When
Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near,
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 to his own home.
Gospel of John 19:26-27
In this passage in the Gospel
of John, Jesus dying on the Cross tells "the disciple" to
behold his Mother Mary. It seems that Jesus is referring to John, but
the actual words are "the disciple."
And so, in that instant, Mary becomes Mother of all disciples of Jesus,
including those in our own time who follow Jesus.
Jesus Christ
is the heart of Catholic Tradition and Christian life.
Catholic Anglicans celebrate the Mass, read the Bible, and receive the
Seven Sacraments. In the Mass we share in the one Sacrifice on the Cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we await his Second Coming. In the Eucharist
the Church is as it were at the foot of the cross with Mary. Receiving
Holy Communion with others during the Sacrifice of the Mass brings unity
of the Church, the Body of Christ.
Three of our
favorite prayers are the Our Father, the Hail Mary (or Ave Maria), and
the Rosary. The Our Father is the prayer of hope given to us by Jesus
himself in the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew
[6:9-13]. The Scriptural basis for the Hail Mary is from the Gospel
of Luke [1:26-42]. Mary is the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God [Mark
1:1, Acts 9:20, Romans 1:4, 2 Cor 1:19]. As Jesus is both God and man,
Mary is the Mother of God [Luke 1:43]. Her intercessory role in the
second part of the prayer is based on her mediation at the wedding feast
of Cana, recorded in the Gospel of John [2:1-12]. The Rosary is a Biblical
account of the life of Jesus.
Mary is our
model of Love and Mercy,
who intercedes with her Son Jesus for us, her children on earth.
Mary serves
as the perfect example of motherhood for our modern world.
"You
should understand what you have received, what you will receive,
indeed what you should receive daily. The bread you see on the
altar and that has been sanctified by the word of God is the
Body of Christ. Through these things the Lord Christ wished
to entrust to us
his Body and his Blood which he shed for us unto the remission
of sins. If you receive them well, you are that which you receive.
The Apostle says, ‘One bread and we, the many, are one
body.’ " [1 Cor 10: 17]
St.
Augustine of Hippo [354-430]
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