EVANGELII GAUDIUM - page 212

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saving mission. Jesus left us his mother to be our
mother. Only after doing so did Jesus know that
“all was now finished”
(
Jn
19:28). At the foot of
the cross, at the supreme hour of the new crea-
tion, Christ led us to Mary. He brought us to her
because he did not want us to journey without
a mother, and our people read in this maternal
image all the mysteries of the Gospel. The Lord
did not want to leave the Church without this
icon of womanhood. Mary, who brought him
into the world with great faith, also accompa-
nies “the rest of her offspring, those who keep
the commandments of God and bear testimo-
ny to Jesus” (
Rev
12:17). The close connection
between Mary, the Church and each member of
the faithful, based on the fact that each in his or
her own way brings forth Christ, has been beau-
tifully expressed by Blessed Isaac of Stella: “In
the inspired Scriptures, what is said in a universal
sense of the virgin mother, the Church, is under-
stood in an individual sense of the Virgin Mary...
In a way, every Christian is also believed to be
a bride of God’s word, a mother of Christ, his
daughter and sister, at once virginal and fruitful...
Christ dwelt for nine months in the tabernacle
of Mary’s womb. He dwells until the end of the
ages in the tabernacle of the Church’s faith. He
will dwell forever in the knowledge and love of
each faithful soul”.
212
212
 I
saac of
S
tella
,
Sermo
51: PL
194, 1863, 1865.
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