Ordinary Time resumes after Pentecost with the memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church, a recent feast that responds to the desire of many to acknowledge Mary’s role in the Church of Jesus Christ. Appropriately, the feast immediately follows Pentecost, when the Church was bornthrough the Holy Spirit. 

The readings for this feast are from the Book of Genesis and John’s gospel. Mary, the new Eve, stands at the Cross as life-giving blood and water flow from the side of her Son.

Mary will always be present in the Church, a woman of prayer, a mother proclaiming the promises of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

O God, Father of mercies, 

whose Only Begotten Son, as he hung upon the Cross, 

chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother, to be our Mother also; 

grant, we pray, 

that with her loving help, 

your Church may be more fruitful day by day, 

and exulting in the holiness of her children, 

may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.

Amen.