5th Sunday of Easter - Year C - Blessed Virgin Mary & “Sing of Mary”
The Catholic Church dedicates the entire month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God and spiritual mother of all. In the plan of salvation, the Blessed Virgin Mary holds a special place. By virtue of her role to be the mother of the Son of God by divine election, she was conceived immaculately — i.e., without the stain of original sin — and by fidelity to her Son has been crowned queen of heaven and earth.
Everything Mary said and did leads to Christ. Who knows a child better than a mother? And what good and loving child does not know his or her mother and love her with all of his or her heart? Mary knew and loved Jesus like no one else on earth — and she loves each of her children, human beings, with similar affection and tenderness.
Mary, the most humble of all women, is a model for everyone, today, in the here and now. She is a model in a particular way as expressed by Pope Francis: “There is only one model for you, Mary: the woman of fidelity, the one who did not understand what was happening to her but obeyed. The one who, as soon as she knew what her cousin needed took off [to help her], the Virgin of Promptness. The one who escaped as a refugee in a foreign country to save the life of her son.”
Years later, Pope Francis called Mary “the first disciple of Jesus” and reminded us that “Mary is there, praying for us, praying for those who do not pray. Why? Because she is our mother… She shows us that heaven is within reach, if we too do not give in to sin, we praise God with humility, and we serve others with generosity”
(Article above originally appeared on EWTN - Link)
