“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.” (John 19:25-27 NABRE)
While Jesus was suffering and dying on the Cross, He bestowed His mother as the mother of His disciple, and gave to Mary His disciple as her child. Neither Mary nor His disciple hesitated to accept this call to relationship with one another. Jesus’ disciple immediately took Mary into his home.
We are all called by our Lord to have a relationship with His mother Mary. Jesus calls us to accept Mary as our mother, to turn to her, and look to her to lead us closer to her Son.
Have we taken Mary into our home? Have we sought to grow in relationship with her, trusting her as our mother?
The Immaculate Heart of Mary loves her children and deeply desires that we be close to her Son. She desires to lift her children to Jesus and to intercede for us as we seek to follow Him.
Mary is our loving mother. Not only can we strive to follow her example in order to grow in holiness and in relationship with Jesus, but we can also pray to her, asking for her intercession in receiving the graces we need from the Lord in order to live as we are called, for her Son.
May we listen to Jesus by accepting Mary as our mother and by taking her into our home. May we grow in close relationship with Mary and listen to her when she calls us and leads us in loving, serving, and following Jesus.
“His mother said to the servers, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” (John 2:5)
Aren’t we asking too much of Mary to lift us to Jesus when it is our responsibility to go to God directly (cf. Hebrews 4:15-16; 7:24-25)? Even a mother needs to let her children make their own decisions.
Thank you for this reflection. It has helped me a lot!