Love and Compassion

Today’s Gospel, Luke 7: 11-17, tells the story of Jesus coming upon a funeral procession in Nain. The only son of a widow is being taken to his place of burial.  Jesus, obviously, knows that a widow with no male relatives to care of her is in a very vulnerable position in His society. He sees her weeping and distraught in losing her only son, stops the procession and says to the man:  “Young man,…arise!” The man does so and Jesus gives him back to his mother.

See and feel Jesus’ compassion. The widow had said absolutely nothing to him. She is simply walking behind the men bearing her son to his grave.  Jesus “was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”  Jesus loves you and me as tenderly as he loved the widow of Nain. He sees the depth of our sorrow and is moved to pity. His mother is likewise as attentive to our unmet needs, as she demonstrated at the wedding feast of Cana. It is Mary who alerts Jesus to the fact that the wedding party is out of wine. Whatever we lack, Mary alerts Jesus.  Jesus and Mary are one in caring for us, paying attention to us, interceding for us.

Why, then, you ask, do we encounter such dire needs in our own families or the families of other? Why did Mary and Jesus find themselves in a situation so dire that her son lost his life on Calvary? Sometimes we have no answer to the “whys” of life. What we do have is the example of Mary and Jesus, who embrace the sufferings of life while keeping their eyes focused on God the Father, on a God, who, on the cross, said to the “good thief” in his anguish:  “This day you will be with me in paradise.”  Sometimes, our hope of being with God in Paradise is all that we have on which to cling.