Mary and God: No Strangers to Sorrow,

My heart is heavy as I consider the hundreds of people who die of the coronavirus each day. This day, 2000+ years ago Mary stood beneath the cross of her dying son. Now, in 2020, she stands beneath the cross of so  many of her sons and daughters dying of this horrible disease and grieves with the parents, siblings, sons and daughters, grandchildren and other relatives and friends of those losing their lives to this virus.  She knows the sorrows of each, as she herself is no stranger to sorrow!

Just as Mary could do nothing but stand and watch, so, too, family members can do nothing either but stand and watch a loved one die. And in many cases can not even do that, as they are not allowed by the bedside of the sick person! 

God, too, knows our sorrow and grieves with us!  Why, we ask, doesn't God remove this scourge from the face of the earth? Why did he not stop the crucifixion of His only begotten son?  Perhaps the answer to that question is the same answer.  Our salvation depended upon Jesus being obedient to God unto death. Jesus, we are told in the Scriptures, learned obedience from what He suffered!  Are we, too, to learn obedience to God from what we suffer? Are we, in fact, suffering this horrible virus because of the many, many times that we walked away from the challenges of surrendering to God's way of living here on earth?  Have we made serious mistakes that led to this pandemic?

Jesus, we know, did not make any serious mistakes while He walked, lived, taught among us here on earth. His honesty, His confrontation of evil, His building the Kingdom of love and peace that He was sent to build, His healing of the sick, His driving out of demons, His way of challenging the people to live  the spirit of the law and to realize that the letter of the law can, at times, kill led the chief priests, the scribes or teachers of the law as well as the leaders and elders of the nation to feel threatened by Him and jealous of Him and therefore were determined to destroy Him, which they did on the first Good Friday 2000+ years ago!

Jesus, may the crisis which we are now experiencing because of the spread of this virus be a wake up call for us. May our eyes be opened to the fact that, like you, none of us will escape death however it comes to us. However, may we also realize that death is not the end of our life but the beginning of a new resurrected life in heaven with You.  I ask for these graces in your name. Amn

Faith in Rough Times

In today's Gospel, Mark 5: 21-43, we encounter two persons who seek out Jesus, one a woman who has been "afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years, has suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors, and had spent all that she had" and the other a synagogue official whose 12-year-old daughter is seriously ill.   The woman hears about Jesus and is determined that if she only touches the hem of his garment she will be healed.  She "came up behind him in [a large]crowd and touched his cloak." Immediately she is healed and Jesus knew that power had left Him. "Who touched me," He asked. The woman realizes what has happened to her and approaches Jesus "in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to  her, 'Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.'"  At the same time, people from the synagogue official's house arrive and inform the official that his daughter has died and suggests that he stop bothering Jesus. "It is over," so to speak! Jesus says to the official: "Do not be afraid; just have faith." He proceeds to the official's house, enters the room where the little girl is and says to her:  "Little girl,..., arise!" She "arose immediately and walked around." And Jesus instructs her parents to give her something to eat!

Neither individual gives up!   Nor does Jesus!  In case of the woman, neither despair nor repeated failures stops her from getting close to Jesus and touching His cloak.  In regard to the synagogue official, he does not let the discouraging message from his people get between him and Jesus. Nor does he despair because he's been told that his daughter is dead. In the case of Jesus, the crowd taunts Him, as though saying to Him:  "Who touched you? For heaven's sake,  the crowd is pressing upon you!  Of course, someone brushed against your cloak!  Move on!" Jesus also ignores the people who proclaim that the little girl is dead. "Have faith," He say to the synagogue official!

Do you and I keep our eyes on Jesus? Or, do we let what others think and say dissuade us and lead us into despair? into giving up on Jesus?

Another Thanksgiving Reflection

Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Sisters, reflected upon the state of our country following the election. I share with you her  Thanksgiving Prayer, remembering the U.S. prior to this election  She writes:

Creator God, we thank you and praise you

for the opportunity to have lived in a country open to the community of nations and their gifts to us rather than espousing a national political goal of living in isolation from them.

We thank you and praise you

for the memory of a United States where difference, it seemed, was finally seen as the lifeblood of our future, rather than a threat to the present;

We thank you and praise you

for a government that strove to embrace the new while keeping the best of the old rather than seek to revive a past long gone;

We thank you and praise you

for a country in which the role of religion was to grow our spirits rather than feed our fears or capture and control our politics.

We thank you and praise you

for a people of many colors and cultures and gifts who enriched one another's understanding of life rather than set out to set one against the other.

We thank you and praise you

for a country that sought to treat both women and men as equals rather than continue to shape a society in which men were to be privileged and women were meant to be preyed upon;

We thank you and praise you

for a country that attempted to help those who could not help themselves rather than abandon the needy for the sake of increasing the profits of the wealthy;

We thank you and praise you

for a nation that sought by reaching out to others, by defending the oppressed and supporting the defenseless to become a real moral leader of the free world rather than exploit the weak and reject the desolate for the sake of national aggrandizement.

Finally, we thank you and praise you

for those who have led us with noble vision and compassionate hearts. We give thanks for their great respect for democracy and deep commitment to the common good rather than to partisan politics. It is to them we owe the ongoing unity of differences in this land. It is in their names and through their spirit that we seek unity again in our now divided country.

From where I (Sister Joan Chittister) stand, it is on those things that the future of this already great nation depends.

She writes: Happy Thanksgiving. May the memory of the past great vision of this country give us all the energy and strength it will take to revive that vision again. It is those ideals and that kind of community covenant that dries my own tears.

[Joan Chittister is a Benedictine sister of Erie, Pa.]

Mary: Mother of Sorrows and a Mother Who Understands Our Sorrows

Today, we Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, have been given the privilege of celebrating the Feast of the Sorrowful Mother on this Sunday. I would like to share with you brief reflections on the seven sorrows of Mary.

The First Sorrow: The Prophesy of Simeon--Simeon prophesies that Jesus will be the cause of the rise and fall of many in Israel and then tells Mary that her own heart will be pierced with sorrow.  Imagine being a young parent. You present your child for baptism and are told that this child is going to cause you a lot of pain and suffering. That is all that is said! Mary ponders these words in her heart and she knows the pain of parents whose children’s behaviors cause them intense sorrow.

The Second Sorrow:  The Flight into Egypt--Shortly after Jesus is born, Herod seeks to kill him. Joseph is warned in a dream to take Mary and the child and flee into the night to escape Herod’s murderous rage against their son Jesus. Think of the many parents who fear for their children’s safety and flee their country and  become refugees in order to protect their children from harm’s way.  Mary’s know their pain!

The Third Sorrow: The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple--Mary knows the sorrow of parents who have lost their child to drugs, to the sex slave, to human trafficking and other violent movements in our world. She knows the pain of parents who have lost communication with their child/children, whose children have simply gone their own direction without telling them their whereabouts.

The Fourth Sorrow: Meeting Jesus on the road to Calvary, carrying the beam of wood upon which He will be crucified, so weak from the loss of blood in the scourging that He can hardly move forward and is beaten if He falls--Mary knows the pain of a parent seeing a child on his/her deathbed or a child watching his/her parent die or a friend die. Mary knows the pain of a parent seeing his/her child bullied and unable to stop the violence. Mary’s heart bleeds and grieves with anyone in such positions.

The Fifth Sorrow: Mary Standing beneath the cross watching her Son die--Mary supports Jesus in His most hideous of sufferings. She does not abandon Him in this hour of dire need.  Mary knows the pain of parents/children or friend, husbands/wives who, no matter what, stand by, stay with, and give support to a loved one, whose suffering one is unable to lessen or alleviate. She knows the pain of those who risk death or another person’s scorn by staying with another abandoned to death, condemned unjustly.

The Sixth Sorrow: Mary receives the dead body of her Son--Mary knows the pain of parents, husband/wives, children who are given the dead body of their loved one returned from war, found beaten to death on the side of the road or some ally in our city streets.

The Seventh Sorrow: Mary at the burial of her Son: Mary knows your pain when you have to bury a child, a parent, a friend, a husband/wife, especially when such a person was in the prime of his/her life and ministry; when that person seems to have died prematurely, unnecessarily, humanly speaking.

MARY KNOWS YOUR SORROW AND GRIEVES WITH YOU!  GO TO HER IN YOUR GRIEF! SHE IS YOUR MOTHER. SHE KNOWS HOW TO COMFORT YOU, SUPPORT YOU. SHE UNDERSTANDS!

Coming before the Lord in Sorrow and Repentance

In today's first reading, Ezra 9: 5-9, the prophet bows before the Lord in sorrow and repentance, acknowledging that "[f]rom the time of our fathers even to this day great has been our guilt, and for our wicked deeds we have been delivered up, we and our kings and our priests, to the will of the kings of foreign lands, to the sword, to captivity, to pillage, and to disgrace, as is the case today."  He then adds: "And now, but a short time ago, mercy came to us from the Lord, our God, who left us a remnant and gave us a stake in his holy place; thus our God has brightened our eyes and given us relief in our servitude."  Ezra could be speaking of the world in which we live today.   He could be speaking of each one of us. Why do I say that?  You and I,  from time to time, are weighed down with sorrow, realizing that we, too, have strayed from the right path.  We are well aware of the wickedness that exist in our world  today and, yes, we are turned over to the will of foreigners, "to the sword, to captivity (in many forms), to pillage, and to disgrace." Then, amazingly, sometimes, it seems, out of nowhere, we experience God's mercy, the good will of another, giving us "new life," restoring our "ruins," and bringing us  back into good graces with the Lord our God,  with others and with self.

In what ways have you experienced being brought back into good graces? In what way have you been  "in captivity" to negative attitudes, negative behaviors, poor choices? How have you experiences being disgraced? And, in what ways have you experienced "God's mercy," the good will of another, the "ruins" of a situation for which you were responsible being restored?

Talk to God about these situations. Share your thoughts and feelings with the Lord. Stand beneath the cross and let the precious blood and water flowing from Jesus sacred side cleanse you, restore you, strengthen you, make you new.

Enduring Joy

In the  first reading of today’s liturgy, Baruch 4: 5-12, 27-29,  Baruch tells the people not to fear but to remember that the reason that they were conquered by other nations was that they had abandoned the covenant God made with them.  This did not happen, Baruch tells them, because God wanted them to be destroyed, but that they had provoked God by sacrificing to “demons, to no-gods; you forsook the Eternal God who nourished you, and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you.”  Further on in the reading,  the holy city of Jerusalem—where God dwelt, as God dwells in our Tabernacles--says that with “joy I fostered them; but with mourning and lament I let them go.”

I could not help but think of the times the Lord is directing us and we simply ignore the Spirit’s direction and do our own thing. “With joy,” God says, “I fostered them; but with mourning and lament I let them go.”  God deeply respects our free will and does not ever force us to embrace His will.  God lets us  go to experience the emptiness, if you will, or the frustration of not having followed the way to which God was calling us. It may be as simple as calling a friend, reaching out to someone we slighted and saying “I’m sorry,”  spending some leisure time in the evening with family or community members, listening with an open mind and heart or taking time to study the Scriptures or to do some substantive reading that nurtures our spiritual lives. Or, it may be more serious, like not getting involved with the wrong crowd that leads us into selfish pursuits  or that leads us into violating the rights of another person or of doing that which violates our own personal integrity.  Baruch says to us, then:  “As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God turn now ten times the more to seek him; for he who has brought disaster [frustration, emptiness, pain] upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.”

Mary Standing by and with her Son

Holy  Saturday: A day of mourning as Mary and the disciples grieve the crucifixion and death of Jesus.  Many must have known that the leaders of her nation were plotting to kill her son. No doubt, also, Jesus did not keep secrets from His mother.  He knew that His hour was approaching. I sense Mary did, too. Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper,  “Father,  the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you; so that, just as you have given him power over all humanity, he may give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him” does not mean that the physical and emotional pain of His crucifixion and death were negated.  Both Jesus and Mary suffered the full blunt and excruciating agony of the way in which He was treated by the leaders of their nation.  Mary, most likely, witnessed all of it, I believe. She would not have abandoned her Son in the hour of His greatest need.  No healthy mother would do that to her child.

As I reflected on the high probability that Mary witnessed, not only Jesus’ dying on the cross, but also his being nailed to it, I thought of the millions of men and women, children and adolescents, young adults, “nailed” to agonizing, humiliating, violent abusive situations:

·         Those unjustly imprisoned

·         Those sold to the sex trade, to forced labor camps/factories

·         Those “locked” in abusive marriages or other relationships

·         Those enslaved to any and all kinds of addictive behaviors

·         Those battling terminal illnesses and chronic mental disorders

·         Those living in extreme poverty and forced to live on our streets

·         Those forced into gang activity

·         Those unprotected from being murdered in the womb

·         Those unable to escape verbal, emotional, mental, physical and sexual abuse in or outside of their families

O Jesus, you are nailed to the cross and crucified every day by humanity’s inhumane ways of treating each other.

 O Mary, is there any sorrow as great as your sorrow as you watch your sons and daughters, especially little children, being “nailed”  and abandoned to agonizing situations, as Jesus was nailed to the cross and crucified on Calvary?