A Holy Hour Homily for the 50th Anniversary of the Diocese of Charlotte
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (Jn 19:25–27).
The Virgin Adoring the HostYou can think of a parish church as a missionary station of the diocese which is the Mother Church. So I think it is fitting that we begin our celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of our Diocese of Charlotte here in the parish of St. Mary, Mother of God, because she is also the Mother of the Church.
The Church is the Body of Christ, and Jesus gave us that Body, His Body, on the cross. And from that cross he also gives us his mother. At the foot of the cross stood Mary and John, the Beloved Disciple. John was the only Apostle who had not abandoned the Lord at that hour, and so at the time he represented the entire Church. And Jesus looked down upon them and said, “Woman, behold your son,” and “Son, behold your mother” (Jn 19:26–27).
I’d like to focus on one word that our Lord says at this moment. Each word spoken from the cross takes great effort and so each one is important, but I want to focus on one in particular, which is “woman.” This title our Lord addresses his mother by is significant, because it reaches all the way back to the beginning, to the creation and the fall of man, to the start of the whole story of salvation that Jesus brings to its climax on the cross. It takes us back to Eve, the mother of all mankind, who is given the title “woman” in Genesis because she was taken out of man (Gen 2:23).
The woman was tempted by the serpent, and it was through her that sin entered into the world. But it was also through her that God promised a savior, saying to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; they will strike at your head while you will strike at their heel” (Gen 3:15). Christ is that savior, the Son of God, born of a woman, born of Mary, the new Eve.
He calls his mother by that same title “woman” at the beginning of his ministry, also, at the Wedding at Cana. When she presents to her Son the bride and groom’s dilemma, “they have no wine,” he replies, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:3–4). The hour Jesus refers to is the hour of his passion, the hour that we just read about, the hour that he knew his ministry would lead to. So he is not rebuking his mother but making certain that she understands what it is that she asks. And her response is to tell the servers, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).
The couple at the wedding had their water transformed into wine by Christ because his Mother was willing to give her Son. We too, can have the ordinary water of our lives transformed into rich, abundant wine by God’s grace only because the Mother gives us her Son. Imagine for a moment that you are there at the foot of the cross with Mary and John. Our Lord has died, and they take down his body, and lay it in the arms of the Blessed Mother. You’ve seen images of the Pieta, I’m sure. Imagine that. Now imagine you are St. Joseph of Aramathea, who comes to collect the Body of Christ to lay it to rest in his tomb. We do this in a way every time we come forward to receive the Eucharist; we come to receive the Body of Christ that has been broken and given for us. Would you dare to take that precious Body out of the arms of His Mother without asking her permission? No, of course not! She has to give Jesus to you.
Mary is the mother of the Church because she gives us Christ. The Church is our Mother who continues to give us her Son each day in the Eucharist. It is imminently fitting, therefore, that we begin our celebration in thanksgiving for the Diocese of Charlotte, our Mother Church, with this time of Eucharistic Adoration and a Mass of Thanksgiving. Because this is why we have a Catholic diocese. This is why the Church exists: to be a Mother who gives us God’s Son.
— Deacon Matthew Newsome. Reprinted from his Test Everything blog.