Mary, Mother of Sorrows

Mary, Mother of Sorrows:  The second sorrow of Mary is her flight into Egypt, her escape from destruction.  She is fleeing  with her son and her husband to protect Jesus  from being harmed physically.  She is cooperating with her husband Joseph, whom God has commanded

“Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there

until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him”

(Mt 2:13).

Many parents today face situations that are harmful to the welfare of their children. In our baptismal vows, each of us has covenanted with God, and God with us, to protect our children from being destroyed by a culture that is anti-God, turned away from the Sacred, resistant to grace and promotes the false self.  We live in a world, the values of which are opposite the Gospel and are in defiance of Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  We live in a culture that promotes winning  and being No. 1 at all costs;  exploiting the poor, the oppressed, and  the vulnerable to get what we want, when we want it and how we want it.  The body, for instance, is used as a sex object to make billions in profits (the sex trade is more lucrative than the drug industry.  Advertisements objectify sex, as industries  use the body  to seduce people into buying their product.   We live in a culture that promotes violence, that seeks domination and control of other people’s lives, especially control of children, women and youth (both male and female) for the purpose of growing rich.

Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to [a place that protects them from the

             evils of a  consumeristic, narcissistic , pragmatic society] and remain there until I tell

             you; for [the Herods of this world are searching]  for the child, to destroy  [his/her

             innocence, his/her integrity, his/her sacredness, his/her morality and  sense of justice

            toward self and others].

What do you and I need to do to remain true to our baptismal commitment to build a Kingdom that lasts, to do so  in cooperation with others and in surrendering our will to the Will of our Creator?  From what do we need to flee ? To what do we need to turn? With whom do we need to cooperate?