Our Lord is hanging on the cross. Dying.
He looks down at his Mother. He looks down at his favorite Apostle.
He looks down at us!
“Behold, your son … Behold, your Mother.”
He gives us to Mary. He gives Mary to us.
In one dying breath, he pulls us into the Holy Family. He wants us to experience the love of Mary. He wants us to turn to her whenever we need help.
So where is Mary today?
Is she in your garden, standing in the middle of a bed of flowers?
Does she hang from your rear view mirror, blowing in the wind, along with some beads and a crucifix?
Does she spend her days on a prayer card, tucked away in a drawer?
Where is Mary in your life?
Today’s memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is a vivid reminder of the sorrow Mary felt while at the foot of the cross or (depending on which Gospel is read) at her encounter with Simeon, who let her know the fate of her beloved Son.
Let us not forget that Mary was human. Her son was divine – and – human, but Mary was the perfection of humanity, as anyone would need to be in order to carry the actual unblemished son of God.
As such, Mary felt pain. She felt joy. But she also felt sorrow.
What was she sorry about? Was it because her son was beaten, humiliated and crucified?
Perhaps.
Was it the way most all of her son’s friends abandoned him on the day of his greatest need?
Maybe.
But just as Jesus wept in the Garden for events yet to come, Mary felt sorrow in her heart, not so much for her Son’s death – after all, he would be back in three days – but for all of us.
Mary knew the deal. She was aware what was happening, what needed to happen. And she trusted God knew what he was doing.
So Mary knew that her son would be betrayed, beaten and abandoned.
She also knew this betrayal would not end with the crucifixion. It would go on for hundreds of years.
Betrayal, even today … in the valley of tears.
Mary knows this … and she weeps for us.
But she also stands ready to help us. She waits for our prayers of intercession. Her broken heart is mended with each bead of a Rosary.
Mary wants to be a part of our lives.
She doesn’t want to simply hang out with the roses and azaleas in the garden. She doesn’t want to be a prop in your car. She wants to be in your heart.
She wants us to love, honor and cherish her, the way we do our own mothers. She wants us to come to her in times of need so she can point us to her son.
Mary’s heart aches for our attention.
So ask yourself, where is Mary in your life today?
Perhaps we should get to know her a little better.
JN 19:25-27
