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!

O, the Greatness, the Generosity, the Mercy and the Love of our God

In today’s first reading, 1 Cor 11¨17-26, 33, St. Paul reminds us that what he received from the Lord Jesus he hands on to us, namely, “that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This is the cup of the new covenant in my Blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”

At every Eucharist, we remember what God has done for us on Calvary. We give thanks through Jesus Christ and we take and eat in obedience to His teaching that “the bread that  I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world….Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person.”

At every Mass the Holy Spirit changes the bread and wine into Jesus through the consecrated hands of the priest.  “It is the Lord,” each of us at Mass can say as we ponder the act of consecration and what happens on the altar when the words of Consecration are said. At that moment, God comes down from heaven to visit us in person, to share the fullness of His life with us and the gift of reconciliation with our God. In the Eucharist, God transforms us, purifies us, recreates us into the persons God designed us to be in His creation of us and in His molding of us in our mother’s womb! O, what a gift is Eucharist! O, what a gift is the Mass! O, the greatness and the generosity and the mercy and the love of our God!

The Cup of Blessing

In today's first reading, 1 Cor 10: 14-22,, Paul asks us: "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of
Christ? Because the loaf of bread," Paul states, "is one, we, though many, are one Body, for we all partake of the one loaf."

The bread that we break at a Catholic Liturgy is Jesus' body broken for us on the cross.  The blood that we drink is Jesus' Blood poured out for us on Calvary.  In our participation in the Eucharist, Jesus becomes one with each of us and we become one with one another: one Body of Christ, one Body in Christ. It is the Risen Lord who, in the Eucharist,  visits us, hidden in the consecrated bread and wine. The bread and the wine before consecration is not bread and wine after the consecration. It is the Risen Christ who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit--one God, three divine persons; one God, undivided unity and Trinity.  As Jesus, the Father and the Spirit are one with each other, so, too we are to become one with others.  We are to live with others as Jesus lives with and in the Father and the Spirit, giving, loving, creating the good in all, for all and through all in God's name and reconciling all to His Father through His death and resurrection.

In what ways do I strive for unity with those with whom I live and work and pray? In what ways to I give, love, and create the good in all, for all and through all in God's name? And in what ways am I divisive?  And, if divisive, what do I do to bring about reconciliation?

Qualifying

In today’s first reading, I Cor 9: 16-19, 22b-27, Paul talks about how athletes enter training programs in order to win a perishable crown.  Then he asks us what we are willing to do to win an imperishable one.  He says: “Run so as to win….do not run aimlessly; …do not fight as if…[you were] shadowboxing. No drive …[your] body and train it, for  fear that…[you]…should be disqualified.”  As I reflected upon this passage, I asked myself the following questions:   ” In what disciplines are you engaged  to qualify for an imperishable prize?   Of what does your training program, Dorothy Ann, consist? What blocks you from following a training program, in the first place?”  Then I turned to Jesus and asked Him  to answer these questions for me,  as I could easily be a blind guide guiding myself. What transpired in my prayer was the following:

Dorothy Ann, your training program has to consist of trusting Me, depending on Me, keeping your focus on Me, and turning to Me when you fail the course.

Your training program is a bogus program if your focus is on you and your efforts. An authentic training program consist of trusting Me, turning to Me, depending on Me, and coming back to Me. When you have become aware of having abandoned the course, simply turn back to Me and say: Jesus, I trust You.

The Birthday of Mary, the Mother of the Son of God

Today we celebrate the birth of Mary, the Mother of the Son of God, who assumed human nature through Mary in order to bring about our redemption, that is to save us from the power of Satan, who alluringly tricked Adam and Eve into disobedience and to this very day prowls throughout the world deceiving people into choosing their will above God’s will.  Just as Adam and Eve did not pass the test of free will neither do you and I. Without grace, we fall into sin over and over and over again! Our salvation? Jesus Christ born of Mary.

Mary was born free of original sin.  She, alone of all human beings other than the Incarnate Son of God, never fell into the pit Satan sets for each one of us: the pit of choosing our own wills over the will of our Creator. Mary, perfectly, followed the will of God in every circumstance of her life, saying “yes” to God over and over again. Her obedience to the will of God is exemplified so clearly for us in the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel was sent to Mary to communicate God’s will to her. Gabriel greets her as one who has found favor with God and tells her that she has been chosen “’to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel: ‘But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow.’ And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God…[Y]our cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ Mary said, ‘You see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said’”  (Luke 1: 312-38). 

Mary was 14 or 15 when the angel announced that she would be impregnated through the power of the Holy Spirit and conceive a son. Mary was betrothed to Joseph and not yet married. Conceiving out of wedlock, in her culture, meant that she faced the possibility of being stoned to death. She still said “yes” to God’s will for her.

When we are confronted with the possibility of very unpleasant consequences to following the path God asks us to traverse, what is our response?  Is our faith and trust in God as strong as Mary’s?  If not, let us call upon Mary to secure for us the graces we need to say “yes” to God in any circumstance, willing to pay whatever price is demanded of us!  God is there for us as truly as God was there for Mary and worked everything out for her even to the resurrection of her Son on Easter morn, rising  seeing her Son  triumphantly over death in accord with the Father’s will.

Paul's Message: "Time is Running Out"

In today’s first reading, 1 Cor 7: 25-31, Paul, at the time, believed that the second coming of Jesus was  about to occur so he advised people to not to engage in pursuing new interests, not to seek marriage or “a separation from marriage.” “Time is running out,” he says to the disciples of the Lord.  What would you and I do if we believed God was coming to escort us into the glories of eternity today, tonight, next week or month or year? If you and I faced the poverty of having very little time left here on earth, what would we do? 

In today’s Gospel, Luke 6: 20-26, Jesus says: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hunger, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh….” Am I, I ask myself, hungering for the Kingdom of God? Am I hungering for justice and peace, love and understanding, mercy and goodness to radiate from my being today as I interact with others?  Am I thirsting for what the Lord is thirsting and for what He thirsted as He hung on the cross on Good Friday and, today, as He hangs on the crosses of other people’s pain: the pain of immigrants fleeing their homeland seeking safety and a better life for their children, the pain of those who are victims of human trafficking, drug trafficking and slave labor, the pain of parents watching their child starve to death for physical and/or spiritual nourishment, the pain of parents contemplating an abortion or reeling from the guilt of having killed the child in their womb because they believed they did not have another choice, the pain of a family member watching the agony of an elderly parent suffering from  Alzheimer’s or watching a child suffering from an addiction that is sapping them of their former, happy, productive, loving self?

“Time is running out,” Paul says. What will I do to make a difference today, to be Christ in today’s world, whether is it the last day of my life or the beginning of my life for the next 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 70 years?  The choice is mine to make! May I choose wisely!

"Put out into Deep Water...for a Catch"

In today’s Gospel, Luke 5: 1-11, Jesus is teaching a crowd of people. The crowd is pressing upon him,listening, Luke tells us, “to the word of God”—truly to the Word of God made flesh.  Jesus, feeling about to be crushed, spots Simon’s fishing boat a ways off shore—the fishermen were washing their nets—so Jesus walks out to the boat, gets into it and pushes out a bit further to secure some space for Himself. When he finishes teaching, he says to Simon: “Put out into the deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.”  Simon does so, even though he and his partners have been fishing all night, are worn out, so to speak, know that there are no fish in the area yet does what Jesus asks of them: Pays out into the deep and, to their amazement, have an overwhelming catch. “Who is this man,” Peter and his partners must have wondered.   I can imagine Peter saying to himself: “We’ve fished all night and caught nothing.He says: ‘Go out into the deep and you will find fish.'”  Peter may have said to himself initially:  “What? He’s not a professional fisherman! I am.”  Then says: “Okay, Lord, We will go out into the deep, as you have asked of us.”

Following this large catch of fish, Peter falls on his knees and says to Jesus: “Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” That does not faze Jesus. He  says to Simon and his partners, James and John: “’Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching.’  Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.”

There are several lessons in this reading: 1) the importance of setting boundaries, creating space for

ourselves, as Jesus did. Do you and I recognize when people are “crushing” us and we need to create

space for ourselves? 2) that Jesus is our Master, knowing what we need to do to succeed at what we are doing? Do we listen to His voice, His instructions, as Simon did, even when they make no sense to us? 3) being honest about our situation, especially, naming our failures, identifying out frustrations and sharing those with the Lord, as Simon had done when he told Jesus that they “have worked hard all night long and caught nothing,”  4) the importance of falling on our knees before Jesus and recognizing our sinfulness. Do we recognizing our sinfulness and the absolute holiness of our God? 5) Hearing Jesus say to us: ‘Be not afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching'" for God's Kingdom. For what am I "fishing"and 6) leaving everything to follow Jesus’  instructions when the things we need to leave behind would block us from knowing Jesus, doing the will of our God through Christ Jesus and bringing other people into God’s Kingdom of love and mercy, generous service and increased love,  repentance and forgiveness?