Aug. 5 - Feast of Mary

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major:

…The Basilica of Saint Mary Major owes its true beginnings of history to a particular event and one man. The Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (431) is the event where Mary was officially declared the Mother of God. The man is Sixtus III, the Pope who, several years after this declaration was made, wanted a Church to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to be built on the Esquiline hill. After more than 1,500 years and despite the additions and modifications in the interior and exterior, the Basilica is fundamentally the one of Sixtus II. It is the the most significant Marian interest in Rome. It is the first, the greatest, the largest, and the most important Church dedicated to the Mother of God, the “Theotokos.”… For more see HERE

The Church Jesus Founded is more than a building, of course. The Catholic Church is the Bride of Christ and Mary is the perfection to which we as His members are called. The Church is a beautiful Mystery of Christ the Bridegroom and His Love for His Bride the Church. Just as in marriage the two become one, in a mysterious way we are called into union with God in Christ. As the Bride takes the name of her husband so we have been called Christians. The Church is also called Mother. Mary is unique in God’s Plan as Virgin Bride and Mother of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states it so clearly in paragraph 972, Part III of her explanation of Mary’s Motherhood in Regard to the Church:

III. MARY - ESCHATOLOGICAL ICON OF THE CHURCH

972 After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her own “pilgrimage of faith,” and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. There, “in the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity,” “in the communion of all the saints,”(516) The Church is awaited by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.

In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.(517)

Footnotes 516 and 517 both reference the Vatican II Document on the Church, “Lumen Gentium” (Light to the Nations):
516 - “Lumen Gentium” paragraph 69.
517 - “Lumen Gentium” paragraph 68; (see also 2 Pet 3:10).

Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.