Today we celebrate the Feast of the Sorrowful Mother. Can any sorrow be greater or deeper than the sorrow Mary endured as she stood beneath the cross and witnessed her son's agony and painful death. Also think of Mary hearing of Jesus' arrest and then meeting Him on the road to Calvary, carrying the heavy cross, bleeding from the wounds of the scourging and from the crown of thorns on his head and kicked and whipped when He fell beneath the weight of the cross. Furthermore, think of what pain must have pierced her heart, knowing that Jesus was carrying the cross to the hill where he would be cruelly crucified like a common criminal and hung up naked for all to see struggling to breathe.
It's hard enough to see a loved one die of a dreaded disease or a fatal accident but how much more difficult must it be to see a loved one put to death in a public place, stripped of his clothing, nailed to a cross, hung naked to die an agonizing death, and sneered at, mocked, made fun of during the dying process! Any other mother, I suspect, would been sobbing and screaming at those putting their child to death: "Stop! That's my beloved son/daughter! Stop!" Not Mary! She stood beneath the cross, sharing her Son's suffering, supporting Him in His agony and, with Him, I believe, praying: "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23: 34). Jesus also cried out upon the cross: I thirst." So, too, I believe, did Mary thirst for all to come to believe in her son as the Son of God, who came to this world to reveal the Father's love and compassion for each of us, dying that we might live forever with Him in Paradise.
How ready are you and I to say with Mary and Jesus, at any time in our lives: Be it done unto me according to your will? And for what do we thirst?
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