Pope Francis promulgated a new feast in honor of Mary in 2018, Mary, Mother of the Church. It is always to be on the Monday after Pentecost—today. It’s a new feast, but with an old title.
Of course, Mary was there at the birth of the Church when Jesus entrusted the beloved disciple to her at the foot of the Cross (John 19:25-27) and in the Upper Room, when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, and all those gathered with them, at Pentecost (Acts 1:14).
This title of Our Lady, has its origins in early Church Fathers: St. Augustine, who said that Mary is the mother of the members of Christ, because with charity she co-operated in the rebirth of the faithful into the Church, while Pope St. Leo the Great said that the birth of the Head is also the birth of the body, thus indicating that Mary is at once Mother of Christ, the Son of God, and Mother of the members of his Mystical Body, which is the Church” [from Pope Francis’ decree].
According to the Vatican News, the Holy Father wishes to promote this devotion to Mary, Mother of the Church, in order to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety”. Why now? Because, if ever we needed the help, direction, and example of our Blessed Mother in this world lacking a firm foundation in Christ Jesus, a world adrift in a morass of sin and moral relativism, a world which calls good evil and evil good, it is now.
Prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church
Mother, help our faith!
Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognize his voice and call.
Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.
Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith.
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature.
Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.
Remind us that those who believe are never alone.
Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!
Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.
Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith.
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature.
Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.
Remind us that those who believe are never alone.
Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!
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