Mother of Christ

In continuation of our series on getting to know Our Blessed Mother under her various titles.

                        Before God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and by their toils and trials bade them earn their livelihood, He promised to them a Savior. In His eternal design, this same Savior was none other than His own beloved Son, Jesus.                                                                                                                      It is He Who should crush the head of the serpent, whose malice brought sin into the world. This Savior of men will be of the seed of the woman, and will take to Himself her flesh and blood. He will dwell in her chaste womb, as in a tabernacle. He is called Christ: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Mary is, therefore, His Mother, for He was conceived of the Holy Ghost in her virginal womb, took for His Flesh her flesh and blood, and was born of her. Albeit true God, He is true man also, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary.                                                         Between Christ and Mary exists the very real relationship of Son and Mother. Mary is His Mother; Jesus is her Son. He was, in His humanity, subject to the Blessed Virgin, as every good son loves and is obedient to his mother. “He went down L.] to Nazareth, and was subject to them” (Luke 2:51). Christ loved His Mother tenderly while on earth, and loves her now devotedly in Heaven                                                                                                                        The first public miracle performed by Jesus, the first manifestation of His Divine power, was in obedience to the wish of His Mother, at the marriage feast of Cana, when He changed the water into wine.                                                                                                                                                   His last public act of kindness occurred after His cruel, bitter passion, after His trying journey to Mount Calvary, after being nailed to the gibbet of the cross. Even in the very throes of death, the loving heart of the Child went out to His Mother, whom He sees sorrowful beneath His Cross, and He asked His beloved Apostle, Saint John, to care for her, and take her as his own mother.                                                                                                                         Only after He had provided for the best, the greatest and dearest of His treasures on earth, His Mother, was Christ prepared to give up His spirit into the hands of His Heavenly Father for our redemption. Bowing, therefore, His head, he spoke the words: “It is consummated:’ and died.

“What more can I do than give my life for you:’ These words of Christ are especially applicable to His Mother Mary, for while it is true that He died for the redemption of all men, it was through the anticipated merits of His holy passion and death that His Mother, Mary, was conceived without sin. And it was through her Immaculate Conception that she was thus made worthy of the sublime dignity to which she was called.

               The relationship between Christ and Mary, as Son and Mother, exists now, though both are in the Kingdom of Heaven, as well as it did while they lived on earth.

               In the world Christ obeyed and loved her, and He still gives her this same obedience and love in Heaven. His child-like affection for her never wanes. His respect for her is that of a devoted Son, while His love for her is greater than for all the blessed in Heaven.

                Knowing this, we should be filled with confidence when we appeal to the Mother of Christ, our life, our sweetness and our hope. She will pray and intercede for us, at the throne of her Divine Son, for Christ will not turn a deaf ear to the pleas of His Mother, the ever-spotless Blessed Virgin Mary.