Mary, Mother of the Church!! A New Feast!

Today is the new obligatory memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church. Don't you just love it?

The title Mother of the Church was given by Pope Paul VI in 1964.

But the obligatory memorial was instituted just this past March 3, 2018 by Pope Francis.

It will be celebrated the Monday after Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. How wonderfully appropriate.

The Feast is so new that the lectionaries, Magnificat, etc. do not even have the new readings for it.

The Gospel for this memorial is John 19: 25-31. It includes: "Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple who he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

To learn more about this new feast read HERE from ncronline.org.

Perhaps you are wondering why the photo of an old, inexpensive statue of Mary with two candles?
When I was quite young, my mother used to organize little May Crownings with the neighborhood kids. There were a lot of Catholic families in our neighborhood and we all carpooled to the local Catholic school, St. John the Baptist in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

These May crownings were for the children. We made the crown from little flowers in the yard. Our mothers would come to watch and help with the singing. There was a lot of giggling and no one got in trouble for being a child.

Anyway, the above photo is the statue we would crown. And  yes, the candles date back that far too. I am that ridiculously sentimental. I keep it above my sink where I can have the pleasure of looking at it every day and remembering.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!