119. That the church is called mother is apparent from the following passages:

(Jehovah said,) "Contend with your mother...; ...she is not My wife, and I am not her Husband." (Hosea 2:2)

"You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her Husband...." (Ezekiel 16:45)

"Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce, whom I have put away?" (Isaiah 50:1)

Your mother was like a vine..., planted by the waters, fruitful.... (Ezekiel 19:10)

"Mother" in those places refers to the Jewish Church.

(Jesus, stretching out His hand toward His disciples, said,) "My mother and My brothers are they who hear the word of God and do it." (Luke 8:21, cf. Matthew 12:48-50, Mark 3:33-35)

The church is meant by the Lord's disciples.

By the cross of Jesus stood His mother.... (And) Jesus...seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, (also) said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" And He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" (Therefore) from that hour the disciple took her into his own [home]. (John 19:25-27)

The meaning here is that the Lord did not acknowledge Mary but the church as His mother. That is why He calls her "woman" and names her the mother of the disciple. He named her the mother of this disciple, John, because John represented the church in respect to its good acts of charity. These good acts are the church in actual practice. Therefore it is said that the disciple took Mary into his own [home].

(We explained in The Apocalypse Revealed that Peter represented truth and faith, James charity, and John works of charity - see nos. 5, 6, 790, 798, 879 - and that the twelve disciples together represented the church in all its elements - see nos. 233, 790 [798?], 903, 915.)

4985. 'And Joseph was beautiful in form' means the good of life springing from this, 'and beautiful in appearance' means the truth of faith springing from it. This is clear from the meaning of 'beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance', for 'the form' is the essence of a thing, whereas 'the appearance' is the outward manifestation derived from it. And since good is the actual essence and truth is the outward manifestation springing from it, 'beautiful in form' means the good of life and 'beautiful in appearance' the truth of faith. For the good of life is a person's essential being (esse) since it resides in his will, while the truth of faith is the manifestation of it since it inhabits his understanding. Indeed whatever inhabits the understanding is a manifestation of something that originates in the will. The essential being (esse) constituting a person's life resides in the intentions of his will, and the manifestation (existere) of his life resides in the thoughts of his understanding. A person's understanding is nothing else than an unfolding of his will, also the imparting of a form to it that enables its true nature to be seen in an outward appearance.

[2] From this one may see where the beauty - the beauty of the interior man - comes from. That is, it comes from the good present in the will by way of the truth of faith. The truth of faith presents that beauty in an outward form, but the good in the will is the supplier of that beauty and the producer of the outward form. Here is the reason for the indescribable beauty of the angels of heaven, for each is so to speak love and charity embodied in a form. When therefore anyone sees them in their beauty his deepest feelings are stirred. For the good of love received from the Lord shines forth from them through the truth of faith, enters into him, and stirs those feelings within him. From this, as also in 3821, one may see what is meant in the internal sense by 'beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance.