M
MariaChristi
Guest
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today’s Gospel and commentary point us to our Mother Mary, Queen of All Saints, under the title of Our Lady of Sorrows:
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.
St. John, Beloved Disciple, pray that all take Mary into our lives as you did, that we may join you and all the saints in our heavenly home.
Jesus, we trust in You, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to enable us to love as You and Mary loved on Calvary. Make us worthy sons and daughters of so noble a Mother!
Today’s Gospel and commentary point us to our Mother Mary, Queen of All Saints, under the title of Our Lady of Sorrows:
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 19:25-27.
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
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.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
Commentary by Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274), Franciscan, Doctor of the Church - “There is your mother.”:
The glorious Virgin paid our ransom as a courageous woman who loved with the compassionate love of Christ. In Saint John it is said: “When a woman is in labor she is sad that her time has come.” (Jn 16:21) The Blessed Virgin did not feel the pain that precedes childbirth because she did not conceive following the sin of Eve, against whom the curse was spoken. She felt her pain later: she gave birth under the cross. Other women know bodily pain, she felt that of the heart. Others suffer from physical change; she from compassion and love.
God willed to have Mary at the Foot of the Cross with John – and God never wills anything without a purpose – Mary is there for all of His children to see the Love He imparts to His Church. All the Saints have shown in their lives a tender devotion to Mary, in imitation of Christ who loved and honored her. He is the firstborn and the Perfect Son of her womb. Today, by God’s Grace, may we join with all the saints in honoring her and in offering her our love and reparation for all the sorrows we have caused her and Jesus by our sins.The Blessed Virgin paid our ransom as a courageous woman who loved the world and above all the christian people with merciful love. “Can a mother forget her infant or be without tenderness for the child of her womb?” (Isa 49:15) This can make us understand that the entire Christian people has come forth from the womb of the glorious Virgin. What a loving Mother we have! Let us take our Mother as our model and let us follow her in her love. She had compassion for souls to such an extent that she counted all material loss and every physical suffering as nothing. “(We) have been purchased … at a great price.” (1 Cor 6:20)
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.
St. John, Beloved Disciple, pray that all take Mary into our lives as you did, that we may join you and all the saints in our heavenly home.
Jesus, we trust in You, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to enable us to love as You and Mary loved on Calvary. Make us worthy sons and daughters of so noble a Mother!