Day: May 24, 2026

A reading from the book of Genesis
3:9-15, 20

After Adam had eaten of the tree,
the LORD God called to him and asked him, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden;
but I was afraid, because I was naked,
so I hid myself.”
Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?
You have eaten, then,
from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”
The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—
she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”
The LORD God then asked the woman,
“Why did you do such a thing?”
The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this, you shall be banned
from all the animals
and from all the wild creatures;
On your belly shall you crawl,
and dirt shall you eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
He will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel.”
The man called his wife Eve,
because she became the mother of all the living.

OR:

A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
1:12-14

After Jesus had been taken up to heaven,
the Apostles returned to Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a sabbath day’s journey away.

When they entered the city
they went to the upper room where they were staying,
Peter and John and James and Andrew,
Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew,
James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot,
and Judas son of James.
All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

From the Gospel according to John
19:25-34

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved,
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 into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, “I thirst.”
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
“It is finished.”
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately Blood and water flowed out.

The Lord himself knows that we need refuge and shelter in the midst of so many dangers.  This is why at the most critical moment on the cross, he said to his beloved disciple, to every disciple: “Behold, your Mother!” (Jn 19:27).  The Mother is not (…) something optional; she is Christ’s witness.  And we need her as a traveller needs refreshment, as a small child needs to be carried in one’s arms.  There is great danger for the faith if we live without our Mother, without her protection, allowing ourselves to be carried along by life like leaves by the wind.  The Lord knows this, and recommends that we welcome his Mother.  This is not a question of spiritual etiquette, but is needed for us to live.  Loving her is not a poem; it is a question of being alive.  For without a Mother we cannot be sons and daughters.  And before all else, we are sons and daughters, beloved sons and daughters, who have God as Father and Our Lady as Mother.The Second Vatican Council teaches that Mary is “a sign of sure hope and solace to the people of God during its sojourn on earth” (Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, VIII, V).  It is a sign, the sign that God has placed for us.  If we do not follow it, we will lose our way.  For there are signposts in the spiritual life, that are to be adhered to.  They show to us “who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties” (ibid., 62), the Mother who has already reached her destination.  Who better than she can accompany us on the journey?  What are we waiting for?  Just as the disciple beneath the cross received the Mother, “took her to his own home”, says the Gospel (Jn 19:27), so we too (…) invite Mary to our home, into our hearts, our lives. (Pope Francis, Homily, Basilica of Saint Mary Major, 28 January 2018)