Mary, Mother of the Church

On this Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church (celebrated on the Monday following Pentecost -- liturgical resources available here), perhaps we could reflect with Pope Francis on a mosaic by Marko Rupnik, SJ, a Slovenian Jesuit based in Rome.

In a talk given to priests and seminarians in 2016, the Holy Father reflected on this mosaic:  "So let Our Lady take you by the hand, and cling to her mantle.  In my office I have a lovely image of the Synkatabasis that Father Rupnik gave me.  It shows Mary holding out her hands like a stairway on which Jesus descends.  What I like most about it is that Jesus holds in one hand the fullness of the Law and with the other hand he clings to her mantle.  In the Russian tradition, the old monks tell us that amid spiritual storms we need to take refuge under the mantle of Mary" (L'Osservatore Romano, June 10, 2016, p. 14).

Additionally, Pope Francis talks about this mosaic in the book-length interview with Fernando Prado, CMF, The Strength of a Vocation (see this post from our December 2018 blog posts for an introduction to that book):  "The Virgin is the frame, the human need that God had in order to come down; the hands of the Virgin serve Jesus as ladder.  It is the synkatabasis (condescendence) of Jesus.  God comes down, but needs the flesh of Mary and that is why she lowers her arms.  Jesus clings to her cloak.  Francis tells me [the interviewer] that this image could also be very 'eloquent' for consecrated life" (p. 38).

Today, we pray:

O God, Father of mercies,
whose Only Begotten Son, as he hung on the Cross,
chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother,
to be our Mother also,
grant, we pray, that with her loving help
your Church may be more fruitful day by day
and, exulting in the holiness of her children,
may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.  Amen