The only sorrow in which Mary complained, Mary: Day 326

The only sorrow in which Mary complained

When the Blessed Mother found her young Son at last in the temple, her words were not a rebuke, St. Alphonsus insists. But they were a loving complaint.

The only sorrow in which Mary complained was her search for the boy Jesus in Jerusalem. She lovingly and earnestly asked of Jesus, after she had found him in the temple: “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously” (Lk 2:48).

By these words she had no idea of reproving Jesus, as some heretics have blasphemously asserted. Instead, she meant only to express how great was the grief she had experienced during his absence, because of the great love she bore him. “It was not a rebuke,” says St. Dionysius the Carthusian, “but a loving complaint.”

This sword so cruelly pierced the heart of the most holy Virgin that the Blessed Benvenuta Bojani desired one day to share the holy mother’s pain in this sorrow. When she entreated her for this favor, Mary appeared to her with the infant Jesus in her arms.

But while Benvenuta was enjoying the sight of this most beautiful Child, in a moment she was deprived of it. So great was her grief that she turned to Mary, begging her to lessen it, so that she might not die from grief. In three days the holy Virgin again appeared, and said: “Know, my daughter, that your sorrow is only a small part of the sorrow that I endured when I lost my Son.” —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

What would you say is the difference between a rebuke and a “loving com- plaint”? Do I sometimes make “loving complaints” to Jesus in prayer? How does he usually respond?

CLOSING PRAYER

Jesus, sometimes I find myself saying with your disciples in the ship battered by the storm, “Lord, save me, I’m perishing! Don’t you care?” (See Mt 8:25; Lk 4:38.) But then you tell me, as you told the sea, “Peace, be still” (Mk 4:39), and my soul is quieted.

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