At the cross, her station keeping,
Stood the mournful mother weeping, Close to
Jesus to the last. Through her heart, His sorrow
sharing, All His bitter anguish bearing, Now at
length the sword had passed.
Oh, how sad and sore distressed
Was that mother highly blessed Of the
sole-begotten One! Oh, the depth of her
affliction As she saw the crucifixion Of her
dying, glorious Son!
Who, on Christ's dear mother
gazing, Pierced by anguish so amazing, Born of
woman, would not weep? Who, on Christ's dear
mother thinking, Such a cup of sorrow drinking,
Would not share her sorrows deep?
For His people's sin chastised,
She beheld her Son despised, Scourged, and
crowned with thorns entwined; Saw Him then from
judgment taken, And in death by all forsaken,
Till His spirit He resigned.
Jesus, may her deep devotion Stir
in me the same emotion, Source of love, Redeemer
true. Let me thus, fresh ardor gaining And a
purer love attaining, Consecrate my life to You.
Mary,Mother of the
Lord
Mother Mary gives people
grace and faith. Mary was given the highest
mission that any mother could've been
given. She was chosen to be Mother of Our Lord.
The honor paid to Mary, the virgin mother of
Jesus Christ our Lord and God, goes back to the
earliest days of the Church. Indeed, it goes
back further, for even before the birth of her
Son, Mary
prophesied,
"From this time
forth, all generations shall call me blessed."
Mary is
brought to action and to vitality by knowing how
God has touched her, has drawn her into the
skein of life’s tangled threads. She has been
given the savior of the world to bear.
She calls us to bear the
savior again and again into the midst of all who
are in need of saving. Through our bodies and
our minds, though our hearts and our deeds, our
souls can magnify the Lord and our spirits
rejoice because surely the Mighty One has done
and continues to do many great things for
us.
We
celebrate Mary for her boldness and her courage,
but we must never risk making her a static
image: Her beauty is in her words. She entreats
us again and again to join her in bearing the
savior into this world. And with her to join our
voices in God’s living song of praise.
(A
more personalized rendering)
Mary
said,
My soul magnifies the
Lord,and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for you
have looked with favor on the lowliness of your
servant. Surely,from now on all
generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has
done great things for me,and holy is God's name.
your mercy
is for those who fear you from generation to
generation. you have shown strength
with your arm;you have scattered the proud in
thoughts of their hearts. you have brought down
the power from their thrones,and lifted up the
lowly; you
have filled the hungry with good things,and sent
the rich away empty; you have helped your
servant Israel,in remembrance of your mercy,
according
to the promise you made to our ancestors,to
Abraham and Sarah and to their descendants
forever.
(Luke
1:46-55)
Little is known
of the life of the Virgin Mary except in so far
as it intersects with the life of her Son, and
there is an appropriateness in this. The
Scriptures record her words to the angel
Gabriel, to her kinswoman Elizabeth, to her Son
on two occasions. But the only recorded saying
of hers to what may be called ordinary,
run-of-the-mill hearers is her instruction to
the servants at the wedding feast, to whom she
says simply, indicating her Son, "Whatever he
says to you, do it."
This
we may take to be the summation of her message
to the world. If we listen to her, she will tell
us, "Listen to Him. Listen to my Son. Do what He
tells you." When we see her, we see her pointing
to her Son. If our regard for the Blessed Virgin
does not have the immediate effect of turning
our attention from her to the One whom she
carried in her womb for nine months and suckled
at her breast, to the Incarnate God, the Word
made flesh, then we may be sure that it is not
the kind of regard that she seeks.
