgin and mother, pure as a virgin, and loving as a mother. And calling her children to her, she nurses them with holy milk -- viz., the Word for childhood."
St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1:6 (A.D. 202)
We the faithful truly believe in the profound words uttered by our Lord at the height of his physical agony on the cross just before he commended his spirit to the Father and accomplished his mission. It was just before the soldier pierced our Lord's sacred side and drew forth water and blood to mark the birth of the Church that Jesus said to his beloved disciple: "Behold your mother." The Church ought not to be born and raised without a mother to constantly nurse her and safeguard the souls of the faithful in the dispensation of divine grace through her maternal patronage and protection against the dragon. We understand how the conscientious words of Jesus were meant to be understood and subsequently related by the disciple, as he stood at the foot of the cross together with Mary after witnessing the last miracle before our Lord's death. St. John is notably more poetic and symbolic in his literary style than are the authors of the synoptic gospels. His narratives contain deeper meanings and convey more insight into the divine mysteries than what appears in the written word at first glance. What St. John the evangelist is acknowledging as belonging to the deposit of faith as an unwritten Marian tradition of the ancient Church can only be gleaned from the sacred text by reading it in a spiritual sense. For the Church's traditional beliefs originate from a declaration of the Holy Spirit, the principal author of the gospel who resides in Christ's mystical body to guide it in all truth (Jn 16:12-13).
Hence, the co-author is bearing testimony to the fact that our heavenly Father has granted Mary the divine privilege of being the spiritual mother of all the faithful, which embraces all of humanity, on account of her faith and obedience at the Annunciation. Not only did our Blessed Mother merit this favour because of her faith and charity, which served to undo the result of Eve's disobedience, but her motherhood of the human race naturally rests on her divine maternity. For all who live in Christ are his true brethren as adopted children of God. As a mother, Mary served to help give life to the Son of Man, and by doing so, she served to help give us new life in him. We must not overlook the symbolic importance of the expression "the disciple" used by the evangelist when referring to himself. He intends to identify himself with all true followers of our Lord. Mary is the mother of all Christ's disciples. She has adopted us no less than the Father has in our partaking in the divine life in virtue of our personal relationship with Jesus. In his divinity our Lord is the Son of the Father, and in his sacred humanity he is the Son of Mary his mother. We cannot be adopted sons and daughters of the Father while excluding our spiritual mother Mary who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. Such an aberration can only mar the divine perfection of God's redemptive plan, which calls for the participation of male (the new Adam) and female (the new Eve) in the restoration of the human race.
"Therefore this woman alone, not only in spirit, but also in body, is both Mother and Virgin. She is Mother in the Spirit, but not of our Head, the Saviour himself, for it is she who is spiritually born from him, since all who believe in him, among whom she too is to be counted, are rightly called children of the Bridegoom. Rather, she is clearly the Mother of his members ... because she cooperated by her charity, so that faithful Christian members might be born in the Church."
St. Augustine, De sancta virginitate 6 (A.D. 401)
As the woman is of a man, even so is the man also of a woman.
1 Corinthians 11, 12
Not unlike St. John, we the disciples of Christ have been offered Mary to be our mother in spirit by the Lord. It is significant that Jesus first addresses his mother just before he speaks to his apostle. In this order of moments our Lord offers his own mother expecting John to receive her as his spiritual own, now that he has confirmed her maternal prerogative in the order of redemption by calling her Woman. By using this appellation, Jesus is alluding to Mary as the new Eve: the mother of all the living in the new order of creation. And so Jesus refers to Mary as Mother when subsequently addressing John. If Adam and Eve did not sin against God, they would have transmitted spiritual life to their descendants along with physiological life. Since God has decreed that human life should emerge from the conjugal union between a man and a woman, but our original parents have forfeited any spiritual life to give on account of their disobedience, He ordained from all eternity, in view of the fall, that spiritual life should be restored to the human race through the intimate union between a man (the new Adam) and a woman (the new Eve). The Virgin Mary became the advocate of Eve when she pronounced her fiat at the Annunciation. Her act of obedience in faith informed by charity saved humankind from the bondage of sin and death by resulting in the Incarnation. One noble role of a mother is to protect or deliver her children from harm. Mary helped deliver us from the accusations of the evil one against us by consenting to deliver the Redeemer of the world - who alone cast out our accuser as he stood before God night and day (Rev 12:10). Thus, through the patronage of a faithful and loving mother, have "we escaped with our lives like a bird from the fowler's snare; the snare was broken, and we escaped" (Ps 124: 7).
The figure of the new Eve forms a biblical theme that runs from the Book of Genesis to Revelation. Israel and the Church, from whom all the true sons of Abraham are born, are presented as corporate anti-types of Eve, while the Blessed Virgin Mary is presented as Eve's personal anti-type (cf. Rev 12). God said to the serpent: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring" (Gen 3:15). The first community of Christians in Palestine believed that as Adam had a female helpmate named Eve (mother of all the living), so Jesus, the new Adam (1 Cor 15:45), had a woman, his mother Mary, intimately associated with him in his work of salvation (Lk 1:38; 2:35; Jn 2:3-5; 19:26-27). Eve succumbed to the enticing lies of the serpent and consequently contributed to the fall of mankind, namely Adam, by her disobedience (Gen 3:1-7). At the Annunciation Mary had faith in the words of the angel Gabriel that came from God (Lk 1:38), and so she became the mother of the divine Messiah who would save us from the consequences of the fall by reconciling us with the Father (Rom 5:19; 1 Cor 15:22). As Eve was personally involved in mankind's fall from grace through her infidelity, so Mary was personally tied to mankind's restoration to the life of grace by her faith. Thus as Eve became the mother of the those of the old creation in Adam (2 Cor 5:17), so Mary became the mother of those of the new creation in Christ (Rom 8:29). The spiritual life that Eve had lost on our behalf on account of her unfaithfulness and indifference towards God was regained for us by Mary's faith and love. As our spiritual mother, Mary helped reconcile us with the Father by the merits of her divine Son.
"For whereas the Word of God was without flesh, He took upon himself the holy flesh of the holy Virgin, and prepared a robe which He wove for himself, like a bridegroom, in the sufferings of the cross, in order that by uniting His own power with our mortal body, and mixing the corruptible with the incorruptible, He might save perishing man."
St. Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and antiChrist 4 (A.D. 202)
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- Behold Your Mother {Part 1} (18th January 2012)
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