sorrows of Mary

In devotions to the sorrows of mary, she has seven sorrows. If humanity's wounds are truly the wounds of Christ, Mary's sorrows also will be unresolved. From the view of redemption, Rachel weeping for her children at Ramah, the cry of mothers of babes in Bethlehem… were they not sorrows for Mary though jesus escaped the cruelty of Herod?  To understand and honour the sorrows of Mary, perhaps what we need is to accept and welcome her as our mother and listen to her what she would say. That is what Jesus said, "Here is your mother." Though we justify that what we do is to venerate, we have made her a superpowerful deity who is almighty, fighting war and bringing victory. From the view of devotion, we see the seven sorrows of Mary; often these sorrows are seen from the view of what we can get from her, even from her sorrows. She had the sorrow of uncertainty, separation, fear of loss, horrible sight of pain and death. Let us listen to what she has to say, what she suffered then in the time of Jesus, and her sorrows today in the time of ours. Give up the tendencies to put these into devotional coverage and moral condemnation without seeing a world in sorrows. We see miracles in her tears, fragrance, oil, apparitions even in her messages on sorrows. But do they call us for consoling those sorrows. Our devotional ways around her statues do not console her nor her children.  her sorrow isn't a historical event to be commemorated, but a living reality. Being the type of the church is not simply an imaginative ideal, the sorrow is alive. If the church truly embody the christ, every human sorrow alive in the wounds of christ is also a sorrow of Mary.  When we look at the world, we see mothers who fear for their children's safety, we see children in impoverishment, or children thrown into the world of unknowns. We see families torn apart by conflict, war, migration, and evacuations. Do we feel the pain? Can we as the church, feel the pain? The best way to console a mother is to care for her children. When we work for peace and justice, comfort the afflicted, feeding the hungry, and sheltering the homeless, we console the sorrows of Mary. Every act of mercy and love is a balm to her sorrowful heart. Instead of focusing on apparitions and signs, we are invited to see her tears in the real-world tears of suffering people and to act on that sight. We can see faith alive, God alive.

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