Mary the Mother of the Church and Help of Christians

THE WORD AND THE FEAST  

May 24, 2021: Mary Mother of the Church and Mary Help of Christians

Genesis 3: 9-15; John 19: 25-34

It is a meaningful coincidence this day - Mary Mother of the Church and Mary Help of Christians - both opening up the vistas of proclamation and evangelisation and that of sustained growth in faith, all one's life! Both these titles to Mary seem a bit problematic at the outset...but infact made sense of from the right perspective, they can be useful ways to understand the precious identity we share as people of God and in relation to the the world at large. Problematic because it could be interpreted in an exclusive sense, for Christians and for the Church! But the scope is much larger. 

Help of Christians  - the title which was historically inspired, stands good in as much as the Church in the world today, does need a powerful intercessor and protector, looking at the challenges that exist from within and without. From within, there are forces which in the name of be it progressiveness or be it adapting to the rest of the world, seem to weaken some fundamental basis of Christian values today. From outside today, as ever, there are those who consider the Church their firm enemy because the Church has stood formidable for two millennia upholding the Reign principles handed down by Christ. The Blessed Mother as she once protected the Church from the ravaging enemies, today has to continue to protect the flock.

Mother of the Church - the recent feast, but one of the most ancient titles to Mary, is a challenge to the people of God, towards forming themselves into people who wait on the Lord, who are filled with the Spirit of the Lord, who proclaim the Lord to the rest of the world, who are united in prayer even if the situation around seems so fearsome or unpromising, who know that the Lord will never let them down, who never leave the side of the Lord come what may and who find solace in each other building themselves up into the living Reign of God, here and now.

These two titles of our blessed mother celebrated together this day present to us a fundamental identity that the Church gives to Mary within our Christian faith: an INTERCESSOR who protects and a MODEL who inspires us, to live our faith to the full. 

Mary our Mother and Help, pray for us!