Mary
has many titles. Mother of God. Queen of Heaven. Mediatrix of all Grace. Our
Lady of Sorrows. Solo Parent.
Knowing
that she was also a solo parent when Good Friday rolled around, I feel her pain
doubled. To see her only and most precious son suffer is already untold grief
for any mother. But to go through His Passion without Joseph to share her grief
must have been unbearable.
At
the Presentation of Jesus in the temple, when Simeon foretold a sword will
pierce her soul, Joseph was there. He was there to protect her and her son on
the journey to Egypt. He was there with her to look for Him when He was lost in
Jerusalem. He was there as Jesus grew into a man. But Joseph was no longer
there when she met her son on his way to Calvary. The sword must have pierced
deeper.
It
cuts a mother deep when her child suffers even just a bit. I remember I
couldn’t bear the sight of my son getting his ingrown toenail extracted. I had
to avert my eyes during the procedure. And that was just a toenail. It would
have been better if his dad was there to hold one of my hands as I held his
small hand with the other.
Imagine
Mary seeing her son scourged, crowned with thorns, driven through the streets
carrying a heavy cross, then crucified. As a solo mom, I stand beneath the
cross and weep with her.
Even
when He was suffering on the cross Jesus still had Mary’s “solo-ness” in mind.
It prodded Him to entrust her to John. “Woman, behold your son. Behold your
mother.”
God
did that to me too and keeps doing it to this day by entrusting me to people
who will care for me and my children. He gave me my parents, other family
members, friends, and my prayer warriors in my community. So, I continue to trust
Jesus in my Good Fridays because the crucified Christ loves us with the cross. That
trust is needed from us because…
“God who created you without you will not save
you without you.” – St. Augustine
