John Cardinal Newman studied the ancient fathers of the Church and helped the Church recover the understanding of Mary as the new Eve. Eve is a name which simply means “the mother of all the living.” Not by nature but in the order of grace, Mary is the new mother of all the living. Because of the identity and mission of her Son, one might speak of her as both the womb of Christ and the womb of the Church. This title “womb of the Church” is also given the baptismal font.
It is at this font that we become like Mary, free from sin and disciples of her Son. St. Jerome wrote that “Death (entered the world) through Eve, life through Mary.” This helps to give us a sense of where Mary is within the mystical body of Christ. Given this intimate unity with Christ (see Colossians 1:18 and Ephesians 4:15), Mary in giving birth to the head also gives birth to the body. Of course, Mary is also part of this mystical body. This is not contradictory because, while she was no priest, she had every right as the Mother of the incarnation to hold Jesus in her arms and say, “This is my body… This is my blood.” Continuing with the analogy of the body, certain theologians have spoken about her as the NECK of the mystical body.
All graces flow from the head and through the neck to the rest of the body.
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