Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved,
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, “I thirst.”
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
“It is finished.”
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately Blood and water flowed out.
— John 19:25-34
I’ll admit I’m not the most Marian of believers, mainly because I came back to the Catholic Church after going through a brief period of non-denominational protestantism in which the way I practiced my faith was only by reading the Bible and praying in silence. Like many protestants, I didn’t see the “need” to develop a relationship to the Blessed Virgin Mary or to any other Saints, as I thought these were additional things that could distract me from focusing on Christ.
After returning to Catholicism, I have sought to develop a closer relationship with Mary, and to try and understand her massively important role in God’s plan for us.
Today’s Gospel is one that I come back to every time I need to remind myself that Mary is, in fact, a gift that God gives us. It’s telling that it’s from the Cross that Christ entrusts us to her care. Mary is not an “extra distraction,” but a person Jesus himself entrusts to the Church: “Woman, here is your son,” and then, to the disciple, “Here is your mother,” so that “from that hour” the disciple “took her to his own home.” In other words, Christ’s care for Mary is active and concrete—placing her where the believer lives—because her motherhood extends beyond Christ’s earthly life to the life of believers.
So when I stand near the Cross, when my faith is tired, when I feel stretched, when I don’t know how to pray, I can receive Mary the way the beloved disciple received her: not as an alternative to Christ, but as a gift meant to lead me back to him.
May we all learn to love our Blessed Mother, so she can take us by the hand and lead us to her Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord.
In Christ,
Juan — Simple Man
Thank you for reading, and God bless you!
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Beautifully written and very moving.
Mary is an example of how we are to relate to Christ, but Scripture gives us the actual instruction. I have a similar history as yours in regards to coming back to the Church except that my time away from the Church was not brief; but I still practice all that I had learned from Scripture because it taught me of Biblical spirituality, which I had not been taught in all of my Catholic upbringing, but remains essential within my present Catholicism.