Ecclesia Mater




May this great Mother be praised for the divine mystery that she communicates to us through the twofold and ever-open door of her doctrine and her liturgy! May she be praised for the centers of religious life that she brings into being and protects and whose fervor she keeps aflame! May she be praised for the interior universe that she discovers to us, in the exploration of which she gives us her hand as guide! May she be praised for the desire and the hope that she sustains in us! May she be praised, too, for unmasking and dispersing the illusions that deceive us, so that our adoration may be pure! May this great Mother be praised!

This chaste Mother pours into us and sustains a faith that is always whole and that neither human decadence nor spiritual lassitude can touch, however deep they may go. This fruitful Mother continually presents us with new brothers; this universal Mother cares equally for all, little and great alike- the ignorant and the wise, the ordinary parishioner and the picked body of consecrated souls. This venerable Mother makes sure for us the inheritance of the ages and brings forth for us from her treasure things new and old. This patient Mother is always making a fresh start, untiringly, in her slow work of education and gathering together again, one by one, the threads of unity that her children are always tearing apart. This careful Mother protects us against the enemy who prowls around us seeking his prey; this loving Mother does not hold us back for herself but urges us on to the encounter with God, who is all love. Whatever the shadows the Adversary casts, this clear-sighted Mother cannot help but recognize one day for her own the children whom she has borne, and she will have the power to rejoice in their love while they in their turn will find security in her arms. This zealous Mother sets in the hearts of her best children zeal that carries them all over the world as the messengers of Christ; this wise Mother steers us clear of sectarian excesses and the deceptive enthusiasm that is always followed by revulsion; she teaches us to love all that is good, all that is true, all that is just, and to reject nothing that has not been tested. This sorrowful Mother with the sword-pierced heart relives from age to age the Passion of her Bridegroom; this strong Mother exhorts us to fight and bear witness to Christ; and she does not hesitate to make us pass through death- from the first death, which is baptism, onward- in order to bear us into a higher life. For all these benefits we owe her our praise; but we owe it to her above all for those deaths she bring us- the deaths that man himself is incapable of and without which he would be condemned to stay himself indefinitely, going round and round in the miserable circle of his own finitude.

Praised may you be, Mother of love at its most lovely, of healthy fear, of divine knowledge, and holy hope! Without you our thoughts are diffuse and hazy; you gather them together into a strong body. You scatter the darkness in which men either stumble or despair or- pitifully- “shape as they please their fantasies of the infinite.” Without discouraging us from any task, you protect us from deceptive myths; you spare us from the aberrations and the aversions of all churches made by the hand of man. You save us from destruction in the presence of our God! Living Ark, Gate of the East! Unflawed mirror of the activity of the Most High! You who are the beloved of the Lord of the Universe, initiated into his secrets, and who teach us what pleases him! You whose supernatural splendor never fades, even in the darkest hours! It is thanks to you that our darkness is bathed in light! You through whom the priest goes up every day to the altar of God, who gives joy to his youth! The Glory of Libanus is in you, under the obscurity of your earthly covering. Each day you give us him who is the Way and the Truth. Through you we have hope of life in him. The memory of you is sweeter than honey, and he who hears you shall never be put to confusion. Holy Mother, unique Mother, immaculate Mother! O great Mother! Holy Church, true Eve, sole true Mother of all living!

-Henri De Lubac