Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

LECTIONARY
572A

FIRST READING

GN 3:9-15, 20

After Adam had eaten of the tree,
the LORD God called to him and asked him, "Where are you?"
He answered, "I heard you in the garden;
but I was afraid, because I was naked,
so I hid myself."
Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked?
You have eaten, then,
from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"
The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me—
she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it."
The LORD God then asked the woman,
"Why did you do such a thing?"
The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."

Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
"Because you have done this, you shall be banned
from all the animals
and from all the wild creatures;
On your belly shall you crawl,
and dirt shall you eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
He will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel."
The man called his wife Eve,
because she became the mother of all the living.

PSALM

PS 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

verses

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved,
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 into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, "I thirst."
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
"It is finished."
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately Blood and water flowed out.

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 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 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.