The Feast of the Sorrowful Mother

With special permission from the Vatican,  the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother celebrate their congregational patronal feast day, the feast of the Sorrowful Mother, on the Sunday following the feast of the Sorrowful Mother, September 15th.

As I reflected upon Mary standing beneath the cross, my heart felt pierced by Mary standing their watching her beloved son die an agonizing death.  As Jesus walked up the hill to Calvary to be crucified, as He was scourged and crowned with thorns and covered with blood and wounds, as He died an agonizing death on the cross, Mary, too, was tortured as His mother, as any mother would have been to watch their beloved child, in similar circumstances, put to death!  And as He was dying, Jesus gives His Mother to us, saying to the beloved disciple standing with Mary: "Son, behold your Mother" and "Mother, behold your son."  Mary is our Mother, as she is the Mother of the Son of God made flesh. We are her daughters and sons, as is Jesus her son and our brother.

Mary stands by us in our sufferings, as she stood with Jesus.  She stands by every person in the process of dying physically or dying psychologically to selfishness, greed, envy, anger, hatred and other evils that may grip our souls.  May we, in turn, comforted by Mary, offer support to those who are in pain, whether that be physical, psychological or spiritual.

Mary, Mother of Sorrows

Mary, Mother of Sorrows: Mary is standing beneath the cross and hears Jesus say: “It is consummated.”  Jesus proclaims the completion of His mission.  He has redeemed humankind, reopened the gates of heaven for all of creation. Sin has been destroyed. Our sins nailed to the cross. Death has no more power over us.  What a relief this must have been for Mary.  It is the relief every person experiences who says about a loved one who has just left this world: He/she is now in a better place.  As the mother of Trayvon Martin recently proclaimed: “Trayvon is now wearing his hoodie in heaven”.

As Jesus dies there is a terrible earthquake. The earth is wrapped in darkness. Mary hears someone say: “Truly this was the Son of God,” a truth Mary and John, standing beside her, already knew. What about you and I? What might I have been thinking if I had witnessed Jesus’ death and heard these last words: “It is consummated,” and “Into your hands I commend my spirit”?