NOTES for Joh 19:26-27

The Gospels tell very sparingly about the life of the Mother of God, which makes the small details they do give all the more important. The youngest of the disciples, John, the one whom Jesus loved, takes on care for Jesus' Mother. Even on the cross Jesus does not forget Her and entrusts Her to His beloved disciple. This has a purely everyday meaning: women in Israel did not support themselves; they were homemakers, and their livelihood was earned first by fathers, then husbands, and then sons. With Jesus' death Mary had no one left to provide for Her life, and She had no savings; the Holy Family had always lived in poverty. Therefore Jesus' care for Her in the last moments of His earthly life is very important for both of Them.

But there is another meaning as well. The Church created by Christ is called to continue His work, to do everything He did. By receiving Mary, the disciples show themselves to be Jesus' brothers, and the Church becomes one family, in which there is a Father, there is a Mother, and there are children, brothers and sisters to one another, living in unity with Christ, in obedience to the Father, and in care for the Mother, who overshadows them with her motherly love.