“The Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17)
Tears of sorrow cover the earth. Day after day, tears flow because of the pain, hurt, and guilt we endure on account of sin. It began with Adam and Eve but it ended with Mary as her tears flowed at the foot of the Cross. She, the Mother of All Sorrows, embraced the life of her Son fulfilling the prophecy of Simeon.
He foretold that a sword shall pierce her heart and so it did. Herod came to kill her Child and so she and Joseph fled into Egypt, a pagan land from which the Israelites left.
Mary also lost her Son in the Temple, a foretaste of when she would lose Him on the cross. Mary met her Son on the way to Golgotha. Jesus told her that He makes all things new, carrying the cross of death, crowned with thorns, and scourged beyond recognition, promising something new.
Then Mary receives Jesus’ lifeless body as they lower Him from the cross. She was not to touch Him as she too would be defiled, as He was, but she did. Mary watched as they wrapped his body in a clean linen cloth, covered his face with a separate cloth as was Jewish custom, all rushed as the Sabbath began.
These sorrows pierce our heart for we too endure each of these pains. We are told of great promises for our sons and daughters only to be crushed by reality and the evil of our world attacking them.
We flee from evil and run to safety only to find out that we lose our way and sometimes our loved ones too. We face the trials of life carrying our crosses and the crosses of those we love, thinking that all is lost. We face our own death and the death of others. The grief we endure to watch a loved one die, the fear we face when we too have been sentenced to death.
The violence and terrorism of this world is a taste of hell as we still see people tortured, enslaved, trafficked, and killed because of their faith. We also recognize we must die as we must bury our loved ones.
Though we endure our sorrows, we have hope, for just as Mary endured her sorrows, she believed and so do we.
We believe that death no longer stings; death has been swallowed up. Jesus has wiped away our tears with his resurrection! Yet, Mary at the foot of the cross suffered with Him and will suffer with us. Jesus entrusted us to her motherly care, knowing that through her faith, we find strength as we endure our sorrows, she interceding for us giving us hope.