Mary of Nazareth, the archetypal woman of the Church

 Heaven at the end of her earthly life. She is prayed to in every language. Every day, priests, religious, and laypeople throughout the world pray Rosaries to her and, in the Liturgy of the Hours, recite the Magnificat

Countless books have been written about—and controversies have erupted over-Mary's precise relationship to her Son, to God the Father, to God the Holy Spirit, to all Christians, and to the whole of creation. She has been depicted in every artistic medium in lifelike, masterful, rustic, crude, and symbolic ways. Innumerable hymns and songs have been composed in her honor. 

Mary of Nazareth, who offered Christ maternal comfort and wisdom at every stage of His earthly life-including in the darkest hours of His Passion and Death—is the preeminent woman. Without her willing embrace of the mission

God asked of her, the Church would have no history.

She was chosen to be, and chose to be, the archetypal woman of the Church—the only one of the "living stones" that Christ employed while building His Church from which He Himself, the Church's Cornerstone, was hewn.- She modeled fidelity, patience, persever-ance, hope, and love to all Christ's first disciples. And from Heaven she has given motherly comfort and strength to the whole Church ever since.

Mary also helped gather numerous other women who were among the first disciples. They, too, became mothers of the Church in their own ways. In the Gospel of Luke, we read that as Christ traveled through various towns and cities, women accompanied Him alongside the Twelve Apostles.

  Excerpt from Women of the Church by Bronwen McShea, Augustine Institute, Ignatius Press, 2024, chap. 1