By Mary Therese
- Mary Stands Below the Cross:
What a model of strength our Lady is in the fifth Sorrow. There she was standing… standing at the foot of the Cross. Oftentimes Mary is depicted fainting in the arms of St. John, but I imagine it the other way. I imagine John leaning on Our Lady for support, leaning on her strong heart! I have no doubt she reached very near the end of her human strength at the death of Jesus. Our Lady stands with us when our strength is spent and our hearts pierced through with suffering. To say she was exhausted would be an understatement. I think the following words could also pertain to Mary: “Behold the Heart which has so loved men that It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself in order to testify Its love.” What great faithfulness she showed her Son standing there by His side below the Cross. It is here we see the truest meaning of compassion, “to suffer with.” Like Our Savior, during our personal experiences of the cross, we do not want tears of pity from those around us, nor even someone to fix all our problems for us, but we desire someone to sit with us, to suffer with us, to enter into our pain. That is no little easy thing to do because each time we make ourselves available to another it requires us to sacrifice a part of ourselves, it calls us out of ourselves. After all, love is sacrifice. Our Lady didn’t go to Calvary just to weep. She went there to suffer and sacrifice herself with her Son. Our Lady makes herself available to us in the same way. She stands with us on all our crosses. She says, “I’m here. I understand, and you are so worth loving.” The more we realize that the suffering she endured for love of Jesus was also out of love for you and me, the more we realize how much she truly loves us. Who could not be moved seeing our Mother standing below the cross, with a heart full of sorrow and anguish, knowing she’s standing there for you.
On the hard days, I keep the image of Jesus Christ crucified and His Mother standing below the Cross in my mind. I look at Our Lord and with His last dying breath I hear Him say, “You are worth dying for.” And I look at our Mother and I see all her swords and I can’t help but see another one, the eighth one, which tells me that I am worth fighting for. She will fight all your battles for you — you only need to call upon her. She will help you remain steady, constant and strong in trials. Stay very near to her in this sorrow, lean on her, listen to the beating of her heart, to the song of her love for you. Stay with her a while to express your gratitude towards her. She too is in need of Compassion.
- Jesus is Taken Down and Placed in His Mother’s Arms:
What preceded His body being placed in the arms of His Mother, I imagine, was one of the longest, most agonizing hours of her life waiting for the news of what would become of her Son’s body! Would His Sacred Body be further defiled by the breaking of His legs? What would become of the body of her Son? She knew the fate for common criminals. Their bodies would be thrown in a ditch outside the city in an unmarked grave. Would there be a tomb and proper burial for His Sacred Body?
The suspense of the unknown….
Where was Joseph of Arimathea with the news he had received? What was taking so long? She understands the agonizing pain of waiting, being in that “in between” space, that anticipation of the future and what it will hold. These difficult “in between” times of waiting often come after a series of sufferings. She knows that paralyzing fear. But do not fear, we will always fall into the arms of our loving Father and all will be provided for our next step, just as it was provided for His Son by the holy women… the linen cloths, sponges, water, frankincense, myrrh and spices. He will provide for you also.
Mary now holds the Flesh of her flesh, the Heart of her heart in her arms. How many times do we feel as though we are holding the dead broken body of Jesus in our arms? What are we holding in our arms…? Shattered dreams, unfulfilled desires, a broken heart or body, a weary mind, a wounded soul? Every spark of hope has left us cold and without life. Oftentimes, through the hurtful experiences in our relationships or with the world, the world gives us back to ourselves but it leaves us broken and wounded. Now we are left to clean up someone else’s “mess”. Oh, but Our Lady is here! She’ll take you tenderly in her arms as she did for her Son and wash all your wounds. Every wound she washes, she anoints and cleans with care. She caresses you most tenderly. She will restore your dignity, and by restoring your image, the image of your heart and soul damaged by this sinful world, she will reveal to you who the Son is. The Mother of Love will heal us and restore to us our relationship to the Father.
In the times of listless waiting there is also a time of healing. Surrender yourself into your Compassionate Mother’s arms, she will wash your wounds and prepare you for the next step God has in store. She wants to help you. To her, you are another Jesus! With child-like abandonment, entrust yourself to her and experience the profound tenderness of her love for you.
- The Burial of Jesus:
The more loyal someone is, the more it hurts to say goodbye. This was the greatest test of Mary’s faithfulness. How could she walk out of that dark cold tomb and leave her Son there? She wished she could have buried herself with her Son. After all they had suffered together, she was asked to part from Him. Shared suffering bonds people together. Mary and Jesus shared one heart. For once He had gone where she couldn’t follow. He was her everything, He was her life, He was her light, and now somehow she was expected to walk away from the one thing she loved most. I don’t know how she did it. How she put one foot in front of the other and walked away. Somehow the whole world continued to go on when for her it felt like the world had ended. If there’s one thing I’ve learned (in my personal experience), it is that leaving is so much harder than staying, but it also requires much more strength and willpower to leave than it does to stay. So her departure from Our Lord’s tomb showed forth her strength and her fidelity, the tremendous sacrifice asked of her. She understands our deep hidden grief. Sometimes, following Jesus means walking away from the very thing we love most and sacrificing a whole life centered on Him alone and learning to serve and see Him in a new way.
Our whole world is turned upside down and we wonder if we’ll have the strength to get up in the morning. We ask ourselves, “How am I going to go on? How am I going to get out of bed in the morning and put one foot in front of the other?” Our heartache and sorrow, our crosses and pain, nothing, will make any sense without Him. Without Jesus and His glorious wounds and His Resurrection we can’t make sense of anything, especially without His Resurrection. That was Mary’s secret which kept her head above the dark waves of despair. Ask her to give you a daring Trust in His resurrection and your own.
As we know, her story doesn’t end here. There is a secret she clung to, a promise that lived in her heart! She trusted that soon the Resurrection would come and all would be made new. She hoped in the Resurrection of her Son and you can be assured that she is hoping in yours. How many lessons we learn from her on how to live, on how to love. We learn that her strength is in her compassion.
Our Lady of Compassion, Pray for us!
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