AND SHE WAS THERE.
September 15, 2023.
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.
“… And you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts
of many hearts may be revealed." Lk 2:35
A Tswana proverb says: “To kiss the child is to kiss the
mother.” A Kikuyu proverb adds: “The woman who gives birth to a child is like
the banana tree that breaks under the weight of its fruit.”
There is one verse from the Gospel of John that touches me
in a very particular way while contemplating the Cross of Jesus. "Standing
by the cross of Jesus were his mother..." Jn 19:25
From that short sentence springs one of the greatest hymns
ever composed about Mary, the Stabat Mater Dolorosa.
Mary was of all the journeys of her Son. And she was among
the rare witnesses of his last earthly journey, the Via Dolorosa that ended on
the Cross.
We celebrated yesterday the Exaltation of the Cross. The
Church gives us to look and contemplate the Mother as she shares in the pains
of her beloved Son. Mary standing at the feet of the Cross.
The Stabat Mater Dolorosa sings:
stood the
mournful mother weeping,
close to Jesus
to the last
2. Through her
heart, his sorrow sharing,
all his bitter
anguish bearing,
now at length
the sword had passed.
3. Oh how sad
and sore distressed
was that mother
highly blessed,
of the
sole-begotten One!
4. Christ above
in torment hangs;
she beneath
beholds the pangs
of her dying
glorious Son.
5. Is there one
who would not weep,
whelmed in
miseries so deep
Christ's dear
Mother to behold?
6. Can the
human heart refrain
from partaking
in her pain,
in that Mother's pain untold?..."
The hymn goes on, so too must our admiration and love for
Mary. For, at the foot of the Cross of her Son, the Blessed Virgin stands as
the Lady of the Cross, our Lady of Sorrows. Not only does she share in the
sorrows of Jesus but she also invites us to mingle our sorrows with his and
follow him carrying our daily crosses. She was with Jesus. She is also with us.
Celebrating this Marian memorial, the readings point to her
sufferings, on how she participated in Jesus' suffering. And like her, we too
are urged to become sharers in the Passion and Death of our Lord if we want to
rightly share in his Resurrection. In the first reading, we hear that Jesus’
sufferings were a school of obedience. Through the Cross, he perfected his
obedience to the Father. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews says: “Son
though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made
perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” If
Jesus, the Son of the Father passed through the hard suffering of the Cross to
show us how much it costs to obey, we too, should accept obediently our today’s
crosses and sufferings.
In his sufferings, however, Jesus was not left alone. Even
though most of his disciples fled away from him, except John, there was also
someone more particular and closer to him than all, his Mother. She has been of
all the journeys of the Lord. She was a disciple among the great crowd of
disciples. Present among the many women who serve the needs of the Lord and his
Twelve Apostles. Not only did she prove her discipleship at Cana (Jn 2:1-12)
and taught the people how to listen and do what Jesus will tell them, but she
also went till the end, so that must be fulfilled the prophecy of the old man
Simeon: "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." (Lk
2:34-35)
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