Jesus, seeing his Mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, said to his Mother: Woman, behold your son. It was the last gift of Jesus before his death; he gave us his Mother as our Mother.
Since then, the disciple of Christ has something that is proper to him: he has Mary as his Mother. Her place as Mother in the Church will be forever: from that hour the disciple received her into his home8. That is the hour of Jesus, who with his redemptive death inaugurates a new era until the end of time. Since then, "if we want to be Christians, we must be Marian"; to be a good Christian it is necessary to have a great love for Mary. The work of Jesus can be summed up in two marvelous realities: he gave us divine filiation, making us children of God, and he made us children of Holy Mary.
A third century author, Origen, notes that Jesus did not say to Mary "this is also your son", but "behold your son"; and since Mary had no other son than Jesus, his words are equivalent to saying to her: "this will be for you from now on Jesus". Our Lady sees in every Christian her son Jesus. She treats us as if Christ himself were in our place. How will she forget us when she sees us in need? What will she not obtain from her Son on our behalf? We can never imagine, not even remotely, Mary's love for each one of us.
Let us get used to encountering Holy Mary as we celebrate or participate in Holy Mass. There, "in the sacrifice of the Altar, Our Lady's participation evokes for us the silent rectitude with which she accompanied the life of her Son as he walked through the land of Palestine. The Holy Mass is an action of the Trinity; by the will of the Father, cooperating with the Holy Spirit, the Son offers himself in redemptive oblation. In this unfathomable mystery, we see, as if veiled, the most pure face of Mary: Daughter of God the Father, Mother of God the Son, Spouse of God the Holy Spirit.
"The encounter with Jesus in the Sacrifice of the Altar necessarily brings with it an encounter with Mary, his Mother. Whoever encounters Jesus also encounters the Virgin without blemish, as happened to those holy people - the Magi - who went to adore Christ: entering the house, they found the Child with Mary, his Mother (Mt 2:11) "11. With her, we can offer our whole life - all our thoughts, our cares, our work, our affections, our actions, our loves - identifying ourselves with the same sentiments that Christ Jesus had:12 Holy Father, we say to her in the intimacy of our heart, and we can repeat it interiorly during Holy Mass, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary I offer you Jesus your beloved Son and I offer myself in him, with him and through him to all his intentions and in the name of all creatures.
To celebrate or attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar as is fitting is the best service we can render to Jesus, to his Mystical Body and to all humanity. Together with Mary, in the Holy Mass we are particularly united to the whole Church.