Fr Billy Swan
The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is a follow on from yesterday’s feast of the Triumph of the Cross.
If you love someone and they suffer, then you suffer too. This is the experience of life and of us all. To love is to suffer. They cannot be separated. It was also the experience of Mary. She loved her Son with a love beyond all telling. But because she did, she suffered immensely as he suffered before her eyes. She suffered with him. His agony was hers.
From the cross, Jesus entrusted Mary to all his disciples - ‘Son/daughter behold your mother’. He also entrusted us to her – ‘Mother behold your son/daughter’.
For all of those who suffer, it means that Mary suffers too. She suffers because she loves us and because she loves us she suffers when we do. As she was there with her Son from beginning to end, so she is with us at every step of life’s journey. With her gentle care she is with us now, gently mothering us to keep going with her beyond the darkness and towards the light of resurrection.
Below is the photo of the pieta where Mary cradles the dead body of her Son. Before her are candles that carry the prayers and hopes of the people. She is Our Lady of Sorrows but Our Lady of Light and Hope.
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