Meditation:

The names with which Mary is addressed throughout the New Testament reveal to us her motherhood: she is the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church, that is, our mother. In the ancient Jewish world the name expressed the reality of the person: the identity and the mission. The first time Mary is addressed is by the angel Gabriel. (The angels are God's messengers, doing and saying only what God commands them to do and say.) The angel addresses Mary, "Hail, full of grace!" "'Full of grace' is the name Mary possesses in the eyes of God" (John Paul II, Theotokos, 88). Why has God given Mary this tremendous gift of grace even before the savior comes into the world? Precisely because Mary is to be the mother of the savior. Mary, from the first moment of her conception and from all eternity in the mind of God, was to be sinless so as to be a fitting dwelling place, an immaculate mother for the Son of God.

As recounted to us in the second joyful mystery, when Jesus is merely a few weeks old in her womb, Mary goes to Elizabeth to help her aged and pregnant kinswoman. Scripture says that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and greeting Mary with a blessing she continues, "Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" Even before the birth of Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary, she who was first hailed "full of grace" is recognized and proclaimed as Mother of God! As Mother of God it is her mission to bring Him to us. The third and fourth mysteries also firmly establish within our beliefs that Mary is the Mother of God.

In the fifth joyful mystery, when Jesus is found in the Temple after three days, the mystery of Mary's motherhood begins to widen. Coming upon Jesus in the Temple. Mary addresses Him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." She herself claims her rightful position; she calls him 'son' and couples herself with His legal father, Joseph. His vocal replay does not acknowledge the importance of this merely physical relationship (though we are told that He returned to Nazareth and was obedient to them). In fact, His vocal reply seems to be a rebuff. He answers, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" Jesus is deepening Mary's understanding of His mission and consequently her own mission as well. He does not acknowledge the importance of the physical relationship, but He does point to His true Father. He is preparing her for the day in Cana and again from the Cross when He will address her as "Woman". As the "woman" of Genesis, who being at enmity with satan brought forth the savior that would crush the serpent's head, her mission is universalized and as the "woman" of Genesis, she, more than Eve, will be the mother of all the living. This reality was formalized at the foot of the Cross, when looking down on Mary and John, Jesus says, "Woman, behold your son, " and to John, "Behold your mother." Yes, Mary is our mother, too.