This is your son. This is your Mother

 

Welcome to my blog. Peace be with you.

Today in the Catholic Church we remember Mary in her sufferings at the foot of the Cross. Yesterday we celebrated the exaltation of the Cross of Jesus. Today we remember Mary, the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus. She shared fully in the life and death of her Son.

Jesus wants us to love and honour her as he did on earth.

Tuesday 15 September 2020

Our Lady of Sorrows

“This is your son. This is your Mother”

 

Gospel

John 19:25-27

'Woman, this is your son'

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.

 

Prayerful reflection

Mary shares in the suffering of her Son. She fulfils her part which only she can do as St. Paul tells us: “In my own flesh I make up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for his body the church.” What is lacking in the sufferings of Christ is my contribution as a member of his Body. His Sacrifice takes away the sin of the world. It is complete in this sense. As members of the Body of Christ his sufferings will not be complete until the whole Body offers itself for the salvation of the world. Each then has a role. Mary fulfilled her role perfectly while she stood at the foot of the Cross uniting her sufferings with those of Jesus for the salvation of humanity. She fulfils her role as a sharer in the priesthood of Christ, by standing there and offering her Son to God.

In his last breath, Jesus gives her to us as our Mother. Just as the beloved disciple took her into his home, so should we take her into our hearts. No one loves and honours Mary more that Jesus born from her womb. In Nazareth he obeyed her completely (Luke 2:51) and so should we. Her command is always the one she gave in Cana: do whatever he tells you.

Mary is our Mother who brings us up in the faith and teaches how to love and serve her Son. As she was at the heart of the Church on Pentecost so she is in the heart of the Church today. As a Mother, she cares for us and the Church as we often struggle to do the will of Christ in a hostile world.

Devotion to Mary is the mark of a true disciple of Jesus. Jesus is her life.  She is the way to Jesus.