Mary, Mother of Sorrows

Mary, Mother of Sorrows:  When Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the Temple, Simeon prophesized that Mary’s heart would be pierced with sorrow, as her Son would be the cause of the rise and fall of many in Israel.  He’d be a sign of contradiction. Imagine Mary hearing these words.  They certainly do not contain a message you’d want to hear at the baptism of your infant son/daughter.  But what if the priest uttered such a prophesy about your child on that occasion.  Would you not return home heartsick, worried, confused.
 
Mary, Mother of Sorrows!

As a mother, she knows the pain every parent, both mother and father, goes through when devastating news is delivered to them about their child: a terminal illness, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, retardation, a mental illness, poor school performance, and, much worse, a kidnapping, sexual abuse by a relative or a stranger, a disappearance, and even murder.  Mary says to you: your pain is my pain.  She stands beneath the cross with you, as she stood beneath the cross of her Son.

Mary, Mother of Sorrows

We  might think that Mary, the Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception, would have been free of suffering, an exemption from the sorrows that humankind experiences as the result of original sin.  That simply was not the case. Already at the conception of Jesus, when the Son of God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, entered her womb Mary faced the possibility of death—any young women caught pregnant outside of marriage was stoned to death.  Even to this day in the Middle East, a woman who engages in sexual behavior outside of marriage or is raped faces “honor killing.”  Considered a disgrace to the family, the women or young girl’s death is perceived as restoring honor to the family.  Imagine Mary, a young teenage Jewish girl pregnant outside of marriage, imprenated by the power of the Holy Spirit, facing that possibility. 

                Mary knows the agony of rape victims, the pain of bearing the consequences of unjust laws and prejudices that exists against women. “Your pain,” Mary says, “is my pain.”  She stands beneath our crosses, as she stood beneath the cross of her Son.