Prayer for the sick
Feast of the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
The prayer for the sick is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 19,25-34
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, 'Woman, this is your son.' Then to the disciple he said, 'This is your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed and, so that the scripture should be completely fulfilled, he said: I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a hyssop stick, they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus had taken the wine he said, 'It is fulfilled'; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit. It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies' remaining on the cross during the Sabbath -- since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity -- the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
After celebrating the great feast of Pentecost -- which had marked the beginning of the history of the Church in the world - the liturgy invites us to contemplate Mary with the title of Mother of the Church. We could say that this maternity is evident beneath the cross, when Jesus himself said to Mary: "Woman here is you son" and to the disciple "Here is your mother." These words of Jesus speak to our lives, to each of us who so easily wants to be safe, to avoid problems and even more suffering and the challenges of evil. We could say that wherever a community of disciples is formed beneath the cross, a sign of every human suffering, there is the Church. We need to be at the side of the many crosses of the world to receive the consolation of finding a mother and a son, brothers and sisters, who do not abandon us or leave us alone. "From that moment" the Gospel says, "the disciple took her into his house." To take into the homes, in our hearts the mother of Jesus means to be with her under the many crosses of the world as a sign of hope, as a sign of new life that is reborn, as a sign of a new family which forms and generates welcome and solidarity.