I am wondering what difference it made to Jesus as he suffered on the cross that his Mother remained with him?
We are familiar with Jesus' words recorded in Matthew and Mark's gospels "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" when means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
I also recall the concluding text of Charles Williams' morality play The House by the Stable. Holding the baby Jesus in her arms, Mary pronounces a blessing upon the earth "Now be the gloom of earth split, and be this house blest and no more professed by poor Pride to be Sin, for the joys of love hereafter shall over-ride boasting and bragging and the heavy lagging of Hell after delight that outstrips him--step and sight. [She makes the sign of the Cross towards the house]
Take us, O exchange of hearts! This we know--substance is love, love substance. Let us go."
Williams has captured something familiar to us, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . ." John 3:16a Jesus' birth reveals God's love. As human beings, so prone to loneliness, substance matters. We want to hear words of love and to see the one who expresses her/his love.
So, back to our Lord being crucified. I wonder what it meant to him to be companioned at his death by his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalen, and the disciple whom he loved" John 19:25-26
Did it anchor him in some way to care so specifically for his mother when he said to his mother "Woman, here is your son" and to the disciple, "Here is your mother?"
Some remained with our Lord until his death and returned to care for his body as soon as they were able. Do our small efforts matter?
I believe that they matter a lot, more than we will know in our lives. I believe that caring for another in the time of her need is holy work, holy love, holy living.
We are familiar with Jesus' words recorded in Matthew and Mark's gospels "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" when means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
I also recall the concluding text of Charles Williams' morality play The House by the Stable. Holding the baby Jesus in her arms, Mary pronounces a blessing upon the earth "Now be the gloom of earth split, and be this house blest and no more professed by poor Pride to be Sin, for the joys of love hereafter shall over-ride boasting and bragging and the heavy lagging of Hell after delight that outstrips him--step and sight. [She makes the sign of the Cross towards the house]
Take us, O exchange of hearts! This we know--substance is love, love substance. Let us go."
Williams has captured something familiar to us, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . ." John 3:16a Jesus' birth reveals God's love. As human beings, so prone to loneliness, substance matters. We want to hear words of love and to see the one who expresses her/his love.
So, back to our Lord being crucified. I wonder what it meant to him to be companioned at his death by his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalen, and the disciple whom he loved" John 19:25-26
Did it anchor him in some way to care so specifically for his mother when he said to his mother "Woman, here is your son" and to the disciple, "Here is your mother?"
Some remained with our Lord until his death and returned to care for his body as soon as they were able. Do our small efforts matter?
I believe that they matter a lot, more than we will know in our lives. I believe that caring for another in the time of her need is holy work, holy love, holy living.
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