E23: The Mystery of Mary at the Cross

Why does the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows fall the day after we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross?

How is the birth of Jesus and his Presentation at the Temple connected with his mother being present at the foot of his cross?

Join us for the newest episode of Catholicism 101 as we reflect on the Mystery of Mary as the New Eve and what’s really happening at the foot of the cross.

Resources:

A Question of Faith: When Was the Church Born? | The Catholic Telegraph

From Mother to Woman: Mary’s Role at Cana | Venerable Fulton Sheen 

The Unity Cross – Mosaic & Crucifix

Mary as New Eve, the Mystical Rose - images

"The Cross as a Wedding" | Venerable Fulton Sheen

Evidence for Mary’s Painless Childbirth | Catholic Answers

Theology of the Body & The Marian Mystery | TOBI

These Alone Are Enough · Dan Schutte
Journeysongs Third Edition: Volume 21 ℗ 2012 OCP. All rights reserved. All selections BMI. | Streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-727031

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Transcript

·       The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is celebrated each year on September 14th to commemorate the discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena, who was the mother of the Emperor, Constantine, in 320 AD. The following day, September 15th, we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, as established by Pope Pius X.

o   The feast of our Lady of Sorrows commemorates the 7 Sorrows of Mary: (1)The Prophecy of Simeon, (2)The Flight to Egypt, (3)The Loss of Jesus in the Temple, (4)Meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary, (5)The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus, (6)The Taking Down of Jesus from the Cross, and (7) The Burial of Jesus.

o   These two feast days occurring back to back can easily seem like a couple of grim days for the Church, and you might even consider wearing black to Mass on these days. But, in this episode I want to highlight the heights of glory that is born from these great depths of sorrow. 

§  The Church herself actually prays this beautifully in the Communion Antiphon for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows: Rejoice when you share in the sufferings of Christ, that you may also rejoice exultantly when His glory is revealed.” (1 Pt 4:13)

·       Throughout our lives we learn that Pentecost is celebrated as the Birthday of the Church—and this is true—but because the Church is a mystical body, her birthday cannot be contained by just one day. 

o   The earliest Christians commonly said that ‘The world was created for the sake of the Church.’ Thus, we can say that the birthday of the Church is at the beginning of time. If we were to consider a day as the Church’s proper birthday, we could say that it is Good Friday: “As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross.” (CCC 766, St. Ambrose). Finally, the most popular celebration of the Church’s birthday is that of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and visibly sent the Church on mission; “St. Pope John Paul II said, “As the Fathers teach, [the Church] was born on the Cross on Good Friday; she revealed this birth to the world on the day of Pentecost [in her sacramental fullness.]”

·       The Church in Infancy |Marriage & Babies go together” – there is a much deeper meaning to this than the context in which it is often shared with us. Whether we are encouraging or being encouraged not to live with a partner before marriage, have children together without being married, or get married with no intentions of having children, the truth that is at the core of this goes beyond what is simply ‘right and wrong to do in the eyes of the Lord and His Church.’

o   What if I told you that the scene of Mary at the foot of the Cross with the Beloved Disciple (John) is not only a wedding, but a birth? In fact, what if I told you that we celebrate this very marriage and birth every time we go to Mass?

·       “Now we’ve always thought, and rightly so, of Christ the Son on the cross and the mother beneath him. But that’s not the complete picture. That’s not the deep understanding. Who is our Lord on the cross? He’s the new Adam. Where’s the new Eve? At the foot of the cross. … If Eve became the mother of the living in the natural order, is not this woman at the foot of the cross to become another mother? And so the bridegroom looks down at the bride. He looks at his beloved. Christ looks at his Church. There is here the birth of the Church. As St. Augustine puts it, and here I am quoting him verbatim, ‘The heavenly bridegroom left the heavenly chambers, with the presage of the nuptials before him. He came to the marriage bed of the cross, a bed not of pleasure, but of pain, united himself with the woman, and consummated the union forever. As it were, the blood and water that came from the side of Christ was the spiritual seminal fluid.’ And so from these nuptials ‘Woman, there’s your son’ this is the beginning of the Church.” (Venerable Fulton Sheen)

o   Every single time we celebrate Mass we are brought to the foot of the Cross. In fact, this moment on Calvary, where blood and water gush forth from the heart of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us, lies at the center of all time. 

§  ***describe kryos with a timeline as actually a time circle, maybe picture Saturn in your head—where Calvary is the center of time, and each of our lives and periods of time revolve around that moment. But, we are still connected to that very moment and brought back to it at every single Mass*** 

o    “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eucharistic Prayer II)

§  Mary is the New Eve, and a beautiful title of hers is Rosa Mystica – The Mystical Rose. 

§  The base of a rose is called the calyx – which shares the same latin root as chalice – ‘cup’

·       Just as the dewfall is collected into the opened calyx of a rose, giving it life, so too does the complete self-gift of Christ find it’s home in the heart of Mary.

o   “In marriage, it is man who gives the seed; it is the woman who receives it, nourishes, it, and brings it to life… the sower of the good seed is the Son of Man—the Word of God. Hence, at the very opening of the side of Christ and the shedding of blood and water, [giving life to] the Church; for our Blessed Mother stood there as the Mother of the Church…” (Venerable Fulton Sheen)

o   The Unity Cross depicts the Virgin Mary — the "woman" at the foot of the cross — as an icon of the Church and humanity, receiving the blood of the crucified Christ in a chalice. It is the moment of the mystical, spousal union of the New Adam and the New Eve.

§  In fact, Calvary is also called Golgotha—the place of the skull. Who’s skull? Adam’s. 

§  Evidence of the earthquake following the death of Jesus can still be seen today in the Holy Land at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The very crack at the base of the Cross ends in a place called the Chapel of Adam—the place where Adam is thought to have been buried.

·       This crack allowed the blood of Christ to flow down into the earth, upon the skull of Adam, redeeming him and all of the children of Adam—us.

o   From the Preface for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross: “it is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God. For you placed the salvation of the human race on the wood of the Cross, so that, where death arose, life might again spring forth and the evil one, who conquered on a tree, might likewise on a tree be conquered, through Christ our Lord.”

·       Aren’t Weddings and Babies supposed to joyful..? 

o   “According to St. John Damascene, the pains that our Lady was spared in Bethlehem she endured on Calvary; the birth of the Head was in joy, but the birth of the Mystical Body was in sorrow.” (Fr. John Saward, Cradle of Redeeming Love: The Theology of the Christmas Mystery)

§  This is the very fulfillment of Simeon’s prophecy when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to be presented at the Temple: 

·       Jesus' father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." (Lk 2:33-35)

o   The JOY of Christ’s Birth at Christmas and the GIFT of painless labor given to Mary at the birth of her Son became a source of great strength for the AGONY of the cross that leads to the ECSTACY of Heaven!

§  The JOY and EXCITEMENT of a woman when she discovers that she is pregnant becomes one of the many sources of strength that carry her through the AGONY of childbirth—the very agony that leads to the ECSTACY of holding your newborn baby and all of the memories to follow. 

·       “There’s nothing quite like it.”