Today we celebrate the memorial of Mary mother of the Church. How fitting indeed it is on the day after Pentecost; the birth of our Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. We are reminded that the spouse of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus gave to be our Mother, continues to love and embrace all her children throughout the world.She wants us to share in her purity of mind and of heart so that we might all draw ever closer to the heart of her son Jesus Christ our Lord. So that through her son we might one day be reunited in heaven.Dearest mother, obtain for us the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we may be wise with your wisdom, understand with your understanding, know with your knowledge, prudent with your prudence, patient with your patience, courageous with your fortitude and desire justice ardently for everyone with the all consuming desire of the Sacred Heart of Jesus your Son. AmenMary mother of the Church pray for us….
First reading
Genesis 3:9-15,20 ·
‘The offspring of the woman will crush your head’After Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’
Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,‘Be accursed beyond all cattle, all wild beasts. You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust
every day of your life. I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman,
your offspring and her offspring.
It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.’The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live.
Gospel
John 19:25-34
‘Behold your son. Behold your mother.’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.
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.
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. Consequently 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.
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