The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

Let us consider Mary in all her innocence and purity standing beneath the cross of Jesus Christ her Son _ true God and true Man.

St. John's account given in today's Gospel is rather laconic, and so we are left to allow our hearts to fill in so much that was expressed without words or understood on a level that is far above human words.

We must allow our minds and hearts to traverse time and witness this scene again and again for the grace of its meaning to seep into our hearts and minds and begin to take shape.

When we consider Christ's crucifixion we often think of the pain and suffering, we see the scoffers and the thieves hanging next to Our Lord. Let us attempt to set all that aside and focus on the scene presented in today's Gospel.

There beneath the cross of Our Lord stood three women and St. John. They are near enough not only to see Our Lord and to be seen by Him, but they are also near enough to hear Him speak. Ignoring all else Christ hanging on the Cross in the final pains of death, seeks to secure the physical care of His mother. All else must take a secondary place in our minds. The Jews, the soldiers, the thieves, the gawking crowd, the darkening sky, the flowing blood, all are forgotten for the moment. Even the two other women there beneath the cross are unattended to.

Our Lord focuses His attention upon His mother. "Woman behold thy son." Even in death's agony His concern is for His mother. He is here indicating to us the debt that we all owe to our parents. Not only did God give us the fourth commandment, but even in His last dying moments he illustrates just how important it is to honor our parents.

It is true that He has told us that we must disown them when they place obstacles in the way of salvation. But, when our parents do not impede our spiritual progress, we owe them everything. And here we see Mary not interfering or even complaining in this unbearable sight of the slaying of her innocent Son _ the Son of God. Only someone who has witnessed the suffering of a loved one can imagine the pain that Mary felt in her heart and soul. I think very often that the physical pain of children is never as great as the pain of heart and soul that loving parents suffer in witnessing the suffering of their children. Understanding this helps us to begin to see the suffering in Mary's heart. As great as this pain in her heart must have been she is fully cooperating with Christ in offering this sacrifice of Himself in reparation for our sins. In this she has already become our mother. She sacrificed her own Son (God Himself) so that our sins might be washed away and we could rise to life with Christ.

And so Christ confirms this with the brief words: "behold thy son". And lest we miss the obligation that this places upon us, Christ speaks to us through St. John: "behold thy mother". Just as St. John "took her to his own" so must we.

Our mother (Mary) has loved us with a love that is as close to divine as any creature can get. She has willingly sacrificed that which is most precious to her (her divine Son, Jesus Christ) so that we might receive grace and live an eternal life. This sacrifice is so much the greater because it is so much the harder. It would have been easier for Mary to sacrifice herself for us rather than make her son suffer. How many parents would gladly accept the suffering of their little children upon themselves rather than have to watch them suffer! It takes much more to sacrifice that which you love more than yourself, than it takes to sacrifice yourself. Our Lord has said that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for those whom we love. The love of Mary approaches the nearest to this love that Christ has for us. She accepted the hardest suffering for her, sacrificing that which she loved more than anything, even more than she loved herself.

Innocent, holy, and pure, and yet she suffers for us just as Christ did! (Not physically, but spiritually.) Her love for us demands that we show her all the gratitude, respect, honor, and love that this mother deserves. She is a true mother to us and the best of all mothers.

Let us take her as our own and come to her in all our needs just as faithful children run to their good mothers in all their needs. Let us never forget her when we are not in need but to be as Christ, always showing her all the: honor, love and respect that she deserves. Let us find in Mary the calmness of heart, mind, and soul that we need in all our trying situations. And in our dying moments let us look to her as did her Son.

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