In the midst of spiritual turbulence and feeling abandoned by the world, faithful always have a refuge: their mother, Mary.
According to Vatican Radio, the Pontiff gave this advice during his daily morning Mass, on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, at Casa Santa Marta, as he stressed that in a “world that suffers the crisis of a great orphanhood,” we have a Mother that accompanies and defends us.
Today’s Gospel, the Jesuit Pope stressed, brings us to Calvary, when all the Lord’s disciples fled, except for St. John and a few women.
As Mary, Mother of Jesus, is at the foot of the Cross, Francis observes, “Everyone is looking at her, saying, ‘That’s the mother of this delinquent! That is the mother of this subversive!’”
Never Denies
“And Mary heard these things. She suffered terrible humiliation. And she also heard the dignitaries, even some priests, whom she respected, because they were priests, saying “You who are so good, come down! Come down!” With her Son, naked, there on the Cross. And Mary had such great suffering, but she didn’t go away. She didn’t deny her Son! He was her flesh.”
The Argentine Pontiff recalled the poor women, who waited in Buenos Aires, to visit prisoners in the jails.
“They were moms. But they were not ashamed: their flesh was there inside. And these women suffered not only the shame of being there – “Look at her! What did her son do?” — but they also suffer the ugly humiliation of the searches they had to undergo before entering. But they were mothers, and they went to find their own flesh. And so it was with Mary: she was there, with her Son, with that very great suffering.”
Not to Be Left Orphans
Jesus, the Pope said, has promised not to leave us orphans, and on the Cross he gives us His Mother as our Mother, who cares for and defends us.
“We Christians have a Mother, Jesus’ [Mother]; we have a Father, Jesus’ [Father]. We are not orphans! And she gives birth to us in that moment with such great sorrow: She is truly a martyr. With a pierced heart, she accepts giving birth to all of us in that moment of sorrow. And from that moment she becomes our Mother, from that moment she is our Mother, the one who takes care of us and is not ashamed of us: she defends us.”
Francis recalled how the mystics of the early centuries counsel us to take refuge under the mantle of the Mother of God in moments of spiritual turbulence: “The devil can’t enter there.” Under her protection, we are safe, he underscored.
“In a world we could call an orphan, in this world that suffers the crisis” of a great experience of being orphaned,” Francis said, “perhaps our help lies in saying ‘Look to your Mother!’”
“We have a mother “who defends us, teaches us, accompanies us; who is not ashamed of our sins. She is not ashamed, because she is our Mother,” Pope Francis concluded, praying, “May the Holy Spirit, this friend, this companion along the way, this Paraclete or advocate Whom the Lord has sent, make us understand this very great mystery of the maternity of Mary.”
