“At the cross her station keeping
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus at the last,
Through her soul, of joy bereaved
Bowed with anguish, deeply grieved
Now at length the sword had passed.”
Yesterday, we celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (Triumph of the Cross). The Church invited us to reflect on the meaning of the Holy Cross. The Cross is the symbol of our salvation, of Divine love and compassion. Jesus Christ the perfect sacrifice as the Lamb of God died on this cross to reconcile us with the Father.
Today our hearts unite with that of Mary as she stood at the foot of the cross faithfully. We are challenged to view the cross from a different perspective, that of Mary the Mother of Sorrows as she grieves and mourns the death of her son. Mary’s sorrows can be metaphors for the hardships we experience in our own life. By uniting ourselves with Mary we find courage, strength, and wisdom to faithfully live out our life with trust in the God who is always with us. These painful experiences of Mary if we allow them can help us find meaning and inspiration.
In these sorrows we see how Mary questioned what was confusing and unclear, how she reflected on her life experience in order to find meaning in them. In Mary, we see a great amount of resiliency, how she was sustained by her faith, and how her deep love for her son strength and courage to enter into and endure her suffering. Today, as we walk with Mary in her sorrows we discover that we are never alone in what seems most difficult in our life. In Mary, we have a faithful mother, a mentor, a sister, a model. We are called to celebrate and remember the sorrows that shaped her life and we celebrate her unquestionable gift of compassion and trust. Mary went through bitter suffering as she stood beneath the cross, but she did so with determination and fortitude. She stood as a warrior determined to be there for her son. When love is the motivation, one can wait at the foot of the cross for a very long time. Mary shows us how to do that with inner strength.
… may I feel sorrow with Jesus in sorrow,
be anguished with Jesus in anguish,
experience tears and deep grief
because of all the afflictions with Jesus endures for me…
May Mary the Mother of Sorrows, who followed Jesus faithfully to the end at Calvary and shared with her whole being in his passion and death be our companion on our journey. At the foot of the cross, Mary was the Church, she was us, May she intercedes for us especially at the hour of our death.
