My Thoughts 15/09/2022

Many years ago while on my first visit to the HolyLand with a friend, a group of young Arab boys blew themselves up making a IED (improvised Explosive device).

The next day in the old city of Jerusalem the streets reverberated to the sound of women wailing and crying. It was the mothers of these young men. burying the dead. It happened to be 15th September, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. This feast follows yesterday’s Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Here we are reminded of the mother of Jesus standing at the foot of the cross, sharing in the passion and death of her Son. In our church, we have a statue depicting Jesus in the arms of Mary reminiscent of Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’.

In the gospel we recall the words of Jesus from the cross to Mary ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple John he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that moment John made a place for her in his home.

Let us today make a place for Mary in our home, in our hearts. May she be all mothers who are mourning the deaths of their children. We remember especially at this time all those Ukrainian and Russian mothers who mourn the deaths of their sons killed in battle.

Cover Image: Pietà. (2022, August 20). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet%C3%A0_(Michelangelo)