Mother

“Develop a lively devotion for Our Mother.” (Saint Josemaria, “Furrow”, at 691).

The Virgin of Calvary (Jules Eugene Lenepveu)

Who was with Christ most faithfully throughout all of His life?

His Blessed Mother!

The Virgin Mary was with Christ as He was begotten in her womb.  She was with Him under His dominion during His formation in her womb.  She went where God directed her to go – carrying with her the King of the Universe.  She prayed to the God of the Universe, who is her Father and Spouse and Son.  And she carried the Son of Man within her womb.

I have been thinking about what that must have been like for her.  There in that small room in her home when the angel appeared to her.  How extraordinary must that have been to her.  The moment of conception, did she feel Him stir in her womb?  Did she move her hand to her belly and touch Him through her own skin?  Did she marvel at her Child as she cleaned the floors and washed the clothes and made the food in the house?  When she helped her cousin, Elizabeth to deliver the last Prophet, Saint John the Baptist, into the world, and the angels of Heaven surrounded her, did she hold her own belly and pray to her Son for strength?

And throughout His Childhood, and throughout His Public Ministry, she remained with Him.  She had no other children.  She took no physical spouse.  She remained constantly His helper and His handmaid.  What He needed she would do.  And how much she sacrificed.  The Blessed Virgin is the greatest of all the Saints.  This means that she offered sacrifices and penance greater than all the sacrifice and penance in the world.  Her role as the mother of the Saviour meant that anything she could do to share the burden of her Son and to somehow take some of His suffering onto herself, she would do.  She wanted to share that suffering to prevent Him suffering more.

When she stood at the Foot of the Cross, silently witnessing the death of God, her offering and her sacrifice was to atone for my sins – to alleviate the suffering of her Beloved Son.  My sins held her there in silence.  For ME, for love of Me – knowing that God Himself chose to die for me – she held herself there on that hill and watched the body of her naked Son die…

Saint Josemaria says, “Develop a lively devotion for Our Mother. She knows how to respond in a most sensitive way to the presents we give her. What is more, if you say the Holy Rosary every day, with a spirit of faith and love, Our Lady will make sure she leads you very far along her Son's path.” (“Furrow”, at 691)

And reflecting today upon the death of my God, it seems that I have failed to reflect on the sacrifice of His Mother, who chose to follow Him – from the moment of His conception within her womb to the moment of His death on the Cross and beyond.  And she did this through sacrifice and suffering, because she so loved her Son that she was willing to sacrifice anything to reduce His suffering…  Anything at all…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.