DAILY READING and REFLECTIONS For Monday, September 15, 2014 24th Week in Ordinary Time - Psalter 4 (White) Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows Readings: Heb 5:7-9; Ps 40:7-17; Jn 19:25-27 Response: Proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes again. Rosary: Joyful Mysteries Verse Highlight: Woman, this is your son...This is your mother. SAINT OF THE DAY: Our Lady of Sorrows She is a strange and beautiful human sign of grace, a holy mystery, Our Lady of Sorrows, the Suffering Servants mother. There was never a moment in Jesus thirty three years that Mary did not surround Him with the womb of her love, as she surrounds all of us. After all He gave us to her at the final moment, a final gift from the Cross. In the most remarkable ways, the Old Testament reveals her mysterious role as Our Lady of Sorrows, foreshadowing a most poignant truth, and inspiring deep veneration. Called the Ark of the New Covenant by the Church Fathers, Our Lady of Sorrows was intimated by the characteristics of the Ark of the Testimony in the tabernacle. Located secretly in the Holy of Holies, the inner chamber of the tabernacle, no man was allowed to touch the ark upon penalty of death. Even the High Priest was completely restricted from its vicinity except on the annual Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year, on which he sprinkled the ark with sacrificial blood. It was Marys purity, then, upon which the presence of the Lord would one day uniquely rest just as He had once rested on the untouchable ark, and it was she who would be anointed first with the sacrificial blood of her Son, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Similar in language to king of kings, the holy of holies wherein the ark rested expresses the superlative, meaning the holiest of what is holy. To be holy simply means to be dedicated or uniquely set apart, and the significance and nature of this holiness becomes clear only with an understanding of the word ark. Strangely and prophetically, ark means coffin, so that the ark in the tabernacle was uniquely dedicated to suffering. This suffering would be excruciatingly private, intimate, and divinely assisted, however. The ark was secluded on one side by a veil, richly woven in blue, scarlet, and purple thread and embroidered with ornate worshipping cherubim. On the remaining sides, the ark was protected within the Holy of Holies by wood paneling overlaid with gold. Within this beautiful cocoon, the ark, uniquely dedicated to suffering, rested secretly in the most holy place of the tabernacle and bore the presence of the Lord. In addition, the arks lid was decorated with two of the glorious, worshipping cherubim beaten from a single piece of gold, the one piece signifying unity, and the hammered gold signifying sacrificial worship. Thus the cherubim, worshipping in perpetual service to God, enclosed the ark within the covering of their wings, depicting their role in assisting and surrounding the ark and secluding it in the privacy and mystery of the sacrificial love of the Trinity. Contributing even more to the mystery surrounding the ark is that the priests were instructed to cover it in anointing oil in a profoundly sacred ritual that tangibly and literally consecrated and emphasized the otherness of its particular use. The divine formula for this holy anointing oil included myrrh as a primary ingredient. Myrrh was outrageously expensive, and so a lavish and precious commodity; but it was also bitter, so that in Ruth 1:20-21, Naomi took the new name Mara, similar to myrrh, to designate the bitterness of her trials. It was also used extensively as a preservative embalming agent, and therefore was a death spice, and came to have connotations of mourning and grief. Mary, then, her name derived from Mara, was foreknown from the foundation of the world, uniquely dedicated and consecrated to willingly and wholly embracing the bitter sword that would pierce her heart (Luke 2:35), lavishly anointed and set aside, awash in aromatic suffering for the sacrificial purposes of God, just as the ark had been before her. The suffering Our Lady of Sorrows endured was not arbitrary or otherwise specially added to her, and not abnormal, or even holy on its own, in any way except the most important one. Marys suffering was for her son, her child, her infant, who was God Almighty Himself, Incarnate. A mothers natural pity and anguish took on an eternal dimension because of its precious object. Proceeding most naturally from her maternal relationship, Marys love was exponentially more painful, and more efficacious, for the absolute matchlessness of her Son. It was through this natural relationship that they suffered together, God Himself, the Incarnate Word of the Father and Our Lady of Sorrows, united together in the New Ark in the Holy of Holies of agony and sacrifice. It was because He was the son of her heart that the sword would pierce her there, but it was because He is the Son of God that her suffering would become so connected with His in the Holy of Holies. To discern the unity of Our Lady of Sorrows with the Ark of the New Covenant is to grasp the utterly unique intimacy Mary shared with the Trinity through a most natural but profound offering, an offering of which each one of us is also capable. She offered herself, completely, with all the love of which a mother was capable, for a child, whom she offers to all of us. In this most holy way, her sorrows are joined to those of the Redeemer whom she bore for the whole world. They together now share in a mystery of love forged from the secret place of humility. READINGS FROM THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: READING 1, Hebrews 5:7-9 7 During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, with loud cries and with tears, to the one who had the power to save him from death, and, winning a hearing by his reverence, 8 he learnt obedience, Son though he was, through his sufferings; 9 when he had been perfected, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 31:2-3, 3-4, 5-6, 15-16, 20 2 turn your ear to me, make haste. Be for me a rock-fastness, a fortified citadel to save me. 3 You are my rock, my rampart; true to your name, lead me and guide me! 4 Draw me out of the net they have spread for me, for you are my refuge; 5 to your hands I commit my spirit, by you have I been redeemed. God of truth, 6 you hate those who serve useless idols; but my trust is in Yahweh: 15 every moment of my life is in your hands, rescue me from the clutches of my foes who pursue me; 16 let your face shine on your servant, save me in your faithful love. 20 Safe in your presence you hide them, far from human plotting, shielding them in your tent, far from contentious tongues. GOSPEL, John 19:25-27 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mothers sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, Woman, this is your son. 27 Then to the disciple he said, This is your mother. And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: Almighty God, our creator and guide, may we serve you with all our hearts and know your forgiveness in our lives. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ON READING 1: Hebrews 5:7-9 (Jesus Had a Choice) On this side of the cross we are used to hearing about Jesus sacrifice for our sins so we forget this important truth, Jesus had a choice.The choice to redeem mankind, or let mankind pay the price for Adam’s choice in the garden. Adam chose death, suffering and sin over God. As result, he plunged the entire world into this pattern of life and we were subjected to the destructiveness of un-regenerated man. Mankind needed someone to intercede which is why Jesus volunteered for the role as Savior of the world (I Corinthians 15:22; II Corinthians 5:19; I Peter 1:20; I John 2:2). God is big on giving choices and letting us choose for ourselves. He does not force His will on us. In the same way, He did not force His will for redeeming mankind on Jesus. He gave Him the choice. This is beyond comprehension because God and Jesus are one and the same. They exist in a triune being of perfect love and unity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three distinctly different entities yet one in the same. II peter 3 tells us that God is not willing that any should perish and desires everyone to come to repentance (II Peter 3:9). This means that Jesus holds this desire as well. Hebrews 1 tells us that The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being... (Hebrews 1:3a). Meaning He is the exact image and picture of God. Everything God is, Jesus is. Everything God desires, Jesus desires. Gods will is Jesus will. The plan was Jesus from the start. As he submitted to Gods will, He became the lamb slain from the foundation of the world (I Peter 1:20). Jesus undertook this role before there was even a world to redeem. Then at the culmination of history He was made manifest in the flesh to complete this work once for all. It was a choice. No one took Jesus life; He willing laid it down for us. John tells us, The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18). The grace of God is more profound when you consider that Jesus could have backed out of this arrangement at any time. During His time on earth, Jesus could have said one word and God would have honored it. In the garden when Jesus was betrayed, Peter cut off the ear of the of the High Priests servant. Jesus responded in this way, “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” (Matthew 26:52-54). Jesus understood the choice and knew God would honor and respond to His decision at any point in time. Which is why he submitted to God and learned obedience through this type of suffering. Jesus suffering was more than the physical aspects of being crucified. His suffering far exceeded this because he had the entire weight of sin, sickness and death placed on him and then he was completely and totally separated from the presence of the Father. It took an act of obedience for a holy God to undergo this type of suffering. This is the point the writer of Hebrews is highlighting in this passage. The Amplified Bible puts it best, “In the days of His flesh [Jesus] offered up definite, special petitions [for that which He not only wanted but needed] and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was [always] able to save Him [out] from death, and He was heard because of His reverence toward God [His godly fear, His piety, in that He shrank from the horrors of separation from the bright presence of the Father]. Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered” (Hebrews 5:7-8 AMP). The price Jesus paid was extremely high. He was removed from the very essences of God the Father and literally became sin, the very thing he abhorred, so that we could be righteous in Gods sight (II Corinthians 5:21). When looking at the accounts of Jesus in the Garden to Gethsemane right before his betrayal we see how the anticipation of being separated from God affected Jesus. Yet during the entire time he readily submitted to Gods will in spite of what He was facing. Marks account is extremely insightful, He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:33-36). Jesus knew that on request God would save him from this horrible death and from taking the weight of Adams choice on himself as mankinds representative. In the same way, He knew that God had chosen Jesus as the first and only way to redeem mankind. So Jesus actively submitted to Gods will and plan so that it would be finished. Jesus completed everything that He was instructed to do. He fulfilled every scripture written about the promised Messiah. John records, Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (John 19:28:30). What an amazing picture of the love God has for us. Mark gives us more detail on what happened, It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last (Luke 23:44-46). This act of obedience perfectly equipped Jesus for His role as our eternal high priest, he accomplished everything God desired and became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who puts their trust in Him (Hebrews 5:9; 7:25). Jesus has been exalted to His rightful place as Lord and will remain in this position eternally. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:8-11). This confession of Jesus lordship brings glory to God because it was His desire from the beginning that we would be reconciled through Jesus. And Jesus honored Gods request. Jesus had a choice and He chose us. God still offers this choice today. The work of salvation has been accomplished and now it is freely given to us as a gift through faith in Jesus. It is His desire that we accept this gift, but God does not make us choose him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (John 1:12-13). ON THE GOSPEL: John 19:25-27 (Our Lady of Sorrows) Today, feast of Our Sorrowful Mother, the Gospel of the day presents the passage in which Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Beloved Disciple, meet at Calvary before the Cross. The Mother of Jesus appears two times in the Gospel of John: at the beginning at the wedding feast in Cana (Jn 2, 1-5), and at the end, at the foot of the Cross (Jn 19, 25-27). These two episodes, only present in John’s Gospel, have a very profound value. The Gospel of John compared to the other three Gospels, is like an X-Ray of the other three, while the other three are only a photograph of what has taken place. The X rays of faith help to discover in the events dimensions which the human eye does not succeed to perceive. The Gospel of John, besides describing the facts, reveals the symbolical dimension which exists in them. Thus, in both cases, at Cana and at the foot of the Cross, the Mother of Jesus represents symbolically the Old Testament waiting for the New Testament to arrive, and in the two cases, she contributes to the arrival of the New Testament. Mary appears like the step between what existed before and that which will arrive afterwards. At Cana she symbolizes the Old Testament; she perceives the limits of the Old Testament and takes the initiative so that the New one arrives. She tells her Son: “They have no wine!” (Jn 2, 3). And in Calvary? Let us see: John 19, 25: The women and the Beloved Disciple, together at the foot of the Cross. This is what the Gospel says: “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala”. The “photograph” shows the mother together with the Son, standing up. A strong woman, who does not allow herself to be discouraged. “Stabat Mater Dolorosa!” Hers is a silent presence which supports the Son in his gift of self up until death, and the death on the cross (Ph 2, 8). But the “X-Ray” of faith shows how the passage from the Old Testament to the New Testament takes place. Like it happened in Cana, the Mother of Jesus represents the Old Testament, the new humanity which is formed beginning from the lived experience of the Gospel of the Kingdom. At the end of the first century, some Christians thought that the Old Testament was no longer necessary. In fact, at the beginning of the second century, Marciones rejected all the Old Testament and remained with only a part of the New Testament. This is why many wanted to know which was the will of Jesus regarding this. John 19, 26-28: The Testament or the Will of Jesus. The words of Jesus are significant. Seeing his Mother, and at her side the beloved Disciple, Jesus says: “Woman, this is your son”. Then he says to the disciple: “This is your mother”. The Old and the New Testament must walk together. The request of Jesus, the beloved Disciple, the son, the New Testament, receives the mother in his house. In the house of the Beloved Disciple, in the Christian community, the full sense of the Old Testament is discovered. The New Testament cannot be understood without the Old one, neither is the Old one complete without the New one. Saint Agustin said: “Novum in vetere latet, Vetus in Novo patet”. (The New one is hidden in the Old one. The Old one blooms in the New one). The New one without the Old one would be a building without a foundation. And the Old one without the New one would be like a fruit tree which could not bear fruit. Mary in the New Testament. The New Testament speaks very little about Mary and she says even less. Mary is the Mother of silence. The Bible only keeps seven words of Mary. Each one of those is like a window which allows one to see inside Mary’s house and to discover how her relationship with God was. The key to understand all this is given by Luke: “Blessed are those who receive the word of God and put it into practice” (Lk 11, 27-28): 1st Word: “How can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?” (Lk 1, 34). 2nd Word: “You see before you the Lord’s servant; let it happen to me as you have said”. (Lk 1, 38). 3rd Word: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour (Lk 1, 46-55). 4th Word: “My child why have you done this to us? Your father and I were worried looking for you” (Lk 2, 48). 5th Word: “They have no wine!” (Jn 2, 3.) 6th Word: “Do whatever he tells you!” (Jn 2, 5). 7th Word: The silence at the foot of the Cross, more eloquent than one thousand words! (Jn 19, 25-27). Along with Gabriels Annunciation to Mary (Luke 1:26-38), her Visitation to Elizabeth (1:39-56), and Jesus birth and infancy (2:7,16; Matthew 2:11), one other biblical scene depicting the mother of Jesus is especially prominent in the history of Christian art: Jesus death on the cross (John 19:25-27). Alone among the evangelists, it is John who informs us that standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mothers sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold, your son! Then he said to the disciple, Behold, your mother! And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. Over the centuries this scene of immense tenderness immediately preceding the death of Jesus has inspired, not only many Byzantine ikons, works of statuary beyond count, and numerous paintings in every generation, but also a wealth of hymns penned and sung by Christians in both East and West. The poetry and imagery of these diverse hymns share the common purpose of bringing the Christian imagination into a vivid awareness of the pain and dereliction of Jesus mother standing by his cross, as he entrusts her to the care of the disciple whom he loved. The emotional impulse to dwell on the sorrow of Jesus mother at the foot of the Cross had its root in the very love symbolized by the Cross. Simply put, Jesus died because he loved us. And such sacrificial love elicited a responding love from the believing heart. Christian emotional response to the sufferings of Jesus, then, has traditionally been deep and abiding. We sense this in the devout tenderness of Pauls assertion, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20). Paul was one of the first of those Christians who, from the very beginning, have demonstrated a sustained, overwhelming disposition to survey the wondrous Cross where the young Prince of Glory died. Christians have always known, of course, that the victory of the Cross is inseparable from the Lords Resurrection. They have never been in doubt that Jesus was raised for our justification. Yet, their warmest sentiments have traditionally been directed to the harsher fact that He was delivered up for our offenses (Romans 4:25). From the beginning, that is to say, they were disposed to dwell in imagination, distress, and deep empathy on the thought of what Jesus endured on their behalf. Even his wounds were treasured, because He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). What did this sort of reaction look like in the early church? We have an answer from the eyewitness account of the nun Egeria, a pilgrim from Gaul who recorded her experience of the Good Friday services in Jerusalem probably held around 381-4: The entire time from the sixth to the ninth hour is occupied by public readings. They all concern the things that Jesus suffered; first they have the psalms on this theme, then the Apostolic Epistles and Acts which deal with it, and finally the passages from the Gospels. In this way they read the prophecies about what the Lord was to suffer, and then the Gospels about what He did suffer. Thus do they continue the readings and hymns from the sixth to the ninth hour, showing to all the people by the witness of the Gospels and the writings of the Apostles that the Lord actually suffered everything the prophets had foretold. They teach the people, then, for these three hours, that nothing which took place had not been foretold, and all that was foretold was completely fulfilled. Dispersed among these readings are prayers, all fitting to the day. It is impressive to see the way all the people are moved by these readings, and how they mourn. You could hardly believe how every single one of them weeps during those three hours, old and young together, because of the way the Lord suffered for us (The Travels of Egeria, 37). If such were their own emotions when they pondered the price of their salvation, it is no wonder that Christians were also disposed to take note of the internal suffering of Jesus mother. When they found themselves in devout imagination at the foot of the Cross, it was impossible that they would not observe the mourning mother who stood there with them. If they themselves wept (for three hours, said Egeria!) at the vivid remembrance of Jesus suffering, how could they not take note of the sorrows of Mary? In any case, it is an historical fact that they did. The history of Christian art testifies to the fact in great abundance. Among the four canonical evangelists, Johns Gospel dominates traditional portrayals of the scene on Calvary. When paintings and statuary portray sorrowing figures gathered at the foot of the Cross, these figures are invariably the ones listed in Johns Gospel, which alone records the presence of Jesus mother and the disciple whom Jesus loved. … stood the mother, weeping Johns account also dominates the hymns both East and West that deal with the crucifixion. And so here, too, Mary is prominent. Compared to the East, Western hymnody on the theme of Marys sorrow at the sufferings of Jesus is sparse, with the one notable exception being the immensely popular Stabat Mater. It is nearly impossible to exaggerate the fervor and devotion this hymn has inspired since it was first sung in the 14th century. Composed in three-line segments (terza rima), the hymn establishes its theme in the first of its nineteen stanzas: Stabat Mater dolorosa/ Juxta crucem lacrimosa/ Dum pendebat Filius, commonly paraphrased as At the cross her station keeping/ Stood the mournful mother weeping/ Close to Jesus to the last. Through the subsequent stanzas the hymn keeps repeating the same theme, meditating on the sword that Simeon predicted would pierce the heart of Mary. The hymn then beseeches Mary herself, Let me share with thee his pain/ Who for all my sins was slain/ Who for me in torments died. As though to identify its singers with that beloved disciple who stood beside her at the cross, the hymn addresses Mary as mother. We observe in these lines the same impulses Egeria had described 1,000 years earlier: a strong, emotive appreciation of Christs love as he died in torment and a craving to be united to that love (let me share) in personal devotion. This is how Christians traditionally interpreted Pauls assertion, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Although its ascription to the leader of the strict Franciscan Spirituals, Jacopone (Crazy Jim) da Todi (1230?-1306?), is dubious, the Stabat Mater does seem to have been particularly popular among his fellow Franciscans. We find it in several missals (Mass books) of the 14th century, and in 1727 the hymn appears for the first time in the Roman Breviary (the daily prayerbook for monks and clerics), where it is assigned to a special liturgical feast instituted at Rome that year, The Feast of Marys Seven Sorrows. Outside of that limited liturgical usage, the Stabat Mater is perhaps more often sung as part of the popular practice of the Way of the Cross, a devotional service that traces the path of Jesus sufferings through fourteen stations (stopping places) from Pilates tribunal all the way to Jesus grave. Following the prayers and meditations associated with each of these stations, it has long been customary to sing a stanza or so of the Stabat Mater. Indeed, since that hymn was removed from the Roman Mass by the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, it is likely that many Catholics do not often sing it any more outside of the Way of the Cross. Let us step back to another scene near the beginning of Johns gospel; namely, the wedding feast of Cana (John 2:1-12). These two portrayals, both found only in John among the evangelists, have several things in common. First, Mary does not appear in Johns Gospel outside of these two places. Second, in both places she is called only the mother of Jesus and never named. Third, in each instance Jesus addresses his mother as Woman (gyne). Fourth, in both cases a new family is formed—in the first scene by the wedding itself, and in the second scene by a kind of adoption, in which the beloved disciple took her to his own home. Johns mother of Jesus does play an important part near the beginning of his account of the Lords ministry, in the first of his signs, wherein he manifested his glory at Cana (John 2:11). In the dialogue leading up to this manifestation, Jesus seems at first to bridle at his mothers hint that he relieve the shortage of wine at the wedding feast. He explains to her, My hour has not yet come (2:4). These words closely tie this scene at Cana to the scene at the cross later on. When the hour of the passion does finally come, it will once again be in reference to the manifestation of Jesus glory: Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you (John 17:1). John uses similar language of Jesus mother, telling us that it was from that hour the disciple took her to his own home (19:27). When the hour arrives for the King to be identified upon the throne of the cross (19:19), John is the only one of the evangelists to speak of the Kings mother (p. 38) standing beside it (19:26). Another feature linking Johns depictions of Cana and the cross is the word woman, by which Jesus addresses his mother in both places. Though this bare expression strikes the modern ear as impolite, perhaps even harsh, it was in fact a formal and decorous way for women to be addressed in biblical times (see, for example, Matthew 15:28; Luke 13:12; John 4:21; 8:10; 20:13). Mary the symbol of the church In Johns Gospel the word woman, gyne, seems especially significant. Besides at Cana and at the Cross, the Lord elsewhere uses this same word woman to portray the coming hour of His own passion: When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world (John 16:21). This sorrow of the childbearing woman is likened to the sorrow experienced by the disciples of Jesus at his coming passion: I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. … but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you (16:20, 22). The woman facing the hour of the Lords passion, then, is identified with the Messianic congregation itself, rather as we find in chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation. If the community of faith can symbolize the mother of the Messiah, then the physical mother of the Messiah can certainly symbolize the community of faith. Indeed, this symbolic development is hardly surprising. The mother of Jesus, after all, is portrayed in much of the New Testament as the model Christian. According to Luke, she kept all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19). She declared herself the maidservant of the Lord, eager for Gods will to be accomplished in her life (1:38 ). Indeed, in the whole New Testament she is the first to speak of God my Savior (1:47). If all Christians feel in their depths the love of Christ poured out for them upon the Cross, would this not be supremely true of his mother who stood in faith beside it? Consequently, John places the mother of Jesus within the company of Christian believers, herself even serving as a sign and symbol of that community. Luke, we recall, portrays Mary in the midst of the church in the upper room, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14). John for his part depicts her within that even smaller church gathered beside the cross to bear witness to the Lords redemptive death, clinging there to the disciple whom Jesus loved and who now takes her into his own home. Together they both bear witness as Jesus, bowing his head, handed over the Spirit (paredoken to Pneuma—19:30). That scene has haunted generations of believers since the churchs birth. Through song and art, worshippers have entered the deep sorrow of Mary and the beloved disciple, and bathed with them in the blood and water that flow forever from his sacred side. FINAL PRAYERS: Yahweh, what quantities of good things you have in store for those who fear you, and bestow on those who make you their refuge, for all humanity to see. Safe in your presence you hide them, far from human plotting. (Ps 31,19-20) Hallowed Mother, do this favor: Those Wounds that gored my Saviour, deeply on my heart engraved. Mine it be, Christs throes in sharing. Mine it be, his anguish bearing. These, his wounds, to keep in mind. From the flame of hell unending, be thou, Virgin, me defending, in that dreadful reckoning day! When in death my eyes are closing, open them, Lord, to see reposing, Victorys crown in Marys hand. When my frame by death is broken, and my doom by thee is spoken, be it, Lord, the better land. Amen. I beseech you, O Lord Jesus Christ, that the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose most holy soul was pierced in the hour of your Passion by the sword of sorrow, may intercede for us with Your mercy now and at the hour of our death. Amen. It is by God’s mercy that we are saved. May we never tire of spreading this joyful message to the world. -- Pope Francis Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. -- St. Jerome The Father uttered one Word; that Word is His Son, and He utters Him forever in everlasting silence; and in silence the soul has to hear it. -- St. John of the Cross
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 23:22:52 +0000
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