Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today on the day after Pentecost Sunday, as we begin once again the second part of the Ordinary Time during this current liturgical year after the completion of the Easter season, we celebrate together as one whole Church the Feast of Mary, Our Lady, the Mother of the Church, or Mater Ecclesiae. On this day we remember the role which Mary, the Mother of God played in bringing together the Church of God through her Son, as well as her presence during the time when the Church of God was born, which happened on Good Friday, and how the Lord entrusted her to us, and vice versa, us to her, for her be our Mother and we to be her children. Mary was then also present at the moment when the Church was revealed to the world, and began its evangelising mission, which happened at the Pentecost.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis detailing to us the moments right after mankind had fallen into sin at the beginning of Creation by disobeying God’s will and disregarding His warning not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve chose to eat from the fruits of that tree and they fell into sin as they did not listen to the Lord and chose to believe in the false lies of Satan and his temptations instead. But at that same time, as the Lord told them that they would have to wander off in the world and to suffer the consequences of their sins, He also reaffirmed that He still loved them all despite of their many sins and wickedness, and He revealed that one day, salvation would come to us all through a Woman, who would crush the machinations and the power of Satan, the great enemy who had brought about our downfall.

This revelation is a prediction of the role which Mary, the Woman mentioned by the Lord would play in the history and path of our salvation. Through Mary, who accepted her role entrusted to her by God to be the Mother of God, the Son of God incarnate in the flesh through her, and through Mary therefore the salvation of God had been made manifest in the world to us all, by the will of God the Father and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And as God later went on to establish His Church, it can be said that all these were made possible by Mary’s role in accepting the mission entrusted to her by the Lord, by embracing the Lord’s mission with faith and commitment, entrusting herself to her Lord and Master, and in committing herself thoroughly to this same mission.

In the alternative first reading today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus had ascended into Heaven but before that of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, where the Lord’s disciples were mentioned, the Twelve Apostles and the other disciples, and Mary, the Mother of Our Lord was also mentioned there being part of the group, praying together and gathering as one people, united in purpose and awaiting the coming of the Holy Advocate or Helper, that is the Holy Spirit. Mary being present at that moment signified her closeness and participation in the affairs of the early Church, being the Mother of the Lord and also the Mother of all the believers and the holy people of God. She cannot be separated from the Church as she herself is part of that Church and she truly occupies a very prominent place in it.

At the time of the Pentecost, Apostolic traditions state that Mary was present with all the other disciples, and the Holy Spirit descended on all of them. Mary, being full of grace and having the Holy Spirit worked through her before in the Incarnation of the Lord, the Holy Spirit that came upon Mary and all the disciples symbolises this presence of the Holy Spirit that has made the love of God manifest in this world, manifesting His Church to the whole world. And Mary being there as a rather central figure at the moment of Pentecost signified her closeness to the Church and her being the Mother of the Church, guiding all the faithful people of God, her own beloved children to her Son, Our Lord and Saviour of all.

The Pentecost itself is often misunderstood as the ‘Birthday of the Church’, while according to the Church fathers and Apostolic tradition, as written in the Catechism of the Catholic Church was ‘born’ and established from the side of the Lord, from the outpouring of the Blood and water that came from the Lord’s Body, lay broken and crushed on Good Friday, at the end of His Passion, His suffering and death. Through His earlier institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Ministerial Priesthood at the Last Supper, and through His completion of the perfect offering and sacrifice of the New and Eternal Passover, the New and Eternal Covenant, Christ has formed the Church that is His Body, uniting all of the believers with Himself.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard then of the account of the events during the culmination and height of the Passion of the Lord, on Good Friday, when the Lord Jesus lay dying on His Cross at Calvary, the birthday of the Church as mentioned actually happened on Good Friday itself, at that moment when the Lord gave His life for our salvation, and when He also entrusted all of us to His beloved Mother so that she can be our Mother, and we all can be her children. By this important symbolic act therefore, the Lord established His Church, which He entrusted to His Apostles and first of all also to His Mother Mary, who became the Mother of the Church, to be the loving Mother to love and care for all of us in the Church of God.

That is why today we all rejoice ever so greatly and wonderfully for our loving Mother, Mary, our Mother and the Mother of the Church. We give thanks for the great examples and inspirations which our loving Mother has shown us in being ever faithful and committed to her mission and calling, and in all that she had ever done for us all, in always praying and interceding for us by the side of her beloved Son in Heaven. Mary has repeatedly intervened and helped many of us throughout time and history, making appearances in various places, such as Lourdes, Fatima, among others, through which she has inspired and helped even more people, more of her beloved children in finding their way towards salvation in her Son, Our Lord and Saviour.

Having constantly witnessed and experienced the great maternal love which Mary, the Mother of the Church has to all of us, parts of the same Body of Christ, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, all of us whom Mary has considered to be her own beloved ones, let us all therefore strive to follow her good examples and her faith in God, and also show the same love which she has shown us, in first of all loving her Son, Our Lord and God with all of our hearts and with all of our might, as well as loving our fellow brothers and sisters with all sincerity and genuine desire to care for one another, to be loving just as the Lord and His blessed Mother, who is also our Mother, have loved us. May the Lord continue to bless us all and may His loving Mother, the Mother of the Church, continue to help and guide us all in God’s Church, so that in our every efforts, good works and endeavours, we will continue to glorify God by our lives and proclaim His truth to more and more people. Amen.