Our Lady’s sorrow at the Cross, Mary: Day 332

Our Lady’s sorrow at the Cross

Can we even begin to imagine the depth of sorrow that Our Lady felt as she watched her dear Son die on the cross? Blessed Henry Suso imagines her tell- ing what she experienced on that dreadful day.

All the sorrow that ever could afflict a heart would be like only a drop in

the ocean compared to the unfathomable sorrow that my maternal heart at that time endured. Keep in mind that the dearer, the sweeter, the more precious the beloved one is, the more insupportable is his loss and death. Now where on the whole earth was there ever a more tender one born, a lovelier one seen, than my own best beloved one, Jesus Christ, by whom and in whom I had entire posses- sion of all that the world could bestow? I was already dead to myself, and lived only in him. So when at last my own fair Love was slain, then only did I utterly die. And as my only love was but one and, even more, dear to me above all other loves, so my only sorrow was but one, and a sorrow above all sorrows that ever were expressed.

His fair and gentle humanity was, to me, a delightful spectacle. His dignified divinity was, to my eyes, a sweet contemplation. To think of him was my heart’s delight; to speak of him was my pastime; to hear his sweet words was music to my soul. He was my heart’s mirror, my soul’s comfort. Heaven and earth, and all that is within them, I possessed in his sweet presence. When I saw my Love suspended in mortal agony before me, what a terrible sight! What a moment was that! How my heart died within me! How my courage was extinguished! How my strength failed me! How all my senses forsook me!

I looked up, but I could not help my Child. I looked down and saw only those who so cruelly abused him. How narrow then to me was all this world! I had lost all heart; my voice had fled from me; and I had lost all strength.

—Blessed Henry Suso, The Parable of the Pilgrim, I, 17

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . .  .

Have I ever meditated for long on the depths of grief and pain suffered by Mary as she watched Jesus die? How might such a meditation increase my love for her, and my gratitude for what she endured in union with her Son for the sake of a sinful world?

CLOSING PRAYER

From a prayer of Blessed Henry Suso: Pure Lady and noble Queen of Heaven and Earth, touch my stony heart with one of your scalding tears, one of those you shed in bitter dis- tress for your tender Child under the wretched cross, so that my heart of stone may be softened.

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