CONSOLING JESUS THROUGH OUR MOTHER MARY - 6/6/22 (Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church)

John 19:26-28,34

When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple there whom He loved, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

but one soldier thrust his lance into His side, and immediately Blood and water flowed out.

For the full readings, click here: 

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060622.cfm

For more information on the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, click here:

https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/mary-mother-of-the-church-memorial/

Blessed Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church! Yesterday, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday. It was the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, it was also the day of the birth of the Catholic Church. So, who is the mother of the Church? The spiritual mother of our Church is the mother of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary. When our Lord was crucified, He saw Mary and St. John the Beloved. Then, Jesus gave St. John to Mary to be her son while He entrusted Mary to St. John to be his Mother. St. John the Beloved represents all of us here in the Church. In the same way, God entrusts us to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and He entrusts His own Mother to us. 

From that hour, St. John took Mary into his home. In the same way, we should allow our spiritual mother to enter into our lives and help us. But, why should we take her into our own lives? It is essential for us to be devoted to our Mother for us to console the heart of Jesus Christ. To understand this, let's look at the thirst of our souls and the thirst of Jesus. We have thirst and longing for happiness. And, this thirst can only be satisfied when we allow the love of God to fill our hearts. However, because of our weaknesses, we may turn away from God and fill our hearts with sins and worldly things. We may only be content with doing what we only want for ourselves and what gives us pleasures rather than doing the will of God. However, let's remember that Jesus bore our sins on the cross. 

As we dedicate this month of June to His Sacred Heart, we should be reminded that our sins offend Him. Our sins pierce and thrust His merciful Heart. He was more wounded, and He felt more pain with our sins in comparison to physical sufferings on the cross. When Jesus said, "I thirst", this represents that our Lord is thirsty for our love. Despite our sinfulness, He still offers to us His infinite mercy as shown by the blood and water that came from His side that was thrusted by spear. Even though we continuously offend Jesus, He still gives us His love. In reality, we are the ones who are really in need of His love. 

It is only by following the will of God that we can console the heart of Jesus. Even amidst the pain that He experienced on the cross, He still had an interior joy with His knowledge of the people who repented of their sins. To console the heart of Christ means to bring joy to His heart. And, we need the help of our own Mother to do the will of God. The Blessed Virgin Mary was perfectly obedient to the will of God even to the point of suffering as she witnessed how the world hated her own Son, our Lord. And yet, like Jesus, our Mother Mary loves us and wants to aid us as we carry our own crosses in life. Sometimes, we fall to sins because we do not want to suffer for doing good. This is why when we are angry, we may like to just express our frustration with others by saying negative and harmful words rather than bear the faults of others. We may also fall to worldly attachments because we find it difficult to be detached from them. 

But, through the powerful intercession of Mother Mary, the crosses that we bear will be sweet and easy. She is the one who consoled Jesus the most, and she will help us to bring joy to our Lord. When we have committed grave sins, let's turn to the sacrament of confession where we will receive the infinite mercy of our Savior as if we are on the foot of His cross. Besides this, to really persevere in holiness and not fall to mortal sins, let's seek the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially in praying the rosary and in contemplation of the mysteries like the Sorrowful mysteries. May we immediately reject the first instance of temptations by praying to our Mother Mary. Even if we have fallen to temptations, let's not lose hope. Let's reflect upon it and never forget that our Mother is on our side. When Jesus entrusted us to the Blessed Virgin Mary, she loved us with all of her heart and offered her whole self to us. Because of this, let's completely devote our whole selves to her and entrust to her everything.

Amen +

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic