20180915
MARY
OUR MODEL IN SUFFERING
15 SEPTEMBER, 2018, Saturday, Our Lady of Sorrows
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.
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First reading
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1 Corinthians 10:14-22 ©
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We are a single body because we all
share the one bread
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My dear brothers, you must keep clear of
idolatry. I say to you as sensible people: judge for yourselves what I am
saying. The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ,
and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ. The fact
that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a
single body because we all have a share in this one loaf. Look at the other
Israel, the race, where those who eat the sacrifices are in communion with the
altar. Does this mean that the food sacrificed to idols has a real value, or
that the idol itself is real? Not at all. It simply means that the sacrifices
that they offer they sacrifice to demons who are not God. I have no desire to
see you in communion with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the
cup of demons. You cannot take your share at the table of the Lord and at the
table of demons. Do we want to make the Lord angry; are we stronger than he is?
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
115(116):12-13,17-18 ©
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A thanksgiving sacrifice
I make to you, O Lord.
How can I repay the Lord
for his goodness to me?
The cup of salvation I will raise;
I will call on the Lord’s
name.
A thanksgiving sacrifice
I make to you, O Lord.
A thanksgiving sacrifice I make;
I will call on the Lord’s
name.
My vows to the Lord I will fulfil
before all his people.
A thanksgiving sacrifice
I make to you, O Lord.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Happy is the Virgin Mary,
who, without dying,
won the palm of martyrdom
beneath the cross of the Lord.
Alleluia!
EITHER:
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Gospel
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John 19:25-27 ©
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'Woman, this is your son'
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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.
OR:
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Alternative Gospel
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Luke 2:33-35 ©
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'A sword will pierce your soul too'
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As the child’s father and mother stood
there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed
them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the
fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is
rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the
secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
MARY
OUR MODEL IN SUFFERING
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ HEBREWS 5:7-9; LUKE 2:33-35 OR JOHN 19:25-27 ]
Having
celebrated the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, it is appropriate for
the Church to follow up with the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. On the
surface, these two celebrations do not seem to agree as one is celebrating the
triumph of suffering and the other is more focused on the sorrows
instead. In truth, both celebrations ultimately want us to
celebrate the triumph of love over death and pain. The intent
of this twin commemoration is to assure us that suffering need not be a curse
but a means by which the love of God is manifested.
However, the
love of God and His victory over sin was not bought without a price.
It was purchased with the blood of Jesus on the cross. A resurrection
without the cross would be cheap grace; a cross without resurrection would be a
tragedy. A resurrection without the cross has power but no love. A
cross without a resurrection would be love without power. Indeed, success
is sweet, but sweeter still is the struggle we go through to arrive at our
success. Hence, the first reading speaks of Christ’s struggles in His
love for His Father and us when He cried out “aloud and in silent tears, to the
one who had the power to save him out of death”.
We
can imagine the suffering of Jesus in His life on earth; not just at His
passion. He must have felt the pain of having to leave His
mother behind to enter the ministry. He would have felt the pain of being
misunderstood by His relatives when they thought He was out of His mind.
It must have been painful for Him when His good works were rejected and spurned
by His townsfolk. His heart surely grieved when He was falsely accused of
casting out the devil by the name of Beelzebul. It must have saddened Him
to see His disciples fighting for power when He was on His way to the
passion. He would have suffered the conflict of having to choose between
being made king by the populace and going to His passion. He must have
felt terribly alone at His passion in the Garden of Gethsemane, betrayed by His
friends. And to leave His poor mother alone would surely have broken His
heart as it would have been for Mary too. Indeed, His suffering was the
fulfillment of the prophecy of Simeon that “he is destined for the fall and for
the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected.”
But His
suffering was also as much the suffering of Mary, His mother. “And a sword
will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid
bare.” Mary’s suffering with Christ at the cross was a suffering for the
love of humanity. The truth is that we always suffer much with those whom
we love. True love brings about mutual passion for each other. So
we can imagine how much agony Mary would have gone through at the foot of the
cross. Her union with her Son caused her to suffer much. Her
suffering, unlike that of her Son, which was one of the suffering of the body
and the soul, was that of the spirit, as prophesied by Simeon when he said, “a
sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may
be laid bare.” St Bernard remarked, “Do not be surprised, brothers,
that Mary is said to be a martyr in spirit.” He continued, “Jesus died in
body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a
love unlike any other since his.” Undoubtedly, Mary, standing at the foot
of the cross, would have shared in Christ’s suffering. She had to bear to
see the suffering of her son. She was an associate of Christ’s redeeming
work. She had to suffer the disgrace of her son. She suffered in union
with Christ. She suffered in spirit. No greater suffering is there than
to suffer with those whom we love. This feast which commemorates the
spiritual martyrdom of Mary, Mother of God, reminds us of the tremendous evil
of sin, but more importantly, the power of love.
But
more than the cross alone, which is the climax of her spiritual martyrdom, she
suffered with Jesus throughout His life on earth. What is this sword
that Simeon spoke about? It includes all the events associated with the
life of Jesus, such as the Prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss
of the child Jesus at the Temple, the encounter between Jesus and Mary along
the via cruces, the death of Jesus, the lowering of His body and the burial of
Jesus. All these significant milestones in the life of Jesus certainly
caused Mary grief and anxiety. Archbishop Fulton Sheen suggested that
although Tradition indicates that Mary was pierced seven times with swords of
sorrow, it was not “that there were seven swords, but seven thrusts of the one
sword, and the sword that pierced Mary’s soul was Christ Himself. This Sword
was a double edge; one edge ran into His own Sacred Heart, the other into her
Immaculate Heart.”
To
climax it all, St Bernard, contemplating on Mary at the foot of the
cross, wrote: “Or were those words, Woman, behold your Son, not more
than a word to you, truly piercing your heart, cutting through to the division
between soul and spirit? What an exchange! John is given to you in place of
Jesus, the servant in place of the Lord, the disciple in place of the master;
the son of Zebedee replaces the Son of God, a mere man replaces God himself.
How could these words not pierce your most loving heart, when the mere
remembrance of them breaks ours, hearts of iron and stone though they are!”
Aptly, therefore, the Church gave her the honorific title, co-redemptrix, not
to speak of her as if she is the efficient cause of our salvation or that she
is an equal partner with Christ in the work of redemption. On the
contrary, her role in our salvation differs from Christ’s in essence and
degree. What the Church wants to express is that she cooperated with
Christ in His saving work by giving the consent at the Incarnation right up to
the cross. More than anyone else, being the mother of her son, she
cooperated most closely with the saving work of Christ for the redemption of
humanity and shared in Christ’s suffering in spirit.
Today, we
are invited to contemplate on Mary’s suffering so that we too can share in
Christ’s suffering. We are called to enter into the mystery of
the passion of Christ and the compassion of Mary so that we can share in their
redemptive suffering for the salvation of humanity. By pondering over
what Mary had gone through, we learn the true meaning of com-passion.
Mary’s silence at the foot of the cross invites us to support others who are
suffering by our very presence. Being in solidarity with others in their
suffering does not mean that we have to be doing things, but through our words
of consolation or presence, we can give them strength as Mary gave strength and
courage to Jesus.
Most
of all, in order to give strength to those who suffer, we need to be like
Mary and see the cross in the right perspective. Unless we have
grasped the meaning of suffering from the perspective of the cross, we will
only be weighed down and as a result, also bring others down by our negative
approach to life. Licking each other’s wounds cannot heal us unless we
can shed light and help each other to see life and suffering positively.
In spite of the harsh reality Mary had to face, she did not fall into despair
or resentment against God or even the enemies of Jesus. Her faith, hope
and love were sustained by God’s love for her and her love for her Son.
Most of all, her love was founded on hope because she knew that God would be
faithful to her. The letter of Hebrews tells us, “and he
submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard. Although he was Son, he became
for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.” So the suffering
that Mary went through was not one of resignation or despair but a joyful pain
in view of the salvation that Jesus would render for humanity.
Like
Mary and her Son, in our suffering, we must turn to God in prayer.
Again, the author of Hebrews tells us, “During his life on earth, Christ
offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had
the power to save him out of death.” And of course, again and again in the
gospel, especially in St Luke, we read that Mary would ponder everything in her
heart. So if we are to make sense of our suffering and see them in the
light of faith, we too must pray like Jesus and Mary so that we can integrate
suffering into the plan of God for humanity and our salvation. Jesus can
enlighten us in our suffering that often, it is caused by our sins, the lack of
faith, a test or purification, so that we learn obedience, surrender and total
trust in God’s power. Total abandonment to the Father’s will is the key
to overcoming suffering and death. So, like St John the perfect Christian
and disciple of Christ, we too are invited to make a place for Mary in our home
by having her as our spiritual mother in faith, hope and love especially in our
sorrows.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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