When Jesus Christ was near death on the Cross, he saw his mother Mary standing with his Disciple John and said, “Woman, here is your son,” and to John, “Here is your mother.”
John wrote in 19:26-27 of his Gospel, “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”
The Rev. Timothy Hayter, pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Ballinger, says John was representing the apostles when he accepted the responsibility of looking after Mary at his home in Ephesus, Greece.
“Mary for us is the symbol of the church, so Jesus was asking John and the apostles to take care of his mother and take care of the church of his people,” Father Timothy said. “John is seen as the beloved disciple who was very close to Jesus. He is the one who was with Jesus all the way to the Cross.
“There was a great sense of faithfulness on John’s part and on Mary’s part to take care of each other like the church today shows us the need to take care of one another.”
Citing the Annunciation when the Archangel Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:26-37 that she would bear the Son of God, Hayter said, “Mary’s obedience began the Gospel story as she answered Gabriel, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.’
“She had faith in God for the task he had given her,” Hayter said. “John was the first apostle and Mary was the first to receive Jesus into her life in a very real way.
“Through her Jesus came into the world and took on the flesh. She was still very young, about 14, betrothed to Joseph, and we see her living that all the way to taking Jesus to the temple and finding him there.
“The most impressive thing to me is that she was with Jesus all the way to the foot of the Cross. How difficult it must have been for her to endure that.”
Hayter said Mary had played an important role in Jesus’ ministry from the start, prompting him to turn water into wine at a wedding in Cana.
“We see her challenging Jesus in John 2:1-11 and he ends up performing his first miracle,” he said.
After the Crucifixion and Jesus’s Ascension, Hayter said, Mary is seen leading a life of prayer with the apostles as the first church is formed.
“The apostles were like sons to Mary,” Hayter said.
When Mary goes to stay with her aunt Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with John the Baptist, she sings this song in Luke 1:46-55:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God
My Savior, for he has been mindful
Of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations
Will call me blessed, for the Mighty One
Has done great things for me. Holy
Is his name. His mercy extends
To those who fear him from generation
To generation. He has performed
Mighty deeds with his arm; he has
Scattered those who are proud in their inmost
Thoughts. He has brought down rulers
From their thrones but has lifted up
The humble. He has filled the hungry
With good things but has sent the rich
Away empty. He has helped his servant
Israel, remembering to be merciful
To Abraham and his descendants
Forever just as he promised
Our ancestors.”
