Mary Mother of God

MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH Mater Ecclesiae is a title, officially given to Mary during the Second Vatican Council by Pope Paul VI. The title was first used in the 4th century by Saint Ambrose of Milan.The title "Mother of the Church" was used by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748 and then by Pope Leo XIII in 1885. The title was also used by Pope John Paul II and is also found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. “The Blessed Virgin Mary has been given the title of Mother of the Church since she gave birth to Christ, the Head of the Church, and she became the Mother of the redeemed people before her Son had given up the spirit on the Cross. Blessed Pope Paul VI solemnly confirmed the title in an address to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council on 21 November 1964 and decreed that the whole Christian people should, by the use of this beautiful title, give still greater honour to the Mother of God.” The Marian title of “Mother of the Church,” was given to the Blessed Mother by Bl. Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council. It was also added to the Roman Missal. But what Pope Francis just did, was to extend this glorious Memorial-Feast to the whole Universal Church. On March the 3, in a letter from our beloved Cardinal Sarah, head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Sarah wrote: “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 cardinal noted that the “joyous veneration given to the Mother of God by the contemporary Church, in light of reflection on the mystery of Christ and on his nature, cannot ignore the figure of a woman, the Virgin Mary, who is both the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church.” In The Church we Catholics find our faith, our norms of conduct, our prayer, our sense of fraternity. Through it we are united with all our brothers and sisters who have already left this life and are being cleansed in Purgatory—the Church suffering—and with those who already enjoy the beatific vision and love forever the thrice holy God—the Church triumphant. The Church is in our midst and at the same time transcends history. It was born under the mantle of our Lady and continues to praise her on earth and in heaven as its Mother. If we become identified with Mary and imitate her virtues, we will be able to bring Christ to life, through grace, in the souls of many who will in turn become identified with him through the action of the Holy Spirit. If we imitate Mary, we will share in some way in her spiritual motherhood. And all this silently, like Our Lady; without being noticed, almost without words, through the true and genuine witness of our lives as Christians, and the generosity of ceaselessly repeating her fiat, which we renew as an intimate link between ourselves and God. Let us now return to our consideration of this mystery of the divine Motherhood of Mary, praying quietly and affirming from the bottom of our hearts, ‘Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world cannot contain, enclosed himself in your womb to take the flesh of man. See what the liturgy proposes for our prayer today: ‘Blessed be the womb of the Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the eternal Father.’ An exclamation both old and new, human and divine. We are telling Our Lord, as they do in some places when they want to praise someone, ‘Blessed be the mother who brought you into the world!’ Rejoicing in the LORD today for this great gift, let us ask Our Lady, our Mother, to cover us with her motherly mantle of protection; to intercede for us from Heaven, that we might be ever TRUE and FAITHFUL to Christ and HIS Church, and to The Faith once delivered to The Saints