Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

LECTIONARY
572A

FIRST READING

Gn 3:9-15, 20

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 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.” The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

PSALM

87:1-2, 3 and 5, 6-7

Response: Glorious things are told of you, O city of God

His foundation upon the holy mountains
the LORD loves:
The gates of Zion,
more than any dwelling of Jacob.

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.”

They shall note, when the peoples are enrolled:
“This man was born there.”
And all shall sing, in their festive dance:
“My home is within you.”

GOSPEL

Jn 19:25-34

But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

Daily Reflection

While the Holy Father, Pope Francis declared in 2018 that ‘Mary, Mother of the Church’ would henceforth be celebrated as a feast, Mary has always been revered as a mother and her maternal love shines forth in various parts of the Gospel. At the Annunciation, Mary became the mother of the Son of God; and at the foot of the Cross, she became the Mother of the Church, which Christ entrusted to her through his beloved disciple. Also, when we speak of Pentecost (the birth of the Church), it is quite natural to picture Mary along with the disciples.

The devotion to Mary as the mother of the followers of Christ goes way back to the time of the Early Christians. According to St Augustine, Mary is the mother of the members of Christ, because she cooperated in the rebirth of the faithful into the Church. St Leo the Great says that Mary is at once Mother of Christ and mother of the members of his Mystical Body, which is the Church.

Be with us Mary, our mother, and lead us to Jesus.