Over the past couple of weeks my wife Anna and I have experienced great sorrows. We have friends and relatives call and tell us of the illnesses and deaths in their lives. One friend Geneva called to tell my wife that her cancer had returned and she was afraid to tell her husband. They spoke for an hour. That was on a Monday and on my way to work Tuesday morning Anna said that she was not going to answer the phone that day. She told me not to bother to calling home. Each of us felt attacked and helpless and could not bare more sad news . We both were emotionally overwhelmed.
Tuesday night when I got home from work, Anna greeted me at the door and confessed she answered the phone. Our daughter-in-law called from England and told my wife that her mother had died.
WHAT WE SHARE AS HUMANS
All of us have sorrow in our lives and the reason that this emotions exists is that we simply, love. In our first reading 1 Corinthians 10 ,Saint Paul speaks to them and us as “sensible people” who participate in the Blood and the Body of Christ. When I experience sorrow my first, last and only solace is the Eucharist and prayer.
Our Mother Mary experienced the emotions of love and sorrow in her real life. In Luke , Simeon predicted this “and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
THE ANSWER
Obviously, the Church reminds us today that we cannot avoid the bad things that happen to good people, but there is someone we can turn who has experienced our sorrow. Have you ever heard someone say in desperation, “I want my mother!”
Jesus gave His mother to us. Therefore, do not delay.
Please go to Mary today with all your emotional cuts and scraps.
God Bless
Bob Burford
