Day 8: Spiritual Motherhood

The eighth day of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Novena turns to the doctrinal foundation of the entire devotion: the Catholic teaching that the Blessed Virgin Mary is, in the order of grace, the spiritual mother of every baptized Christian. This motherhood is not metaphorical but real, given by the Lord Jesus Himself from the Cross.

Today's invocation

O Mother of Perpetual Help, with the greatest confidence I come before your sacred image to implore your help. (Continue with the full opening prayer.)

Today's meditation

The Gospel of Saint John records the moment in which Mary's spiritual motherhood was instituted. As the Lord Jesus hung on the Cross, He saw His Mother standing at the foot with the disciple whom He loved (Saint John). "He said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son!' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home" (John 19:26-27). The Catholic tradition has read this scene from the patristic age onward as the institution of Mary's universal spiritual motherhood: the disciple at the foot of the Cross stands for every baptized Christian, and Mary is given to all the baptized as their Mother.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church articulates this Catholic teaching: "By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a 'preeminent and... wholly unique member of the Church'; indeed, she is the 'exemplary realization' of the Church" (CCC 967). And further: "The Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men... flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it" (CCC 970, citing Lumen Gentium 60).

Today's intention

Today, bring to the Mother of Perpetual Help your awareness of her real motherhood of you. Mary, my Mother, whom the Lord gave to me from the Cross, attend to me with maternal love. As I have been your child since my Baptism, draw me ever more deeply into the protection of your heart.

If you have not yet made a formal Marian consecration (such as the Totus Tuus consecration of Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort, treated more fully in the consecration day of the Mary Undoer of Knots Novena), today is a fitting day to consider it. The formal Marian consecration is the deliberate Catholic act of receiving Mary as Mother in the way the Lord intends.

Reflection

The Catholic doctrine of Mary's spiritual motherhood has practical consequences for the daily Catholic life. The soul that has truly received Mary as Mother lives differently. There is a particular comfort in recognizing that we are not orphans in the spiritual life: we have a Mother in heaven who attends to us with the love of the perfect Mother of the Lord Jesus Himself. There is a particular discipline in living up to this motherhood: as a son honors his mother, so the Catholic faithful honor Mary by daily prayer to her, by keeping her image in our homes, by celebrating her feasts in the liturgical year, and by entrusting our family relationships to her care.

The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, contemplated in this light, is a continuous visual reminder of this spiritual motherhood. The face of Mary, turned toward the viewer (an unusual feature of the icon, as most Marian icons turn the Virgin's eyes toward the Christ Child or toward heaven), addresses every Catholic who looks at the icon: Behold, here is your Mother. Receive me into your home.

Closing prayers

Pray three times each: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Mother of Perpetual Help, my Mother, given to me by my Lord from the Cross, pray for us.