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The Time After Pentecost
“Sorrowful and tearful art thou, O Virgin Mary, standing by the cross of the Lord Jesus, thy Son
and Redeemer” (Gradual). The Church shares the desolation of the sorrowful mother.
“The Lord hath blessed thee by His power, who by thee hath brought our enemies to
nought. Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon
the earth. . . . For that thou hast not spared thy life by reason of the distress and tribulation of
thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God” (Epistle). Mary is another
Judith in the mind of the liturgy. In spite of great danger to her own life, Judith went
forth boldly to cut off the head of Holofernes, the leader of the enemy, in order to save her
people from destruction. Mary, the mother of sorrow, sacrifices her own Son on Golgotha,
thus crushing the head of the serpent. She shared in the work of our redemption through her
sufferings. Thankfully we greet her with the Church: “Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord
the most high God, above all women.” On Golgotha she also earned the palm of martyrdom
(Communion). On Golgotha she participated in our redemption and merited for us a life of
grace and eternal glory with her Son. On Golgotha she accepted us all as her children in the
person of John. “Woman, behold thy son”; love him as you loved Me. We are grateful for this
adoption, and we trust in her motherhood and maternal love. With John we take her as our
own and thus comply with the command of Jesus, “Behold thy mother.”
Like our Lord Himself, Mary was obliged to walk the way of the cross. She followed Him till
the end, and stood beneath the cross to suffer with Him, to share His sorrow and dishonor. She
does not excuse herself or seek to escape. She desires to share His disgrace, His humiliation, His
rejection by His own people. We, too, should imitate her example. Although she is the mother
of the disfigured and crucified Savior, she stands bravely beneath His cross. Her eyes are fixed
on Him. She forgets herself completely. Because she lives entirely in Him, she finds the strength
to remain till the last and to sacrifice all.
We acknowledge Mary as the one to whom, after Christ, we owe our salvation. At the
celebration of the Mass we, the sacrificing community, the family, the parish, the Church, are
like Mary beneath the cross, sacrificing the Lord for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
At Holy Communion we receive the strength to share the sufferings and humiliations of Jesus
with a steadfast and loyal heart.
Prayer
O God at whose passion a sword of sorrow pierced the most sweet soul of the glorious virgin
and mother, Mary, mercifully grant that we who reverently commemorate her sorrows, may
obtain the happy effect of Thy passion. Who livest and reignest forever. Amen.
October 11, The Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Many centuries have passed since Nestorius, a Patriarch of Constantinople, launched the heresy
which taught that the person of Christ was different from the person of the Son of God.
Nestorius asserted that Mary did not conceive nor bring forth the Second Person of the Blessed
Trinity, but only the man Christ. According to his teaching she was not the Mother of God, not
a God-bearer, but only the mother of a mere man, in whom God dwelt only as in a temple. A
few years after the beginning of the Nestorian heresy, a council was assembled at Ephesus (431
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