The devotional feast of Our Lady of Sorrows – today – offers a unique opportunity for a deep appreciation and veneration of Mary’s intense and intimate participation in the immolation of her Son Jesus for humanity’s salvation.
The liturgical reading chosen for the occasion is undoubtedly of great help in this. The gospel reading which the liturgy gives for our meditation is Jn 19,25-27. This passage is the third portion that forms part of the extensive account of Jesus’ crucifixion and its consequences which St John depicts in the 19th chapter of his gospel. In this excerpt we encounter the episode of the Mother of Jesus and the Beloved Disciple in front of the crucified Jesus.
Jesus is now lifted up on the Cross. From there He speaks to the woman who was the first person to embrace wholeheartedly His word (see Jn 2,3-5). He bids her to see the Beloved Disciple and acknowledge him as her son. Likewise, He turns to the Beloved Disciple and bids him to see the Mother of Jesus and receive her as his mother. Let us not forget that up to now the Beloved Disciple is evidently revealed as the ideal disciple who has lain close to Jesus at the meal table (see 13,23).
Jesus’ words are absolutely and immediately acted upon. Thus St John observes: “and from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (v. 27). The Cross stands as “the hour of Jesus” (see 12,23; 13,1; 17,1). There is a play on two probable interpretations for the Greek “ap´ ekeinas tçs hôras”. The first meaning illustrates the present moment: “from that particular time”. On the other hand, the second meaning tends to be more theological and dramatic: “because of that hour”.
The lifting up of Jesus on the Cross united the Beloved Disciple and the Mother. Now the disciple escorts the Mother “eis ta idia” (to his own home). Contrary to what the gospel prologue says, when the word came “eis ta idia” “and his own people received him not” (1,11), the Beloved Disciple receives the Mother of Jesus.
Because of the Cross, and from the moment of the Cross, a new family of Jesus came into being. In the most striking manner, the gospel text portrays how the Mother of Jesus and the Beloved Disciple are intimately connected from the moment where the disciple receives the Mother (19,27 elaben … autçn) via his full reception of Jesus’ word.
At the Cross, and because of the Cross, a new family has been founded by the crucified Jesus. The assurance of the “gathering” emanating from the concluding episodes of the public ministry of Jesus (see 10,16; 11,49-52; 12,11, 19,20-24, 32-33) has been accomplished. It is also interesting to note that within the extent of three verses (vv. 25-27) the word “mother” (mçtçr) is mentioned some five times (vv.25 [2x], 26 [2x], 27).
The primitive employment of the expression “Mother of Jesus” as found in 2,1-5, whereby she is the first character in St John’s gospel to receive the word of Jesus, is being concluded when the Mother of Jesus becomes the Mother of the Disciple in 19,25-27.
Rather than the Beloved Disciple taking care of the widowed mother of Jesus, this text is powerfully accentuating the maternal role of the Mother of Jesus in the new family of Jesus founded at the Cross.
Jn 19,25-27 invites and challenges all Christians to put themselves in the place of the Beloved Disciple. In virtue of our Christian calling of loving and following Christ to the end (see Jn 13,1), we are called to let Mary accompany us by her maternal presence. We are exhorted to entrust ourselves to her. In his book True Devotion to Mary, St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort explains that taking Mary into our homes involves “doing all one’s actions through Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary, so as to enable us to do them with greater perfection through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus and for Jesus….
We must abandon ourselves to Mary’s spirit to be prompted and guided according to her will. We must try to place ourselves, and then remain, in her virginal hands like a tool in the hands of a worker or a lute in the hands of a good lutist. We must lose ourselves completely in her like a stone thrown into the sea. It’s possible to do this quite simply and in an instant with a quick inward glance or slight motion of the will or with a few brief words:
“O Mary, Mother of God and my mother, I take you into my heart to live with me. I wholeheartedly accept your loving guidance and protection in my life. I accept your good counsel and encouragement in my terrible moments of grief and sorrow. With you in my life, I know that God’s wisdom is with me.
“Your maternal presence makes me think, feel and do what is right and pleasing to your Son Jesus. Grant me the grace that in every moment of my life I welcome your Son Jesus, believe in His word and, like Him and you, do the Father’s will. AMEN.”
Fr Mario Attard
OFM Cap