When a mother gives birth to a child, she uniquely imitates Christ in how she mirrors the paschal mystery: through the pains of labor and the resulting gift of newborn life, she enters into the sacrifice of Christ, taking up her cross and following him all the way to resurrection. Every mother who delivers a child offers her body and sheds her blood to give life, just as Christ did on the cross. And at every Mass, Mother Church continues to offer this sacrifice of Christ’s Body and Blood in union with the faithful.
—from The Church Is Our Mother: Seven Ways She Inspires Us to Love
