Only a miracle spared Mary’s life at Calvary, Mary: Day 333

Only a miracle spared Mary’s life at Calvary

St. Alphonsus insists that when Jesus sacrificed his body on Calvary, Mary sacrificed her soul through suffering.

Mary was the Queen of Martyrs not only because her martyrdom was longer than that of all others, but also because it was the greatest of all martyr- doms. But who could ever measure its greatness? Jeremiah seems unable to find anyone to whom he can compare this Mother of Sorrows, when he considers her great sufferings at the death of her Son. “To what can I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken you to, that I may comfort you, O vir- gin daughter of Zion?” (Lam 2:13).

St. Anselm asserts, “If God had not by a special miracle preserved the life of Mary in each moment of her life, her grief was so great that it would have caused her death.” St. Bernardine of Siena goes as far as to say that “the grief of Mary was so great that, were it divided among all men, it would suffice to cause their immediate death.”

But let’s consider the reasons why Mary’s martyrdom was greater than that of all martyrs. First, we must remember that the martyrs endured their torments, caused by fire and other material agencies, in their bodies. But Mary suffered hers in her soul, as St. Simeon foretold: “A sword will pierce through your own soul” (Lk 2:35).

It’s as if the holy old man had said: “Most sacred Virgin, the bodies of other martyrs will be torn with iron. But you will be pierced through and martyred in your soul by the passion of your own Son.” Now, as the soul is more noble than the body, so much greater were Mary’s sufferings than those of all the martyrs. —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary 

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . .  .

Why is the extreme suffering of the soul so much greater than that of the body? What suffering of soul must I endure that I can offer to God?

CLOSING PRAYER

Our Lady of Sorrows, what your Son said of himself in Gethsemane, you could say of yourself at Calvary: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me” (Mt 26:38).

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