Becoming A Mother

Extendens manum in discipulos ait: Ecce mater et fratres. Quicumque enim fecerit voluntatem Patris mei, qui in cælis est, ipse meus frater, et soror, et mater est. Cum is qui voluntatem Dei fecerit, soror et frater Domini dicitur, propter utrumque sexum, qui ad fidem colligitur, mirum non est. Mirandum enim valde est, quomodo et mater dicatur. Fideles etenim discipulos fratres vocare dignatus est, dicens: Ite, nuntiate fratribus meis. Qui ergo frater Domini veniendo ad fidem fieri potuerit, quaerendum est quomodo et mater potest esse? Sed sciendum nobis est, quia qui est frater et soror Jesu credendo, mater efficitur praedicando, quasi enim parit Dominum, qui eum cordi audientis infuderit, et mater ejus efficitur, si per ejus vocem amor Dei in mente proximi generatur. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Cap XII Source: Migne PL 162.1368c-d

Stretching out a hand to His disciples He said: 'Behold my mother and my brothers. Whoever shall make the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.' 1 When it is said that he who shall make the will of God is a sister and a brother of the Lord, it is not a wonder, since both sexes are gathered to the faith, but what certainly is to be wondered at is how it might be said that one is a mother. The faithful disciples were worthy to be called brothers, when it was said, 'Go, announce it to my brothers...' 2 Therefore when a man shall become a brother of the Lord by coming to the faith, it must be asked: how is he able to be a mother? But let it be known to us that he who is a brother and sister by believing in Jesus, is made a mother by preaching, as if he brings forth the Lord who pours Him into the heart of the hearer, and is made his mother if by his voice the love of God is generated in the mind of a neighbour. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 12 1 Mt 12.49-50 2 Mt 28.10