OUR LADY OF SORROWS
Today’s Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows follows the Feast of the Triumph (or Exaltation) of the Cross. I do not believe that this is an accident or coincidence. The Church has deliberately chosen to illustrate one of the aspects in which we are all, not just Our Lady, called to meditate upon and embrace the Cross of Jesus in our lives.
None of us can avoid suffering in life. If Jesus suffered, and He was without sin and not in need of redemption, then how do we think we could avoid suffering? The prosperity gospel — every possible version of it — is a lie. In fact, it is more than lie — it is disrespectful to the passion of Jesus. There is nothing wrong with legitimate avoidance of suffering by making wise and prudent choices, but I am sure that it is obvious to us that a lot of suffering that people endure has nothing to do with the personal choices of the sufferer but a result of the unjust and sinful choices of others. This is the reality of sin and while we may be able to minimize the sin in our own lives, we have very little power to do so in the lives of others. That is their responsibility.
Mary is presented to us as Our Lady of Sorrows because she has embraced the truth that living involves suffering. This is not necessarily an evil thing as long as we approach it with faith in God. The suffering of Jesus on the cross gives God the right to be able to say to us, “Everything will be all right in the end if we place our trust in Him.” Jesus underwent suffering to show us the way to faith in God and to make sense of the cross by giving it redemptive value.
Suffering would be totally evil if there is no redemptive value to it. It adds nothing to human character and experience apart from the Cross of Jesus. This may be a matter of faith, or at least a truth that is strongly enlightened by faith. We must pray for the grace to understand it as such and to act upon it. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL
REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How do you understand suffering in your life? Do you see anything positive in it?
Jesus, thank You for giving meaning to suffering through Your Cross. Help me to join my suffering to Yours so that it can become redemptive for both myself and for those for whom I pray.
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