Message of Abbot Paul - Monday - 20th May 2024

​One of the loveliest titles of Our Lady is Mother of the Church. As Mary is the Mother of Jesus and, therefore, the Mother of God, and the Church is the Body of Christ, so Mary is Mother of the Church and the Mother of all Christians, of all the baptised, including the lapsed and those who have lost faith. The beautiful Gospel reading for today comes from John’s account of the Crucifixion, Death and Burial of Jesus, (Jn 19: 25-34). Mary never left her Son’s side, nor did the good women who accompanied her. Likewise, the beloved disciple, usually held to be John, who in this account represents the whole Church of the followers of Jesus. “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.” The beloved disciple, unnamed for he represents us all, becomes the son of Mary and Our Lady becomes his Mother. “After this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed, and to fulfil the scripture perfectly he said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full of vinegar stood there, so putting a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus had taken the vinegar he said, ‘It is accomplished’; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit.” The three women and the young man witness the final moment of his Passion and do what they can to alleviate his pain. This is how we accompany our loved ones in their final days and hours, as they take up the Cross of their own passion and death. So often, all we can do is be there. It was St Bernard who said that Mary’s suffering was more intense than that of her beloved Son, as she suffered with him and for herself, a double agony. We have all experienced that but probably not known how to express it.

 

​Our Gospel could have ended there, but the following paragraph has also been included. “It was Preparation Day, and to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath – since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity – the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. As a result, the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they found he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water.” True to the Old Testament prophecy, the soldiers did not break Jesus’ legs as he was already dead, however one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance, the fifth wound, so important to the Resurrection account in John, that leads to Thomas’ profession of faith. From that wound, so close to his heart, flow forth blood and water, which the early Fathers of the Church took to represent the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist and so the origin of the Church and its ongoing life. From the lifeless body of Jesus, her Son and her God, which will be laid in the arms of his sorrowful Mother, the life of the Church flows and brings salvation to the world. Today, then, the Monday after Pentecost, we give thanks to God for his Mother and ours, for she truly is Mother of the Church.