Christ the Cornerstone

Join with Mary as her son’s missionary disciple

May the Virgin Mary, whose entire life was a response to the Lord’s call, always accompany us in following Jesus (Pope Leo XIV).

Tomorrow, May 31, is the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a very appropriate conclusion to this month dedicated to Mary. Tomorrow, as we recall her journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth, we will acknowledge gratefully Mary’s role as the first missionary disciple of her Son, Jesus Christ.

Mary was also the first Christian evangelist, the first to introduce the Incarnate Word of God to the world.

In her journey to “the hill country” to visit Elizabeth, who was also carrying an unborn child, Mary brought with her Emmanuel (God-with-us) and shared him with her cousin and with the child who Scripture tells us “leaped in his mother’s womb” (Lk 1:39-56).

This child would, of course, become St. John the Baptist, “the voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare for the coming of the Lord!” and the last great Old Testament prophet (Mk 1:3). What Mary set in motion, silently proclaiming the joy of the Gospel, John carried forward.

On the day he was elected pope, May 8, 2025, in his very first public message, “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world), Pope Leo XIV called our attention to the Blessed Virgin Mary:

Our Mother Mary always wants to walk at our side, to remain close to us, to help us with her intercession and her love. So I would like to pray together with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world, and let us ask Mary, our Mother, for this special grace: Hail Mary …

Our new pope continues what Mary started in her journey to “a town of Judah where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth” (Lk 1:39-40). Her cousin’s response is powerful:

Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. (Lk 1:42-45)

This greeting is the inspiration for the Hail Mary, the prayer that Pope Leo invited us to join him in praying on his first day as pope, and we are urged to pray this familiar prayer frequently, in the Rosary and in our daily prayers, because it brings us close to the Mother of Jesus who is also our Mother, the Mother of the Church.

In the Gospel reading for the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Lk 1:39-56), St. Luke the Evangelist recounts Mary’s exuberant song, the Magnificat, which not only celebrates God’s goodness, but also provides the Church with the foundational elements of her social teaching:

He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. (Lk 1:50-53)

As Pope Leo teaches, our Blessed Mother wants to remain close to us, and walk with us, as we seek to be her Son’s missionary disciples. Our mission is to praise Almighty God

as Mary did. And the plan we are called to execute is spelled out for us in the Beatitudes and in the Lord’s call to deny ourselves and take up our crosses as we follow him, the only true source of our unity and peace.

The program that we missionary disciples are called to follow is outlined in tomorrow’s second reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans:

Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation. (Rom 12:12-16)

This is the way Mary lived, and by her witness we can discover what is required of us if we truly want to be Spirit-filled evangelizers as she was.

With Mary, let us proclaim God’s greatness and rejoice in the glory of his name. May we be faithful missionary disciples. Now and forever. Amen! †