Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

Today's Mass Readings

“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother.’”

Today we focus upon a mystery—Mary’s part in Christ’s redemption of the world. This mystery can help us play our part in salvation history.

First, we must confront an individualistic notion of salvation. Salvation happens because we are incorporated into a body,—the Body of Christ! Blessed Columba Marmion said that when God the Father looks upon us, he sees us in his beloved Son—in Christo.

The Church has long understood that Mary has a unique role to play in this incorporation because of her closeness to Jesus. Her intercession is one element of this role. Another is that she is an icon—an image for us.

In the responsorial psalm 78, we read: “I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter mysteries from of old.” Mary is a parable, an image, of the Church. Recall those black and white images you have looked at that now look like a vase and then look like two people facing one another. That is a parable of Mary: when we look at her we see Mary; we look again and see the Church. The image in today’s mystery is mother under the cross: standing, enduring, persevering in trust in Divine Providence. Mary and the Church are given to us as mother because they ‘speak’ the endurance we must do if we are to know the meaning of our lives.

Amid our contradictions and confusions Mary is given to us to give us as courage. Hear it in the words of St. John Paul II:
On this journey we are accompanied by the Blessed Virgin Mary … [She is] the “Star of the New Evangelization”. … the radiant dawn and sure guide for our steps. Once more, echoing the words of Jesus himself and giving voice to the filial affection of the whole Church, I say to her: “Woman, behold your children”(cf. Jn 19:26).

Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB