Franciscan Media

In our suffering, we collaborate with Christ for the salvation of the world. Our suffering is therefore anything but random and meaningless. It is cosmically restorative, even though it may be a horrible burden to the sufferer. John Paul didn’t intend to whitewash suffering. Doing so would have been both insensitive and false. But he did want to show that God can use even suffering for the betterment of humankind. It, like everything else, has a place in the economy of salvation. 

Mother Mary knows each voice singularly. She hears the call, perceives the need, and rushes to her child’s side. This sweet Mother of mercy and grace will be there for her children in all dangers, difficulties, needs, doubts, and fears.

Mary knows your voice. She will hear your call, she will perceive your need, and then she will rush to your side. Call her now. She is waiting to hear your voice above all the others.

In our present, fallen condition, the love we as mothers have for our children enables us to see more clearly into the window of our children’s souls, beholding their God-given glory more easily than other people are able to do.

The truth is, most of us fail to truly recognize the beauty in those around us. In a perfect world, untainted by sin and selfishness, we should look at everyone with the loving eyes a godly mother has for her child. 

Mary is our Mother, and she loves us deeply. Because she is a child of God herself and loves us so very much, she wants us to experience that same joy of being a child of God. She understands how important and powerful his love is, and she knows how profoundly God loves each of us individually and uniquely. She will intercede for us, invoking the Holy Spirit to lead us to God the father.

What a wonderful habit it is to make the Sign of the Cross, to bring Christ to our minds and to our hearts as we carry the crosses of life on our shoulders.

With this sign, we participate in the mystery of the Trinity and are reminded that from the Father came the Son, and from them, the Holy Spirit, who gives us the strength and the knowledge to bear witness to the truth.

We can write our own psalms of lament and express our prayers of suffering. In a journal or spoken aloud, our cries of abandonment and loneliness should come out. 

Perhaps the words that reflect the sorrow of our hearts can come only from our own depths, and maybe they can come out only in forms of music or art or dance. These small steps of prayerful beginning are a movement toward trusting that God has not abandoned us.