REFLECTION for Memorial of Mary Mother of the Church


TODAY'S WORD

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mk 10: 17)

This feast which has been promulgated in the Year 2018… is celebrated every year on the Monday after Pentecost.

One of the primary reasons for the celebration of the Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church is “to foster Marian piety and the Maternal sense of the Church.”

Pope Francis says that, “this celebration will help us to remember that growth in the Christian life must be anchored… to the Mystery of the Cross… to the oblation of Christ in the Eucharistic Banquet… and to the Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Redeemed!”

The Marian title of “Mother of the Church,” was given to the Blessed Mother by Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council.


1st READING REFLECTION

The first reading gives us the picture of Jesus’ disciples gathered with certain women, including Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as well as with Jesus’ brothers.

They were constantly devoting themselves to prayer in preparation for the gift of the Holy Spirit that the risen Lord had promised.

Although Mary is described as the ‘Mother of Jesus’, it is easy to imagine her maternal role embracing Jesus’ disciples, whom he had earlier addressed in the gospel as his brothers and sisters.

The community of disciples down the ages, the church, has continued to look to Mary as their mother.

Her prayerful communion with Jesus’ disciples in that first reading finds an echo in the prayer that has come to be associated with Mary, the ‘Hail Mary’, in which we ask Mary to pray for us, sinful disciples of Jesus, now and at the hour of our death.


GOSPEL REFLECTION

The rich man in the Gospel of the Day faced a  “wealth mania”… and was reminded that “riches come to have true value, only when given in service, to the needy”

Are we also facing a “wealth mania” in our lives?

We have concluded a journey of fourteen weeks (nearly hundred days) of walking intimately with the Lord in His Passion, Death, Resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit… starting with the Ash Wednesday in the season of Lent… through the Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday… the Ascension and the Feast of the Holy Spirit – the Pentecost.

As we resume the Ordinary times of the Liturgical year, we are presented today… with a message to make an examination of the “quality of our life”, through this incident of the rich man

The rich man in the Gospel approaches Jesus to ask, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mk 10: 17)

When Jesus gave him a list of commandments, that needed to be followed to help ensure a passage into eternal life, the man replied, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth” (Mk 10: 20)

We underline a few aspects of this young man… he did desire for a life of eternity and followed the commandments… he did nurture a sense of being pious and devout, to please the Lord.  However… he probably failed to live up to the intentions of the commandments… he possibly got lost into only keeping the letters of the commandments; not the spirit!

He got attached to doing God’s commandment, but failed to break his attachments with the riches of the world.

On this memorial, we give thanks to the Lord for sharing with us this precious gift of his mother.

Let us ask our Blessed Mother Mary, the Mother of the Church to intercede and pray for all of us… to be faithful and witnessing members of the Church by prioritising for the “true riches of our life!”

Happy Feast Day of Mary, the Mother of the Church… to all Her Little Children of God!