Homily | May 25, 2026 | Why The Church Places Mary Right After Pentecost | (Episode 135)

Today, the church celebrates the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.

There's something very beautiful about this feast day that many Catholics do not know.

The church places this memorial the day after Pentecost.

Think about that.

Yesterday we celebrated the birth of the church.

Fire comes down.

The power of the Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles.

They go out, the mission begins.

And today, immediately after the church is born, the church gives us a mother.

This is not accidental, because every family needs a mother.

This feast was added to the universal calendar by Pope Francis in 2018.

But the truth itself is ancient.

The church has always believed Mary is not only the mother of Jesus, she is the mother of the church.

Why?

Because she is present at the two great moments of the church's birth.

She's there at the incarnation when Christ takes flesh, and she's there at Pentecost when the church receives the Spirit.

She's at the beginning always.

And she takes us to today's gospel.

Jesus is dying.

The world is collapsing around him.

The cross stands before Mary.

And in that one final act, that one final act of his earthly life, Jesus looks down and says, Woman, behold your son.

Then he turns to John, behold your mother.

I want you to notice something.

Jesus does not say, John, take care of my mother.

He gives her.

He entrusts her.

The fathers of the church saw John here not simply as John.

John represents every disciple, every baptized Christian.

Meaning at the foot of the cross, Mary becomes mother to all who follow Christ.

And then something fascinating happens in the first reading.

We hear Adam after the fall.

God asks, Where are you?

One of the greatest questions where are you?

Adam hides.

Sin enters, fear enters, shame enters, humanity breaks.

Then God says something extraordinary to the serpent.

I will put enmity between you and the woman.

The woman.

The church has always read this as the first whisper of Mary.

Eve brought death into the world through disobedience.

Mary brings life through obedience.

Eve says yes to the serpent.

Mary says yes to God.

Eve becomes mother of the fallen, Mary becomes mother of the redeemed.

The first Eve stands near a tree and humanity falls.

The new Eve, Mary, stands near the tree of the cross and salvation enters the world.

Do you see the beauty?

The Bible begins with a woman.

The gospel begins with a woman.

The church begins with a woman.

Mary is there every time God begins something new.

Maybe that's the teaching for us today.

Because maybe many people think devotion to Mary takes attention away from Jesus.

Absolutely not.

It does the opposite.

Mary never keeps anything for herself.

At Cana, what does she say?

Do whatever he tells you.

At the cross, she receives us.

At Pentecost, she prays with the apostles.

Her whole life points away from her and towards Christ, her son.

And maybe somebody today listening to this needs to hear this.

The church has a mother, which means nobody walks alone.

Nobody suffers alone.

Nobody carries the cross alone.

Why?

Because a mother notices, a mother prays, a mother stays.

Everyone ran from Calvary.

Mary was there.

That is why Catholics have loved her for 2,000 years.

Not because she replaces Jesus.

Not because she takes us, but because she takes us to him.

And I want to end there.

Yesterday we prayed, Come, Holy Spirit, come.

Today the church whispers, Take your mother home.

John did.

The gospel says, from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

The question today is, have we?

Not in theory, not in theology, in life.

Because perhaps one of the most beautiful things a Christian can say is this Jesus gave me his mother, and she has never stopped leading me back to her son.

Amen.