Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
This is like Jesus’ last will and testament. Jesus had an obligation to provide for his widowed mother, as her only Son and protector. “Mother, your son; John, your mother.” His mother will be taken are of; Jesus can die in peace; “it is finished.”
Once upon a time there was a man who was put into a deep sleep. While he was sleeping, the Lord opened his side, removed a bone, and built it into a woman. The woman became the Mother of the Living. We call her Eve.
While Jesus was asleep on the cross, his side was opened, and blood and water flowed out. Is this a new man, a new sleep and a new creation? Is God forming the Church, which is a feminine figure in many languages, from the sleeping side of Christ?
As Jesus came to his end, he said, “It is finished.” In other words, his work was accomplished, done, and completed. Then he handed over his Spirit. He handed it over by dying. He handed the Spirit also by pouring our his Spirit like water and blood on the ground. He handed over the Spirit by rising from the dead and breathing his Spirit onto the disciples (See John 20:19-23).
The language and references show that this is more than a last will and testament; it is more like a trust fund. Jesus is like a new Adam. Mary is like a new Eve. John in a way represents the new creation, the church, the body of all the redeemed.
Mary was also present, according to Luke’s account in Acts, while the disciples were waiting for the coming of the Spirit and the first preaching of the Apostles. In a way, her presence at the death of Jesus and her presence at the coming of the Spirit make her the mother of the Church that is born from the sleeping side of Jesus and poured out like tongues of fire on Pentecost.