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progress to spiritual motherhood and give birth to His brothers. Those who become but also at the time of His dying. At this moment, standing at the Tree of Death, Jesus addresses her as Woman, signifying her role in reversing the unbelief by which Eve lost for us the Tree of Life. The beloved disciple believes in Christ’s resurrection by hearing and not by seeing. As such, he is a model of faith for us. Mary, however, makes him and therefore us, Christ’s brothers in the faith, even before the resurrection, at the hour of death. There will be many moments in life, “now” and at the “hour of death” in which we will be confronted with experiences that threaten to cross out our hopes and dreams. At these moments we can draw strength to not lose hope from Mary who stood and did not lose hope at the Cross. By taking her into our home at such hours, we can hold on to God’s words to us, to Christ, and so become His brothers. In this way, Mary will be for us a maris stella, a felix caeli porta. Gregory Glazov received his B.A. in Classics, Biology and Physics at King’s College, Canada and an M.Phil. and D. Phil. in Jewish and Old Testament Studies from Oxford University. From 1992 to 2002 he taught Theology, Hebrew and Old Testament Studies at Oxford in Plater College, Lady Margaret Hall, Blackfriars and St. Benet’s Hall. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology where he teaches a variety of Scripture classes. His principle interests are in Old Testament Studies, especially Prophetic Literature and the Book of Job, as well as Jewish-Christian relations, the Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary, and the Jewish Writings of the Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov. NOTES 1. John Mitton, Paradise Lost, ed. Susan L. Rattiner, (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications , 2005), 3. 2. John Henry Newman, Mary - The Second Eve, comp. Sister Eileen Breen, F.M.A., (Huerefordshire, England: Fowler-Wright Books, 1953), 5-6. 3. Brother Anthony, The Bread of God, (New York: Vantage Press, 1975), 181-200. 4. Ibid, 198-200.
Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant
By Father Pablo T. Gadenz, S.S.L, S.T.D. Ave verum Corpus natum de Maria Virgine: These are the opening words of a short Eucharistic hymn dating from the 14th century and attributed to Pope Innocent VI (1352-1362).1 The hymn is familiar to many both in its simple Gregorian chant setting and in the more elaborate musical setting by Mozart. Ave verum Corpus natum de Maria Virgine, “Hail, true Body born of the Virgin Mary.” These words express an important truth, namely, that the Body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, which we consecrate in the Holy Mass, which we receive in Holy Communion, and which we adore in the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle or exposed in the monstrance on the altar, is the same Body of Christ that was born 2,000 years ago of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bethlehem on nine months prior to his birth, while she was in Nazareth, at the Annunciation when Mary pronounced her Fiat in response to the message of the Angel Gabriel. From that point on, and for the duration of her pregnancy, Mary was, in the words 2 Mary carried within in the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant carried the Word of God, the Ten
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