Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

Beginning in 2018, the Monday after Pentecost has been observed as the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. This day reminds us how Jesus willed that the divine maternity be extended to all men and women, to the Church herself.

Pope Francis established in 2018 that the Monday after the Solemnity of Pentecost, the day on which the Church was born, would be the date for this memorial.

The title is not a new one, however. Saint John Paul II, in 1980, invited the faithful to venerate Mary as Mother of the Church. Before that, in 1964, Saint Paul VI declared Mary as the “Mother of the Church”. And in 1975, the Holy See proposed a votive Mass in honour of the Mother of the Church, without it becoming a memorial on the liturgical calendar.

Besides these recent dates, we cannot forget how much the title of Mary, Mother of the Church, was already present in the thought of Saint Augustine and Saint Leo the Great, of Popes Benedict XV and Leo XIII, up until Pope Francis when, on February 11, 2018, the 160th anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin at Lourdes, he made this an obligatory memorial.

source: Vatican News

Mother, help our faith!
Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognize his voice and call.
Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.
Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith.
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature.
Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.
Remind us that those who believe are never alone.
Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!

Click here to learn more about the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.