Today we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows...
as we ponder the gospel, John informs us that Mary stood by the foot of the cross. She was standing.
Standing is a verb that entails strength, confidence, steadfastness, and hope.
Mary was not bent over, doubled over in grief or agony. Which is quite a surprise. Here she watches her only son being killed in the most humiliating way and yet she stands.
Some suggest she stands because she is filled with shock. I suspect that is mere projection on their part.
Why is she standing?
If you remember, the very first words that inaugurated Jesus into history, were "rejoice." The greeting of the angel to Mary was a greeting filled with hope, "rejoice, highly favored one."
The greeting also ended with hope, "for his kingdom will be without end."
Mary clung to this greeting of hope throughout her life. It is this hope that gave her strength to endure the trial of being the Mother of the Savior.
Pope Benedict reminds us and exhorts us to remember that the one who has hope lives differently.
With Hopeful heart, Mary stands in sorrow and she does not fall in despair.
Her standing is a sign of her unwavering trust in the will of God spoken to her from the beginning. In Mary we begin to understand how one can have joy even in sorrow.
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