Mary at the foot of the Cross : Shows Her tremendous courage

 GOSPEL THOUGHTS

24th Week – Tuesday

Gospel – John 19:25-27

First Reading Heb 5:7-9

Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

 

Mary at the foot of the Cross : Shows Her tremendous courage

1) Mary's Accompaniment of Jesus

It is only Mary who followed Jesus through out His Passion and Death 

None of the Disciples were involved in the Agony, passion and in death of Jesus as Mary was involved 

She witnessed every moment of her Sons agony, and terrible suffering.

In spite of all challenges still  she was able to stand at the foot of the Cross shows how courageous she was.

2) St John presents Mary as the most faithful disciple – standing at the foot of the Cross*

Since she was courageous she stood and offered her Son to the Father

While for three hours Christ was hanging on the nail Mary was standing, observing her  Dying son, shedding his blood drop by drop

The surrounding atmosphere was of great hostility and cruelty

In this situation she stood consciously as the Mother of the condemned man

This requires a tremendous courage – she did not run away from the scene

She did not curse Pilot, Pharisees who condemned Jesus to Death, Judas or other disciples, Soldiers, who nailed Him to the Cross.

3) Mary's courage belongs to a special category

Usually we differentiate various levels of Courage 

Courage of muscle power 

Courage that comes from extraordinary physical strength 

Courage which comes power, authority, influence, Money 

*Moral courage* Mary's courage belonged to this category. 

One who has moral courage can face any situations of life 

One who has moral courage can defeat any crisis in life in order to see the other side of life 

One who has moral courage is filled with tremendous capacity to accept the situations of life as they are and to change them for the better 

Moral courage is the great virtue which makes us to live our life with the hope.

4) Mary's courage is filled with Endurance

She was able to endure all the terrible situations at the foot of the Cross 

5) Seven Sorrows of Mary and Her Courage

The seven sorrows on the one side shows the terrible side of the tragedies in Mary's life 

The seven sorrows shows us that, Mary had all possible types of sorrows in her life. There isn't any other sorrow which excludes the seven sorrows of Mary 

In spite of all these Mary is seen at the foot of the Cross, with uttering a word. This shows the another side of Mary, that is her  Courage

6) Sorrowful Mother's Heart is pierced with the Swords

The Heart of our Lady of Sorrows depicted with 7 Swords piercing her tender Heart 

Sword entering into the heart means, it is so painful, difficult to bear and at times it may be dangerous to ones own life 

Such was her sorrow. But she was courageous enough to overcome all the problems.

7) What about courage in my life

Am I courageous? In what area? 

To do good one needs courage

To practice nonviolence one needs courage

To speak good about others one needs courage

To remain without gossiping one needs courage

To forgive another one needs courage

To face any challenges of life one needs courage 

One needs courage to live a sincere way of life

8) Cross is the Source of courage

Mary was at the foot of the Cross when the worst things happened

Her source of Courage came from Jesus and from the Cross on which Jesus died. 

*Cross is the source of courage*

Reflect about it

*Do I exhibit courage in the midst of crisis and failure or do I give up easily*

God bless you and your family. Praying for you and your dear ones.

Fr Maxim D’Souza

Jeppu Seminary

Mangalore