Mary, Mother of Sorrows

The Fourth Sorrow of Mary, Meeting Jesus on the road to Calvary—Imagine meeting your son/daughter or a close relative carrying the instrument on which he/she will be crucified.  The agony of such a scene. The  helplessness! The outrage!  Every day Mary, our Mother, and someone here on earth is experiencing just that: a child sold to the sex trade or the victim of abuse of any kind, a child used as a pawn in an ugly divorce, an unborn infant tortured and murdered in the womb, a person, young or old, bullied on our streets, in our homes, in other places considered safe; an  employee being harrassed by an employer or a co-worker; citizens oppressed by their leaders; men, women, children in harm's way in wartorn parts of this world.

Mary could not stop the execution of Jesus but each of us can stop ways in which we perpetuate misunderstandings and heartbreaks that could lead to violence. Each one of us can recognize jealousies that could erupt in ways that bring harm to others, as those jealous of Jesus found ways to destroy Him--jealousies that also pierced Mary’s heart.  Nations can choose other ways of confronting differences without resorting to war. Governing bodies have choices that bring life versus death to others.

What is brewing in my heart today, in the hearts of the leaders of our country and of the world,  that could lead to a painful or treacherous end for each one of us and our neighbors in Christ? And which, thereby, pierces the heart of Mary, the  Mother of us all. Mary did not retaliate on those who hated her Son. She did not seek revenge or use violence to "save" her son.  Like her may each of us, our leaders in governmental positions, each nation find a way to respond to conflicts that does not add fuel to a situation that is already on the road to “Calvary”!  Is it possible to discover how to walk side by side with those  society condemns unjustly and thus restore right relationships and know resurrections to new ways of living.