Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

In 2018, Pope Francis decreed that the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, be inserted into the Roman Calendar on the Monday after Pentecost (also known as Whit Monday) and to be celebrated every year. Mother of the Church (in Latin 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.

There are two choices for the first reading.  The first is Genesis 3:9-15, 20. In it we hear God’s words to the serpent after the fall “I will make you enemies of one another you and the woman: your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike at its heel.”  The alternative reading is from the Acts of the Apostles 1:12-14. In it we hear that after the Ascension the apostles went back to Jerusalem to the upper room and that they “joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus.”

In the Gospel from John (19:25-34) we are told of Mary’s presence at the foot of the cross and Jesus’ words to her “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.”