This May 21, Catholics around the world will celebrate the first Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.

 

Pope Francis earlier this year declared that the new feast day will occur annually on the day after Pentecost as a way to foster “genuine Marian piety” and to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church.”

 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that Mary is a mother to us “in the order of grace” (CCC 968) because she “cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls.”

 

Scripture shows us Mary was present at key Biblical events. She was there when an adolescent Jesus was found at the Temple (Luke 2:41-52), for the first miracle at the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), and when Jesus took his last breath (John 19:17-30). Tradition also tells us that Jesus met his mother while he carried his cross through Jerusalem to Golgotha on Good Friday.

 

It’s fitting that the church designed the new feast day to honor Mary using Pentecost as an anchor: We should remember that Mary was also present and praying with the disciples as the Holy Spirit descended upon them during the first Pentecost two millennia ago (see Acts 1:14).

 

For me, I’ve associated Mary as someone who is always there, always listening, always praying, always faithful, always available for us. As Mother of the Church, she is the epitome of a good Christian.

 

So, this month, during the Month of Mary, let’s honor Our Mother by saying the Rosary more often and entrusting our deepest intercessions to her: Our Lady of China, Pray for Us.

 

Happy Mother’s Day, St. Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Church! (Happy Mother’s Day, too, to all the mothers, godmothers, and mother-figures in our community.)