Outline

Introduction 3

The Cross at the Center 5

The Four Dimensions of the Cross (by Love) 7

To Be in the Winepress 10

Near the Cross are the Mother and the Disciple 12

Woman, There is your Son (Jn 19:26) 17

Son, There is your Mother (Jn 19:27) 22

Near the Cross with Hope 24

Biblical Text: Jn 19:25-27. 27

Text of St. Augustine (En. in Ps. 83, 1) 27

Text of the Constitutions (No. 151) 27

Text of the Magisterium (EG 285) 28

Recollect Text (PEDRO DE SAN JOSÉ, Glorias de María Santísima, Huesca 1644)

“BEHOLD YOUR MOTHER”

Trial, Loneliness and Pain

(Jn 19:25-27)

Introduction

The beloved disciple of Christ is born in Baptism (Jn 3:5), he/she is being configured with Christ throughout his/her life, and he/she is confirmed and ratified in Calvary, when the cross appears.

St. Augustine is aware that the one who does not wish to participate in the Passion of Christ is not a true disciple, and that to follow Christ, means as the Gospels reminds us, to take up our cross and follow Him (Mt 16:24):

The Fatherland is on high, the way there is humble. The Fatherland is the life of Christ, and the way is the death of Christ. The Fatherland is the dwelling place of Christ, the way is the Passion of Christ. He who refuses the way, why does he/she seek the Fatherland?1

It is true that the goal towards which our life is directed is that of the Resurrection in the City of God, but the way is the Passion of Christ and His Cross.2 The beloved disciple must face the moments of the cross and difficulty in his/her life, in order to participate in the glory of the Master. For this reason the text that serves as our lectio divina situates us in front of this reality, the following of Christ leads us to the participation with the Master of the cross, with the suffering, the loneliness and by giving meaning to these moments of pain as part of the proper configuration of the beloved disciple.3

Our text of the lectio divina presents to us the moment during which being Jesus on the Cross, He sees at His side His Mother and the Beloved Disciple, and entrusts to him the care of His Mother, granting him the greatest gift of all, because He makes him son of His own Mother, that is, in some sense, He also made him son of the Virgin Mary. The scene that the text of the lectio divina suggests to us is principally drawn on three scenes. In the first place, we see the Cross and Christ Himself on the Cross. Later we can see the Mother of Jesus, Mary, as a strong woman who is at the foot of the Cross of her Son. And finally, we see also the fidelity and the love of the Beloved Disciple. These three elements will help us in our reflection.

The Cross at the Center

The first person who appears before our eyes in the text that serves as our lectio divina is precisely Christ Himself on the Cross (Jn 19:25). The true beloved disciple of Christ must know that in the path of following he/she will encounter the Cross, and that he/she is obliged not to reject the Cross of Christ, but to embrace it with love. That is why St. Augustine says: “Do not go away from the cross of Christ”. 4 We must learn from the Cross the lesson that this teaches us, because all desire the glory of Christ, but very few want to follow the way that leads to it, which is precisely the Way of the Cross:

Whoever does not want to follow Christ to the place where happiness is supreme; and security and peace are likewise everlasting? It is good to follow Him to such place; one must see by what way. Indeed, the Lord Jesus did not say these after having risen from the dead. He had not resurrected yet; He had to pass through the cross, dishonor, affront, flagellation, the crowning of thorns, the wounds, the insults, the disgrace, death.5

According to St. Augustine, it is a lesson, in the first place of conversion, knowing that the beloved disciple, as St. Paul points out, must live crucified for the world (Gal 2:19-20), dying to the old man and allowing the new man to live in him (Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22):

(…) know therefore that in Christ crucified men learn many more things, and above all that our old man has been crucified together, so that the body of sin may be driven away and that we may no longer serve sin. For this reason he also says about himself: But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which - the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Therefore, consider well and see how Christ crucified is taught and learned without forgetting that it also belongs to His Cross that we are crucified in His body for the world. Here is seen every suppression of bad concupiscence.6

A second lesson that needs to be learned from the Cross is humility.7 Christ humbled Himself and emptied Himself as St. Paul reminds us, not only by becoming a man, but also by accepting death and death on a cross (Phil 2:7-11). The beloved disciple must learn at the school of the Cross to overthrow his/her pride, and realize that only the way of humility is the way that leads to God, because Christ is the Master of the humility,8 who taught not only with His words, but with His life and particularly with His death. Therefore, one must glory in the Cross, because it is a school of humility:

This is the Christian doctrine, the precept and recommendation of humility; not to boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because there is no greatness in glorifying in the wisdom of Christ, but yes it is in doing it in His Cross. 9

The Four Dimensions of the Cross (by Love)

For St. Augustine, the cross has fundamentally four dimensions, the Bishop of Hippo basing himself on the text of Eph 3:18), in which St. Paul describes the dimensions of the love of Christ, love that is manifested according to the way of thinking of St. Augustine, in the Cross of Christ. It is about a frequently repeated interpretation in the Augustinian work10 so we can think that it was an important reflection for St. Augustine. Thus, the first dimension of the Cross would be the horizontal crossbar where the hands were nailed. According to the Bishop of Hippo this horizontal wood points to the horizontal relations, that is to say to those that we human beings have with our neighbors, and they are an invitation to perform good works, while the time of our pilgrimage lasts, to show our love by means of good works:

Indeed on the cross the width corresponds to the transversal piece of wood, to which the hands are nailed, as a sign of the good works.11

The second dimension is the vertical. It is about an intermediary part of the vertical crossbar, on which the Body of Christ was nailed, on which the Body of Christ was in some way “extended”. That is why for St. Augustine it represents the perseverance until the end,12 knowing that being able to persevere in the way of God is not an achievement of human power, but is before anything else, a gift of God that is necessary to ask with humility all the days of our life, as pilgrims that we are of the City of God:

The length corresponds to the part of the wood that goes from the transversal crossbar to the ground: on it the body is crucified and in a certain way it is maintained in vertical position, a position that symbolizes perseverance.13

A third dimension that the cross has is the one that is represented by the sign placed on the top of the cross, that invites us to look upward, to aspire for superior goods, to know that the Cross and Passion of Christ must invite the beloved disciple to always go beyond, to go to the deepest meaning of his/her life (Duc en altum: Lk 5:4), not to remain in material things but to aspire for the things of heaven:14

The height corresponds to what stands out from the transversal crossbar upward, with which the expectation of superior goods is symbolized.15

And the fourth dimension is represented by the fact that the cross was deeply driven to the ground. For St. Augustine, this element represents, on one part, the profound and mysterious plans of God by which God grants us His grace so that we may attain salvation. On other occasions and in other texts this fourth dimension represents for St. Augustine the inscrutable designs of faith. The Augustinian text would be the following:

In the depth I see the part of the wood that is buried and hidden in the earth, and from where all that comes up, as by a hidden will of God is the call man/woman of to the participation of greatest grace, one in one way , the other in another way.16

To Be in the Winepress

St. Augustine likewise interprets the Cross of Christ as the moment during which Christ, as the first bunch of grapes was brought to the winery to be pressed,17 and from Him would come the wine of God. The believers, the beloved disciples of Christ, must follow His way and example. And as St. Augustine points out it is easy to be a beloved disciple of Christ when there are no commitments and when the Cross has not yet appeared. Hence St. Augustine points out that the grapes and olives are peaceful and happy when they are still in the vine or in the olive trees:

In like manner men/women, before consecrating themselves to the service of God, seem to enjoy delightful freedom in the world, something like the olive and the grape that hang on the olive tree and vine. But let us see what the Scripture says: My child, when you come to serve the Lord, remain in justice and fear, and prepare your soul for trial’ (Sir 2:1). If one decides to serve God, let him/her know that he/she has entered into a winery; he/she will, therefore, be troubled, broken and pressed.18

However, a time comes when the grapes and the olives must be brought to the winepress or the oil press, and there they must be crushed, as the text of Sirach 2:1 points out, because whoever receives the grace of being a disciple must be prepared for trial,19 for temptation, which for St. Augustine, always has a twofold dimension, on the one hand, tapeinosis, and on the other hand cognitive. Tapeinosis, because it invites the beloved disciple to be humble. Cognitive, because being human he/she does not know himself/herself, and needs tribulation to know his/her own weakness, limitation and his/her total dependence on God.

The time of being in the mill or in the winepress, is the moment to participate in the Passion of Christ. St. Augustine observes that there are beloved disciples who in moment of difficulty possibly forget the Master, and instead of producing wine or the oil that God expects of them, they produce bitter juice. The teaching that St. Augustine would invite us to have in mind is that in the face of pain and difficulty there is a need to be aware that we are sharing the Cross of Christ, and that this participation in the suffering of Christ must produce good fruit for the wine cellar of God for the good of the Church:

In the winepresses we notice three things: the pressing down, from which are derived two things: one that is gathered; the other that is thrown away. The pressing down is done in the winepress, the compression and the squeezing. By means of these three things the olive is blended in a hidden manner in the oil mill, and the residue is thrown immediately to the ground.20

Near the Cross are the Mother and the Disciple

The text that serves today as the lectio divina has as we have said before, a second scene- that of the Mother and the beloved disciple near the cross. When the time of the crucifixion comes, as St. Augustine observes, the multitudes who had acclaimed Him at the gates of Jerusalem (Mt 21:9-11l Mk 11:9-11; Lk 19:35-38), are no longer present, the enthusiasm His Disciples has disappeared, and even Peter, the strong rock, who said that he was prepared to die with Him (Jn 13:37), has fled (Mt 26:56):21

When Christ was talking, Peter presumed; when Christ was detained, Peter denied. As the stone was seized, the feet faltered, and in the same person of Peter the others fled. Only he denied Him, because only he was left with the One he denied, how much more easily could those who fled before being asked and avoided being detained denied Him!22

The Cross is the moment of solitude, but at the same time it is a time to experience the consolation of one’s Mother - Mary, who is at the foot of the Cross.23 Many famous pictures and paintings represent Mary fainting near the Cross. Possibly one of the most famous is that of Rogier Van der Weyden, in which the artist makes a beautiful linear parallel between the body of Mary fainting next to the Cross, and the Body of Christ, which is lowered from the scaffold. In this painting the Beloved Disciple dressed in a flashy red suit, gently supports the Mother of Christ, who is presented with a pale and contorted face. Certainly this picture and other similar ones respond to a particular kind of devotion, but they are very far from the scene of the Gospel which explicitly presents to us Mary standing at the foot of the Cross. For the Evangelist St. John, Mary is the Strong Woman. In fact the Greek text uses a verb that signifies not only “being”, but particularly “standing” (ístemi/eistékeisan) standing. The Evangelist St. John wishes to present to us the Virgin Mary on Calvary as an example for the believer, who must face the difficulty and the hardest moments with the power of faith itself. St. Augustine points out that the power of Mary comes precisely from her faith; a faith that had led Mary to be more happy for having conceived Jesus in her heart that in her womb.24 A faith that makes Mary to be more happy being a Disciple, than being the Mother of Christ,25 for having heard His word and having put it into practice (Lk 11:27).26

Nevertheless for St. Augustine faith is not a passive entity, as it was not in the Virgin Mary. Faith, as St. Paul points out and on which St. Augustine copiously comments, is a faith that acts out of love (Gal 5:6). The act of being at the Cross is a manifestation of her faith and the fervor of her charity:

Paul established the same thing: that it is not about any kind of faith by which God is believed, but of that healthy and evangelical faith whose works come from love: faith that acts through love. It is clearly seen how he affirms that faith is to no avail that seems to some to be sufficient for salvation, when he says: I might have so much faith as to move mountains, but if have no love, I am nothing. On the other hand, when loves acts with faith, there is no doubt that one lives well… because love is the fullness of the Law.27

In another text St. Augustine will define it better, and will talk about the fervent charity that is characteristic of one who authentically lives his/her faith. For the Bishop of Hippo the faith of Mary was not a mere believing, or a simple acceptance of Christ in her life, but that her faith led her to act precisely moved by love, with the invincible and unshakeable power of love:28

And, together with the Word, He is the Son of man, but by the man, the one from whom he took the Word. By His holy conception in the bosom of a Virgin, carried out not by the ardor of carnal lust, but by the fervor of charity and of the faith, it is said that He was born of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary.29

But above all, for St. Augustine, the Virgin Mary could be standing at the foot of the Cross because her heart that was filled with God, because St. Augustine himself points out, “And he/ she who is filled with love, of whom is he/she filled but with God?”30

Mary, as full of grace, has received the abundant blessing of God who grants her the fervent love of faith that allows her to face the difficulty and death of her Son with the hope of the Resur-rection.

In a sermon St. Augustine is amazed at all the prerogatives that God has given to May, and therefore he rhetorically asks Mary, in order to know how is it possible that God could have given her so much gifts and how is it possible to imitate her. The response that St. Augustine places on the lips of Mary is simple but illustrative:

From where has it come to you? Perhaps it seems insolent to ask the Virgin in this way and press almost inopportunely her chaste ears with these my words? But I see that the Virgin, blushing, answers me and lectures me: “You ask me where all this came from?” I blush to answer you about my good; Listen to the greeting of the angel and recognize in me your salvation. Believe whom and I have believed,”31

In order to face the Cross with firmness like Mary, there is a need to imitate her faith, her love, and her hope in the Resurrection, and to believe in Him she always believed with all her heart.

Woman, There is your Son (Jn 19:26)

St. Augustine observes that this moment of the Cross, when Christ entrusts and gives His own Mother to the Disciple, is a moment during which what had already been prophesied at Cana of Galilee is fulfilled, where in His enigmatic response, had called Mary, “woman”. Again in this text of the Crucifixion, Jesus calls Mary “woman”, in order to make the continuity between both moments. According to St. Augustine in the first place it is not a derogatory word on the lips of Jesus, but serves to point out that Mary is the Mother of the humanity but not of the divinity:

And it does not oblige us to despise the Mother of Christ what He said: What is that between you and Me, woman? My time has not yet arrived. Rather this text calls our attention in order for us to understand that Jesus, as God, does not have a mother; because during that moment He was prepared to manifest the majesty of His Person, when He converted water into wine. However, when He was crucified, it was as Man. And this was the hour that had not yet come when He said: What is it between you and Me? My hour has not yet come; that is, that during which I will recognize you. Because it was then – as Man crucified – when He recognized His Mother according to the flesh and entrusted her with total affection to His most beloved disciple.32

On the other hand St. Augustine shows that it is now on the Cross when “the time has come” (Jn 2:4), so that the miracle of Cana shows the divinity and the greatness of the One Who now in His humanity suffered and died on the cross.

This is clearly the hour about which Jesus, when about to turn the water into wine, had said to His Mother: Woman what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come. Therefore, he had foretold this hour, which at that time had not yet come, when at the point of death He should acknowledge her from whom He had been born as a mortal man. Therefore, at the time when about to perform divine acts, He rejected as one unknown, her who was the Mother, not of His divinity, but of His weakness: but now, when in the midst of human sufferings, He commended with human affection the one by whom He had become Man. Indeed, He who had created Mary, became known by His power; now, by contrast, that which Mary had brought forth was hanging on the cross.33

It is precisely on the Cross, and during those last moments, when Christ entrusts His Mother to the Beloved Disciple. For St. Augustine, this has, in the first place, a moral interpretation, about the obligation that all children have of fulfilling the Fourth Commandment, and of taking care and giving attention to their parents:

Therefore, a moral passage is implied. The good Preceptor does what He advises to do and, as if the wood on which the members of the dying were fixed, was also the chair of the Teacher, has instructed His own with His example: that the pious children should take care of their parents. (…) Well, what is so familiar to each one as parent to their children or to parents their children? Thus, an example of a most healthy precept the Master Himself of the saints set the example from Himself, when, He provided in some measure another son in place of Himself not as God for the hand-maid whom He had created and governed, but to the Mother from whom as Man He had been created and whom He is now leaving behind.34

But on the other hand, St. Augustine reflects on the great gift that Christ made to the Beloved Disciple, as a sign of a hundredfold that those who follow Christ will receive (Mt 19:29), but also on the spiritual filiation that all the believers have of the Virgin Mary.

For this reason St. Augustine points out that even if Christ entrusted Mary to the Beloved Disciple, in reality in his person He was entrusting her to the entire community, because the Beloved Disciple was part of the community of Apostles, who did not have something of their own, but have everything in common (Acts 2:44; 4:32), hence, the Virgin Mary is Mother of all believers:35

But what was this his own, to which John took of the Mother of Lord? Indeed, he was one of those who said to Him: Behold we have left everything and we have followed you. But on that same occasion he had also heard: anyone who has left everything because of Me, in this age will receive a hundred times more than what he had left, among which he would receive the Mother of Him who has given him (…) Therefore, how was it that the disciple and the servant received to his own the Mother of the Lord and Master where no one called anything his own? (…) From that hour the Disciple took her into his own, that everything necessary for her was entrusted to his care. Therefore, he received her not into his lands, for he had none of his own; but to his own dutiful services.36

It is true that Tradition tells us that John took the Virgin Mary into his own house, and that after his exile in Patmos, he lived with her in the City of Ephesus, from where, according the same Tradition, the “Dormition of Mary” took place, that is, her Assumption to heaven. That is why a small church (Meryem Ana Evi) about six kilometers from Ephesus, in what is now Turkey, in a place where the house of the Beloved Disciple John is believed to be, is preserved up to now.

Son, There is your Mother (Jn 19:27)

On the cross Christ left to the Beloved Disciple, and to all the beloved disciples, His own Mother.

For this reason the community acknowledges in the Virgin Mary in the first place as its own Mother, because she continues collaborating in the birth of the faithful within the Church,37 and at the same time, the faithful must imitate Mary by becoming themselves spiritual mothers of Christ by cooperating with the grace of God in order that Christ may be born in the heart of all who surround them by means of preaching the Gospel. The spiritual maternity is a fundamental element for the beloved disciple, who does not only take refuge under the protection of the Virgin Mary, but that like her, must see to it that Christ may be born and grow in the heart of all who surround him/her:

Do we dare to call ourselves mothers of Christ? No doubt, we dare to call ourselves mothers of Christ. Having said that we are all His brothers and sisters, will I not dare to say that you are His mother? (…) Therefore, the members of Christ give birth in their spirit, like Mary, being virgin, gave birth to Christ in her bosom, and in that way you will be mother of Christ.38

There is a need to do this with enthusiasm and joy, striving to drag everyone to the love of Christ, with the same passion, St. Augustine points out with which lost persons in this world try to attract others to their own earthly spectacles:

Stir up the love in you, brothers and sisters, and shout to each one of your people, and say to him/her: Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord. Let this flame burn in you. Why are these things recited and explained to you? If you love God, draw all those who are united to you, all those who belong to your house to the love of God; if you love the Body of Christ, that is, the unity of the Church, attract them to this joy, and tell them: Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord.39

On the other hand, as Origin points out40 and St. Ambrose41 whom St. Augustine read, the itinerary of the believer following the Gospel according to St. John must lead the beloved di-sciple to the knowledge of “sober drunkenness”42 of the mysteries of God, particularly the di-vinity of Christ and to accept Mary as Mother. They are two indispensable stages of the spiritual process of the beloved disciple.

Near the Cross with Hope

The beloved disciple in imitation of Mary does not remains standing by the cross with dejection that is proper of sadness or despair in the face of the moment of trial and pain. The beloved disciple in imitation of the Virgin Mary maintains in front of the cross and difficulties of his/her own life the hope of the Resurrection. Where there is a Cross there will be Resurrection. Hence, even in the face of the pain of the Cross there is a profound and serene joy: The God of life and hope is the one who changes the crosses into a reason for life and joy. And, although in the world in which we live we may not see clearly signs of hope, we must hope against all hope, knowing that behind the Cross and Death is the Life of the Resurrection:

He came to us, was despised (…) and He taught us to be despised, because He was despised; He taught us to tolerate, because He tolerated; to suffer, because He suffered; and He promised us that we would resurrect, because He resurrected, demonstrating in Himself that we must hope.43

Perhaps at present we live a strong crisis of the virtue of hope, because many persons no longer believe in the future and hope nothing. Their life has simply become a living of the present moment without believing that a better future can exist, nor that the promises of God exist, and that one day all that God has promised will become a reality.

The Virgin Mary next to the Cross is for us a figure and witness of hope, of the one who knew in the deepest part of her heart with great firmness that her Son would resurrect from among the dead. In fact hope for St. Augustine is always linked to the other theological virtues, to hope means to have hope and charity. Whoever does not love and or believe, cannot have hope:

Where there is charity, there also are faith and hope; and there where the love of neighbor is, necessarily there also is the love for God.44

Hope must be, according the thinking of St. Augustine, the joy of the pilgrims of the City of God, knowing that God is faithful and He will fulfill His promises, although at the present mo-ment what God has promised cannot be seen with clarity. The City of God is built therefore from hope and from love or rather from hope lived with love, as was the hope of Mary near the Cross.

See what is this city. It is built by singing, it is founded on faith; with hope it is raised and it is finished with love.45

St. Augustine does not lose sight that the hope of the beloved disciple, like that of Mary, is above all an escathological hope, it is a hope in the Resurrection of Christ. Mary near the Cross did not lose this hope, and is a model for all beloved disciples in order not to lose said hope in facing the difficulty of their own life:

The City of God lives in hope while still in a pilgrimage here, engendered in the faith of the Resurrection of Christ.46

Biblical Text: Jn 19:25-27.

Text of St. Augustine (En. in Ps. 83, 1).

In like manner men, before consecrating themselves to the service of God, seem to enjoy delight-ful freedom in the world, something like the olive and the grape that hang on the olive tree and vine. But let us what the Scripture says: My child, when you come to serve the Lord, remain in justice and fear, and prepare your soul for trial’ (Sir 2:1). If one decides to serve God, let him /her know that he/ she has entered into a winery; he/she will, therefore, be troubled, broken and pressed.

Text of the Constitutions (No. 151)

From the Blessed Virgin Mary all are to learn to interiorize the word and the mysteries of God, becoming one with them and acting as instruments of their salvific efficacy.

Text of the Magisterium (EG 285)

On the cross, when Jesus endured in his own flesh the dramatic encounter of the sin of the world and God’s mercy, he could feel at his feet the consoling presence of his mother and his friend. At that crucial moment, before fully accomplishing the work which his Father had entrusted to him, Jesus said to Mary: “Woman, here is your son”. Then he said to his beloved friend: “Here is your mother” (Jn 19:26-27). These words of the dying Jesus are not chiefly the expression of his devotion and concern for his mother; rather, they are a revelatory formula which manifests the mystery of a special 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 creation, Christ led us to Mary.

Recollect Text (PEDRO DE SAN JOSÉ, Glorias de María Santísima, Huesca 1644) [PEDRO DE SAN JOSÉ, The Glories of the most Blessed Mary, Huesca 1644).

We confess in like manner that Mary suffered very much at the foot of the cross, because her pains exceeded everything that the most courageous martyrs have suffered, who with their blood have confirmed the Church. But I say that, in view of the loneliness and the absence of the Son, they do not seem evil, because this pain was so great that it can neither be explained with words nor come to think of it with imagination. A Man-God could not suffer the absence of those whom He tenderly loved, nor could heaven see in a mother such very acute pain because of the death of her Son without immediate remedy: hence how, can He see His own mother suffer and He becomes absent because of His death? It was an obligatory move, He cannot excuse Himself from this absence for the universal remedy of the creatures. But in the best was that He could remedy this absence, He remedied it, by leaving John as His substitute by becoming in His stead the son of May. But how can a creature substitute for the absences of God? This sermon must be preached more that with words. Let us be happy by saying that that pain of the absence is in Mary is so great that, without doubt, it needed more than human courage, the power of God preventing her not to end her life with the bitterness of loneliness and discomfort, the company of grace, so that through her intercession we may enjoy the eternal gifts of glory.

PEDRO DE SAN JOSÉ: Sobre la soledad de la Virgen, in Glorias de María Santísima, Huesca 1644, 228v – 235v. [On the Loneliness of the Virgin, in The Glories of the Most Blessed Mother]

Translated from Spanish to English by:

Fr. Emilio Larlar, OAR

Edited by:

Fr. Franciso Antonio, OAR

1 Io. Ev. Tr. 28, 5.

2 Cf. Const. 147.

3 Cf. Const. 280.

4 En. in Ps. 91, 8.

5 S. 96, 3.

6 De Fide et Operibus. 10, 15.

7 Cf. Const. 11.

8 Cf. De Virg. 31

9 S. 160, 5.

10 Cf. Ep. 147, 14, 34; S. 53, 15, 16; S. 165, 3, 3.

11 S. 53, 16.

12 Cf. Const. 123.

13 S. 153, 15.

14 Cf. Const. 28.

15 S. 153, 15.

16 Ep. 147. 34.

17 Cf. En. in Ps. 55,4.

18 En. in Ps. 83, 1.

19 Cf. Const. 274.

20 En. in Ps. 80, 1.

21 S. 135, 8: “Moreover, it is a fact, when He hung on the cross, they trembled, and the Apostles lost hope precisely when the bandit believed

22 S 111, 2.

23 Cf. Const. 29.

24 Cf. De Virg.3

25 S. 72A, 7.

26 S. 72A, 8.

27 De Fide et Operibus 21

28 C. Const. 30.

29 S. 214, 6.

30 De Trin. 8, 8, 12.

31 S. 291, 6.

32 De Fide et Symbolis 4, 9.

33 Io. Ev, Tr. 119, 1.

34 Io. Ev. Tr. 119, 2.

35 Cf. Const. 30.

36 Io. Ev. Tr. 118, 3.

37 (Mary) certainly is Mother of His members, which we are, because she cooperated with her love so that the faithful may be born in the Church, members of that Head of whom she is truly Mother according to the flesh (De Virg. 6,6. Cf. Const. 29).

38 S. 72A, 8.

39 En. in Ps. 33, 2, 6.

40 Cf. Origin, In Io. 1, 22.

41 Cf. Ambrose, In Luc. 7, 5.

42 Cf. S. 34, 2.

43 En. in Ps. 125, 1.

44 Io. Ev. Tr. 83, 3.

45 S. 27, 1.

46 De Civ. Dei 15, 18.