Queen of Heaven

Mother of the Church

Who has heard of such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labor
she delivered her children.
Isaiah 66, 8

The child’s mother said,
“As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives,
I will not leave you.”
So he arose and followed her.
2 Kings 4, 3-4

When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved,
he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple:
Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.
John 19, 26-27 (DRB)

All true followers of Christ, who faithfully obey God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus daily, consider Mary, the Blessed Mother, as their own mother or accept her in their hearts. She leads them in the order of grace, taking them by the hand to their final destination, their heavenly home. It is believed that Mary promised John, the apostle, to always be by his side as long as he lived, leading him to his home and never separating herself from him during his apostolic ministry until her dormition. This traditional belief is supported by the Gospel of John, which testifies that Jesus entrusted His mother to His faithful bride, the Church.

In the Roman catacomb of St. Agnes, a fresco depicts Mary with her arms outstretched towards the apostles Peter and Paul. This image has always symbolized the Church, with these two chief apostles representing it. Therefore, it is clear that by the third century, early Christians invoked Mary as the Mother of the Church. The tradition of Mary being the spiritual mother of all her Son’s faithful disciples was just as significant in the early church as it is today in the Catholic Church.

Jesus redefined Mary’s motherhood from the Cross. He did not give up his bond with her as his mother; instead, he added a new dimension to her maternal role in the plan of salvation. He chose not to entrust his mother to the Disciple until this critical moment in salvation history. Mary’s motherhood had to be redefined at the Cross because it is derived from her close association with her divine Son in his work of redemption, as stated in Luke 2:34-35. Sharing in her Son’s suffering, our Blessed Mother, like a woman in labor, helps bring new life in grace to all the descendants of fallen Eve.

In this text, the names of the people involved are not mentioned except for “Woman” and “Disciple.” This is meant to show that Mary is like a mother to John, and John is like a son to Mary. The Disciple represents Christ’s followers, and Mary is their spiritual mother. This is similar to how Mother Zion must “enlarge her tent” and “strengthen her stakes” to welcome back those who were once lost. When Jesus says to Mary, “Woman, behold your son,” and to John, “Behold your mother,” he is not just asking John to care for Mary after he is gone. He also makes Mary the mother of all people who live in a state of grace. This is an essential part of salvation and goes beyond just practical considerations.

The Evangelist uses the term “the disciple” to refer to himself symbolically. He intends to identify himself with all faithful followers of Christ. Like Jacob, who represents Israel, the Disciple is a “corporate personality.” Mary is the spiritual mother of all Christ’s disciples, and she has adopted us no less than the Father has by our participation in the divine life through faith (Eph. 1:5; 2 Pet. 1:3-4). In his divinity, our Lord is the Son of the Father; in his sacred humanity, he is the Son of Mary, his mother. We cannot be adopted sons and daughters of the Father while excluding our spiritual mother, Mary, who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. This is because all the faithful are true brothers and sisters of Christ (Lk. 1:35; Rom. 8:29).

The baptized become “a new creation in Christ” through Mary’s womb (2 Cor. 5:17). They are no longer descendants of Adam but of the promised “Woman” who is an advocate for Eve. In her original innocence, Eve helped forfeit the life of grace for all her offspring. The early Church understood this Gospel narrative, which is evident in St. Augustine’s teachings. Augustine believed that Mary alone, both in body and spirit, is the Mother and Virgin. She is the Mother of Christ’s members because she cooperated through her charity so faithful Christian members might be born in the Church (De sancta virginitate 6).

Early Church Father texts focus on the significance of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as the mother of the Church. They emphasize that Mary’s motherhood was redefined at the Cross when Jesus entrusted her to his beloved disciple to signify her role as the spiritual mother of all Christ’s disciples. These texts also cite biblical references and early Christian traditions to support this belief. Moreover, they highlight how Mary’s association with her divine Son in his work of redemption makes her an essential figure in the economy of salvation. By her suffering, in union with the suffering of her Son, Mary helps give new life in grace to all fallen Eve’s offspring like a woman in labor. She symbolizes Mother Zion, who delivers her children from slavery through suffering, foreshadowing the faithful Christian members of the Church delivered from the slavery of sin.

Mary’s motherhood derives from her intimate association with her divine Son in his work of redemption. Through her, the baptized become a new creation in Christ, no longer the seed of fallen Adam but of the promised “Woman” and advocate of Eve. Mary is the Mother of all people living in a state of grace and is the spiritual mother of all Christ’s disciples. Overall, early Church texts convey a deep sense of respect and reverence for Mary and her role as the Mother of the Church. They highlight her profound spiritual significance to the faithful and emphasize that all true disciples of Christ must take her into their hearts as their own mother.

All of our Lord’s faithful disciples and brethren are considered reborn offspring of Eve, having come from the same sanctified womb as Jesus. Mary stands with all those who are born again at the baptismal font. Father Hugo Rahner, in his book “Our Lady and the Church” published by Zaccheus Press, explains that Baptism is a continuation of the birth of the God-made man, who was born of the Virgin and conceived by the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say that the Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ, is reborn in the sacrament of Baptism (1 Cor. 12:13). This means that the faithful are one mystical body in Christ, with Him as the head of this body. They have been born again as children of God and the Virgin Mary through their mystical conception in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit and God incarnate, who was conceived physically by supernatural means. The mystery of Mary in the economy of salvation intertwines with the mystery of the Church, so the sacrament of Baptism has a Marian character.

During the Blessing of the Font at the Easter Vigil, believers recognize the Church’s power to renew through the Holy Spirit and its ability to impart grace. The presence of the Holy Spirit sanctifies the water used in baptism. In the same way, Christ was conceived in Mary’s womb and made the son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit; a holy child is conceived in the baptismal font and reborn in the Spirit. The baptismal font is as pure as the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and through it, new spiritual children are born in holiness and become new creatures in the likeness of Jesus. The Church is called Mother because she nourishes her offspring with grace, just as Mary did, and gives them new life, enabling them to grow as one family in God, in one spiritual childhood.

Mary is the Mother of the Church, comprised of all members of her divine Son’s mystical body. She is seen as the prototype of the Church, and the Church receives its character from the Blessed Virgin Mary. As a corporate entity, the Church finds its fulfillment in the person of Mary. Mary first realizes the Church when she declares: “Be it done to me according to thy word” (Lk. 1:38). For mankind to be conceived in the womb of the Church, Christ must first be conceived in his mother’s womb. All catechumens must first receive Jesus in their hearts before they can be conceived in the womb of the baptismal water, but only if Mary physically conceives Jesus after she has first conceived him in her heart. According to Father Hugo, Mary is the Mother of the Church through the Incarnation. Having conceived and given birth to Jesus, both Head and Body, our Blessed Lady has conceived and given birth to its members spiritually – her Son’s brothers and sisters.

ἔλαβεν ὁ μαθητὴς αὐτὴν εἰς τὰ ἴδια.

Returning to the Gospel of John, in which we read “the Disciple took her to his own”, the Greek word for “took” is lambanō (λαμβάνω). This term connotes “take in the hand,” “take hold of, grasp.” It also encompasses taking away, taking up, receiving, or removing without force. Moreover, the term has mental or spiritual aspects when it is translated as “make one’s own,” “apprehend,” or “comprehend,” as Jerome has translated it in the Latin Vulgate. Roman Catholic Biblical scholar John McHugh builds upon the spiritual connotation of the word. He argues that the Disciple accepts Mary as his mother and as part of the “spiritual legacy bequeathed to him by his Lord.” Using the verb lambanō indicates something important that moves beyond the death scene being played out on Golgotha and is connected to it.

The author says, “If we carefully notice John’s vocabulary, a more meaningful rendering emerges. In the Fourth Gospel, the verb lambánō has two senses. When applied to material things, it means simply ‘to take hold of,’ ‘to pick up,’ ‘to grasp,’ etc. (e.g. 6.11; 12.13; 13.12; 19.23, 40); when applied to immaterial things, it means “to accept,” or ‘to welcome,’ usually as a gift from God (e.g. his witness, 3.11; his word, 17.8; his Spirit, 14.17; 1 John 2.27). Secondly, the phrase eis ta idea, which certainly can mean “to one’s own home” (in a purely physical sense), can also mean ‘among one’s own spiritual possessions’ (compare John 8.44 and 15.19, in Greek). The phrase is found in the prologue with this double meaning of ‘physical home’ and ‘spiritual possession’ and in close conjunction with the verb ‘to accept or welcome.’ ‘He came to what was his own… and to all who accepted him, he gave them the power to become children of God’ (John 1.12-13). John 19.27 demands a translation that includes the purely physical and the deeper, spiritual sense” (The Mother of Jesus in the New Testament, New York: Doubleday, 1975). The use of the verb lambanō indicates something important that moves beyond the death scene being played out on Golgotha but is connected to it. Thus, the verb indicates something which has soteriological and eschatological significance.

Essentially, there is a deep spiritual connection between Jesus, Mary, and the Disciple that goes beyond the fact that Jesus is about to die by being crucified and must leave his widowed mother behind, who needs to be taken care of. The significance lies not only in the temporal death of Jesus and its consequences but also in what will happen eschatologically as a result. His death will be one of many consummations and higher expressions, with soteriological benefits for human souls, particularly concerning our Lord’s mother in the hypostatic order of Christ’s incarnation.

The Mother and the Beloved Disciple perceived that this event denoted a fresh start – the beginning of something new that would continue in this life and eternally in the Kingdom of Heaven. The original Greek text literally reads “to the own” (εἰς τὰ ἴδια), though modern Protestant and Catholic Bible English translations have “to his own home.” However, this Greek phrase carries a more profound meaning than the Disciple taking Mary to his home to look after her. Instead, it signifies the Disciple taking her into his heart as a loving son of hers in their newly established spiritual filial bond. He received her as her spiritual offspring in the deepest core of his being. Indeed, Mary did not have to become an adopted mother for John to look after her as a caregiver. Jesus wasn’t speaking figuratively of her. She became the Disciple’s mother in the family of God spiritually and mystically, just as Mary was morally and mystically the spouse of the Holy Spirit, having been overshadowed by Him and begetting Jesus together.

John’s literary style is more mystical and symbolic than that of the authors of the Synoptic Gospels. His narratives contain deeper meanings and provide more theological insight into the Divine mysteries than what initially appears in God’s written word. Therefore, they should often be read in a spiritual sense (1 Cor. 2:4-5). In the Crucifixion scene, the Evangelist presents a reciprocal re-enactment of what has occurred in the Garden of Eden. We have the two principal protagonists: Jesus (the new Adam) and his mother, Mary (the new Eve).

In this scene, the Disciple represents all individuals who have abandoned their old ways and embraced a new path. Jesus and his mother are shown crushing the head of the serpent through their obedience to God’s will, undoing what the serpent has wrought since the beginning of time (as described in Genesis 3:13-15). Unlike Adam and Eve, neither succumbs to the serpent’s temptation. Jesus does not come down from the cross to save himself, despite being taunted to do so (as described in Matthew 27:40). Mary, standing valiantly at the foot of the Cross, endures immense sorrow at the cost of her joy in being the mother of our Lord, fulfilling the prophetic words of Simeon that point to her crucial trial of faith, upon which rests her motherhood of mankind (as described in Luke 2:35).

At Golgotha, Mary maintained the same level of faith she possessed during the Annunciation. A complete surrender to God out of pure love and humility helped make the Incarnation possible. Even as she stood in the shadow of the Cross, Mary joyfully became the mother of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. She also became our mother and earned her dual maternity by standing beneath the Cross. In her sorrow, she gave birth to us like a woman in labor (Rev. 12:2).

The Gospel narrative’s imagery dismisses any practical and temporal explanation of Jesus’ words to his mother and the Disciple. It seems that Jesus had something of great importance in mind when he addressed his mother and the Disciple – something related to salvation and the end times. John the Evangelist portrays the Mother figuratively standing at the foot of the Cross – the Tree of Victory over the Serpent – as the moral channel of her divine Son’s grace. This grace was forfeited by Adam when he listened to Eve, who contributed morally to the fall of mankind and the loss of the original state of holiness and justice. In contrast, Mary contributes morally to mankind’s spiritual regeneration and justification through her perfect obedience to the will of God and her willingness to suffer in union with her Son for man’s transgressions against Him.

The message of the Gospel is that the Son, who is the new Adam, desires to dispense his saving grace primarily through the mediation of his mother and helpmate, as stated in Genesis 2:18. Our Lord does not wish to act alone in his work of redemption. Instead, he wants his mother to be with him through her moral cooperation. In this capacity, Mary has become the mother of all his disciples in the Spirit and redeemed humanity. She has nourished the faithful with the blessings they have received through God’s grace by dying to self in sorrow because of her love for her Son on the Cross, which is the only means of salvation. Mary is our spiritual mother because she helped restore fallen mankind to the life of grace with God through suffering, a feat that Eve undid for all her biological offspring through her selfish pursuit of personal gain and disobedience.

Thus, Jesus refers to his mother, Mary, as “Woman,” alluding to her as the new Eve. This means that she is the spiritual mother of all the living, unlike Eve, who is the primordial mother of all who are conceived without sanctifying or justifying grace and are thus born spiritually dead (Gen. 3:20). In Genesis 2:23, Adam refers to his wife as “Woman” before the Fall. By transferring this title to his mother, Jesus means she is to be a mother to his disciple, as Eve was intended to be before she fell from grace and the preternatural state of innocence.

If Adam and Eve had not disobeyed God, they would have passed on spiritual and physical immortality to their descendants. However, as a result of their sin, they lost these gifts. To restore spiritual life to humanity, God ordained that it should be passed on through the intimate union between a man (the new Adam) and a woman (the new Eve). This union mirrors the original unity between Adam and Eve before the Fall.

On Golgotha, the Tree of Life takes the form of the Cross. This contrasts the tree in the middle of the garden, which bears the forbidden fruit as described in Genesis 2:15-17. On the Cross hangs the fruit of Mary’s womb (Lk 1:42). This fruit directly opposes all things forbidden by God and offensive to Him (Gen 3:16-20). In the garden, Eve manages to entice her husband to partake of the forbidden fruit on the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In contrast, Mary cooperates with her Son and offers mankind the fruit of her womb, in whom the Father is well pleased (Mt 3:17). By partaking of this fruit, mankind is nourished and fortified by its grace and is thereby freed from the snares of worldly wisdom and vain pleasures of life. These snares can lead to the death of the soul and the loss of true happiness in life with God.

God no longer guards the Tree of Life with cherubim and a flaming sword. Instead, the Church is now the way to access the Tree of Life and all saving grace. Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, has merited salvation for all, and the gates of the Church are open to anyone seeking peace and reconciliation with God through the blood of the Cross. This path is explained in various verses of the Bible, such as Isaiah 35:8, 62:10-12, Acts 2:22, Colossians 1:20, and Revelation 22:17. As baptized Christians, we should rejoice in the graces we have received through Jesus and the mediation of his mother.

Jesus has redeemed us from death through his sacrifice on the Cross, reconciling the world to God the Father (Colossians 1:20; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Mary, the mother of Jesus, played a vital role in his victory over sin and death on the Cross. Her motherhood of all humanity is fully validated at the foot of the Cross, where her soul is pierced because of the sins of humanity. Through her union with her divine Son’s infinite sacrifice, Mary made finite temporal satisfaction to God for the world’s sins. Thus, the graces that Christ has merited for humanity are dispensed primarily through Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows.

In Luke 1:44, we read that when Mary greeted Elizabeth, the infant John the Baptist leaped in his mother’s womb. This happened because he had received God’s cleansing and healing grace in anticipation of his divine calling. While Eve had led humanity astray by tempting Adam to eat from the forbidden fruit, Mary helped restore the life of grace by offering her blessed womb, the source of restorative grace. As the saying goes, “To Jesus through Mary.”

Our Blessed Mother serves as a mediator between God and humanity. She acts as our maternal advocate, seeking to redeem the sin of Eve. Saint Andrew of Crete spoke of her as the free promised woman, full of grace, and whose soul magnifies the glory of the Lord (Homily 1, on Mary’s Nativity). Even Martin Luther, in his own way, expressed his devotion to her (Sie ist mir lieb). To him, she was the noble Maid, and he could never forget her. John the Evangelist honored her as the Lord’s handmaid and the Church’s prototype. The early Church recognized Mary as their spiritual mother, and all of Christ’s disciples continued to hold her in high esteem.

The mystery of Mary as the prototype of the Church and Mediatrix of Grace is a divine mystery shrouded in obscurity. However, it is only in darkness that the sanctifying light of faith can take effect and enlighten the minds and hearts of the faithful over time. For centuries, the Church has gradually pieced together the Marian mosaic work, tile by tile. God’s great masterpiece is a mosaic work that can only be seen in its entirety by observing one tile at a time, for “who can know the mind of God or be His counselor?” (Rom. 11:34). The Church can only understand what God chooses to reveal to her through the Holy Spirit with time (Jn. 16:12-13). Faith, which is the evidence of things unseen and hoped for, cannot exist if there is gnosis (Heb. 11:1). Thus, “for now [we] see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12).

The Church has pondered with great reverence and admiration the mystery of Mary’s role in the economy of salvation. Like Elizabeth, who asked, “Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43), the Church seeks to understand the Lord’s will and receives it through the sanctifying light of faith aided by the Holy Spirit who is always with her (Matthew 7:7; John 14:16). The Church is the “pillar and foundation of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), the bride of Christ, unblemished and spotless, whose faith and conception of God’s word are pure and immaculate, reflecting the purity of the Virgin Mary’s womb. Just as Mary conceived the Divine Word through her faith and charity as the chaste bride of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), so does the Church reflect this purity and love in her faith.

Let’s conclude with the words of St. Ambrose: “The Lord appeared in our flesh and in Himself fulfilled the spotless marriage of Godhead and humanity, and since then, the eternal virginity of the life of heaven has found its place among men. Christ’s mother is a virgin and likewise is His bride, the Church” (De Virginibus), and the words of his pupil, St. Augustine: “He has made His Church like to His mother, He has given her to us as a mother, He has kept her for Himself as a virgin. The holy Catholic Church, like Mary, is a virgin ever spotless and a mother ever fruitful” (Sermo 195, 2).

Shall not Zion say:
This man and that man is born in her,
and the Highest himself hath founded her?
Psalm 87, 5
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Early Sacred Tradition

“The Word will become flesh, and the Son of God, the son of man–
the Pure One opening purely that pure womb,
which generates men unto God.”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4, 33, 12
(A.D. 180-190)

“It would be wrong to proclaim the Incarnation of the Son of God from the
holy Virgin, without admitting also His Incarnation in the Church. Every one
of us must therefore recognize His coming in the flesh, by the pure Virgin, but at
the same time recognize His coming in the spirit in each one of us.”
St. Methodius of Philippi
De sanguisusa 8, 2
(ante A.D. 311)

“Being perfect at the side of the Father and incarnate among us,
not in appearance but in truth, he [the Son] reshaped man to perfection
in himself from Mary the Mother of God through the Holy Spirit.”
St. Epiphanius of Salamis
The Man Well-Anchored 75
(A.D. 374)

“The Church is a virgin. Perhaps you will say: If she is a virgin, how can she beget children?
Or, if she does not bear children, how can we claim to be born from her womb? My answer is:
She is both virgin and mother; she is like Mary who gave birth to the Lord. Was not Mary a virgin
when she gave birth, and did she not ever remain a virgin? But the Church also gives birth and yet
remains a virgin she gives birth to Christ Himself, for all who receive baptism are His members.
Does not the Apostle say: ‘You are the body of Christ, member for member’? If then she gives
birth to Christ’s members, she is in every way like Mary.”
St. Augustine, Tract 1, 8
(ante A.D. 430)
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Ave Maria