“And From that Hour…”

Today we celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and a blessed feast to all of you!

I was struck by the Gospel at Holy Mass today. It was taken from John 19 – the Passion of Our Lord.

We know who stood by the cross of Jesus. Sheen tells us that Mary, Mary Magdalene, and John represent to us the “three figures ever to be found beneath the cross of Our Lord: Innocence, Penitence, and Priesthood.”

Leaving aside Magdalene for the moment… I have so many sins I could spend the rest of eternity offering penance. And I should.

But let us focus just on the Mother and the Disciple whom Jesus loved. John here also represents all of us – the Church. Our Lord was giving His Mother to us to be our Mother too.

“And from that hour, the disciple took her into his home.”

Is it that simple? I believe it is. He gave her to us. She is our Mother now. And we must, especially in these times when the Church is in terrible eclipse, abandoned by all the Apostles while Our Lord’s Body writhes in agony and dies an ignominious death for us, we MUST immediately take her into our homes.

If your family’s abode is not a Marian shrine, if she is not welcomed and loved and honored; well then, I cannot help you. And for the times when that image of her Immaculate Heart on my wall was so often neglected by me as I walked past in haste, not stopping to acknowledge my loving Mother, I must learn from Magdalene, casting myself at His feet and weeping.

Mother of Fair Love, pray for us, your children!