Of all women, Jesus accords to us Mary - "This is your mother."(Jn 19:24) On February 11, 2018, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments added a new obligatory Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, into the General Roman Calendar, to be celebrated every year on the Monday after Pentecost. The title of Mother of the Church has been bestowed on the Blessed Virgin Mary because she gave birth to Christ, the Head of the Church, and became Mother of all by living her magnificat. The Gospel scene today portrays Mary at the foot of the cross. We place ourselves together with the beloved disciple John and hear the words Jesus addresses to us: "Behold, your Mother."

Mary, mother of Jesus and spouse of Joseph, has been addressed as our Mother from the earliest days of the Church. She is close to us and her particular closeness draws us to her Son. Like us, she is a child of Adam and so, she is our sister too, on account of our common human nature; yet she is also the Mother of our Savior, and continues to play an ongoing role in Christ's work on earth. She embodied the perfect form of a disciple of Christ by her manner of total acceptance of the Word enfleshed in her by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that emboldens the Church at Pentecost is shared with us as we draw closer to her.