The Motherhood of Mary

“Meanwhile, standing near 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 beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple: “Here is your mother.” (Jn 19:25-27)

Even when He was dying in agony, Our Saviour thought of us. John represented all who are willing to be disciples of Jesus. If Our Lady was given to St John as mother by our dying Saviour, we can all regard Our Lady as our mother.

This is far from a courtesy title for Mary. As someone once described her, “she is a mother with her sleeves rolled up.” She doesn’t bask in the glory of her sinlessness, she intercedes us - so that we can overcome sin and reach the place in Heaven which Our Saviour has won for us.

The American author Scott Hahn once described how he understood Our Lady’s Motherhood. When he was a child, an uncle would come visiting at Christmas with a big box of presents for all the children in Scott’s large family. If the uncle left the children to select their own gifts from the box, there would be mayhem and it would all end in tears. The children would argue over the goodies, toys would get broken, fights would ensue.

However, if the uncle left the box of gifts with the mother of the family, she would know the needs of each child and would distribute the presents accordingly. She would also know what gifts the children were not ready for yet, and she would put them to one side – reserving them for a later point.

This, I feel, is a good way of understanding Our Lady’s motherhood. Grace comes from God, but, through His Own Choosing, he involves Our Lady in the distribution of His Graces. She knows the needs of her children better than we know them ourselves. She knows the right gifts to give us, at the right time.

As we celebrate Mothering Sunday, may we always honour our Heavenly Mother, to whose motherly care Our Saviour entrusted us from the Cross.