Mary, Mother of Sorrows
Psalm 41
Happy are those who consider the poor; the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble.
The Lord protects them and keeps them alive; they are called happy in the land.
The Lord sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness, you heal all their infirmities.
The Rector Major’s words
Mary, Mother of Sorrows, is the woman who remains when everyone else flees: at the foot of the cross, in the place where suffering is most unjust and most incomprehensible. The Gospel simply tells us that “standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and the disciple whom he loved”. No dramatic gesture is recounted, not a single word; only her presence, simply “standing there”, without protest, without diminishing the mystery of the cross. It is this ability to remain close to those who suffer, even though she cannot change the course of events, that makes Mary the mother of all human suffering.
She is the Mother of Sorrows, the Woman of Good Friday: she sees her own son die, and yet she does not prevent the fulfilment of what the Son and the Father have decided for the salvation of the world. Not because she is insensitive, but because she has learnt to trust in God even in the midst of darkness. Simeon had foretold her that ‘a sword would pierce her soul’, and on that day the prophecy is fulfilled in its fullness. In her, all the suffering of mothers, of parents, of friends who see those they love suffering, finds an echo, a place, and understanding.
Precisely for this reason, Mary has a unique role in the suffering of humanity. Jesus, from the cross, gives her to us as Mother: ‘Behold your mother’.
From that moment on, every tear may seek her face, every wound may find refuge in her
heart. The tradition of ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’ reminds us that she participates from within in her Son’s passion, sharing in his redemptive mission and thus becoming a powerful intercessor for those in pain. In our illnesses, in our bereavements, in our hidden depressions, Mary is a mother who weeps with us and for us, yet at the same time supports us so that pain does not have the final say. With her, the night is pierced by a presence that whispers to the heart: ‘Stay, you are not alone; beneath this cross I am here with you too.’
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