“A woman, when she is in labour, hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”
— John 16:21 (Douay-Rheims)
In this poignant verse from the Gospel of St. John, Our Lord speaks to His Apostles at the Last Supper, preparing them for the sorrow they will experience at His Passion. He uses the analogy of a woman in labor to describe how their grief will be turned into joy — a foreshadowing of the Resurrection.
But in the layered and symbol-rich tradition of the Church, the “woman in labor” evokes more than just an image of the Church or the Apostles’ emotions. It beckons us to contemplate the Blessed Virgin Mary, standing at the foot of the Cross, offering her own sorrows in union with her Son’s suffering — the moment of her spiritual labor as Co-Redemptrix.
Mary, the Sinless One
The key to understanding Mary’s unique role in Redemption lies in the words spoken to her at the Annunciation:
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” (Luke 1:28)
The Greek word kecharitōmenē — translated “full of grace” — denotes a permanent and perfect state of grace. From the first moment of her conception, Mary was preserved from original sin by the singular privilege of God, in view of the merits of Christ. This dogma, proclaimed infallibly by Pope Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus (1854), affirms her Immaculate Conception.
Mary’s sinlessness is not a decorative privilege. It is what enables her to be the perfect human cooperator in God’s plan of salvation. Her heart, unstained by sin, was capable of being fully united to the will of God — without hesitation, confusion, or self-interest. Thus, when the “hour” of Christ’s Passion came, her own “hour” came as well: not to suffer physically as He did, but to suffer spiritually, in union with Him, for the salvation of souls.
The Woman in Labor — A Mystical Reading
While John 16:21 speaks immediately of the Apostles’ sorrow and joy, many traditional theologians and mystics have seen in this verse a Marian dimension.
At Calvary, Mary undergoes a kind of spiritual labor — not the physical pangs of Bethlehem, for she gave birth virginally and painlessly, but the birth pangs of her soul as she watched her Divine Son die in agony.
“She it was,” writes St. Alphonsus Liguori, “who offered the sacrifice of her Son to the Eternal Father… she truly co-operated in the redemption of the world.” (The Glories of Mary)
This is not a poetic exaggeration, but a profound theological truth: by God’s design, Mary’s sinless soul was prepared to offer the perfect fiat — not just at the Annunciation, but again at the Cross. Her anguish was real, and her consent to that suffering was real. In a mysterious but real sense, she brought forth redeemed humanity at the foot of the Cross, just as Eve once brought forth a fallen race through disobedience.
Mary is thus the New Eve, standing beside the New Adam. Her sinless obedience undoes the knot of Eve’s rebellion.
Co-Redemptrix: Not Equal, But Essential
To call Mary Co-Redemptrix does not place her on the same level as Christ. He alone is the Redeemer. His Passion, Death, and Resurrection are the sole cause of our salvation. But God, in His Providence, willed that the Mother of the Redeemer would also be the Mother of the Redeemed — and that she would cooperate in a unique, singular way with the work of Redemption.
This is why so many saints and theologians — including St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Louis de Montfort, and St. Maximilian Kolbe — have spoken of Mary as Co-Redemptrix. Not as an equal partner to Christ, but as the one who, full of grace, freely and perfectly united her will to His, offering her maternal suffering in union with the redemptive suffering of the Savior.
Her title of Co-Redemptrix, then, flows directly from her Immaculate Conception — from being gratia plena, “full of grace.” Only a soul perfectly united to God could so completely unite herself to the sufferings of the Redeemer.
A Call to Contemplation
As Catholics devoted to the fullness of the Church’s Tradition, we are invited to meditate deeply on this mystery.
At Calvary, Mary stood beneath the Cross — silent, sorrowful, steadfast — and in that silence, the Church was born. The words of John 16:21 take on their deepest meaning here:
“…but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”
This “man” is the new man — the redeemed humanity born from the pierced Heart of Christ, and received into the Immaculate Heart of His Mother.
Let us stand with her at the foot of the Cross. Let us meditate on her sorrows. Let us honor her not only as the Mother of God but as the Co-Redemptrix, our spiritual Mother, and Queen of Martyrs.
May the Church one day solemnly declare what the faithful have long believed:
That she who was full of grace is also the Mother of all graces, and by her sorrowful compassion, helped to bring Redemption to birth.
O Mary, full of grace, Co-Redemptrix of the human race, pray for us who have recourse to thee.