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FEBRUARY 2<br />
CROSS-CARRYING LOVE<br />
“Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, ‘Behold,<br />
this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign<br />
which will be spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own<br />
soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Lk 2:34-35)<br />
On this occasion, when Jesus is brought into the temple on the fortieth<br />
day after His birth, St. Simeon prophetically tells Mary, the Mother of<br />
God, about a “sign,” and about the “sword” that shall pierce Her soul. He<br />
is talking about the cross. More specifically, he is talking about Her cross,<br />
because Her love for Her Son made His cross Her own.<br />
These words carry a sad message about those who will “speak against”<br />
the Cross. But they also celebrate the love for Christ exemplified by the<br />
All-Holy Virgin, and all others who, through love, become co-carriers<br />
of His cross. Today the cross continues to “reveal the thoughts of many<br />
hearts,” including my own. I can take it up today, or shrink away from it,<br />
or even “speak against” it, in different ways. Let me embrace it today, in<br />
the same Spirit as She did, in the Spirit of love for Her divine Son. And<br />
today I ask for grace-filled help on this journey from Her, who as a cocarrier<br />
of the cross is “full of grace.”<br />
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