Mary at the Foot of the Cross: Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows

Jesus stayed for 30 years in their home in Nazareth and spent three years of his public preaching the Kingdom of Heaven. As Jesus went home every now and then, Mother Mary may somehow have known the perils which Jesus was meeting. The apostles could also be a source of information about what he was doing and the problems of resistance, envy and jealousy that Jesus encountered.

The resistance to the preaching of the Kingdom climaxed during the Holy Week. Mothers have a unique way of relating with the children. You usually could hear parents especially mothers say that it is better for them to pass away earlier than their children. Also, mothers think of their children especially when they sense the children have troubles. Sometimes, imagining could be more stressful than actually seeing the situation. Mary could be similar to other mothers even when separated by centuries.

While Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed that the chalice be possibly be taken away from him, it is possible that the Blessed Virgin Mary may had requested from God a similar prayer. But the will of God prevailed.

With Mary Magdalen with her, they followed Jesus until they reached Calvary. Much agony was already suffered on the carrying of the cross to Mount Calvary but the greater suffering was waiting there. The nailing on the cross, the very painful hanging for three hours must be so excruciating for a mother to witness until Jesus said his last seven words. Then JESUS died. She may had wished to die with him. Then he was taken down and laid on her lap- what sadness of a mother. She was with him until the end of his earthly life.

Oh Mother of Sorrows, teach us to be as resigned to God’s will as you were, loving Jesus to the end of his earthly life. You are our dearest model of motherhood. You are the mother of humanity.