Engaging with, surrendering to, and understanding, if we can, the mystery of suffering in our lives, and in the lives of others, has always provided a challenge, and even a challenge too far, for the compassionate human being. Perhaps it is the experience which most speaks to us about our frail humanity, in all its myriad dimensions, from the sheer and immediately physical to the often and tragically hidden aspects of our interior life, the psychological and spiritual, the whole gamut of what we now term our mental health. And what should be a point of shared experience – because suffering is part of our common human condition – can so often be, and paradoxically, the source of varying degrees of isolation, because each one’s suffering is so utterly personal and particular.
That notion of understanding through sharing shines through the texts which we use in the votive Mass celebrating Mary’s vigil at her Son’s Cross. In the sense that Our Lady has been not only witness to but participant in every unfolding moment of Christ’s life, the Calvary event cannot be removed from that always dynamic reality. And it’s invitation is clearly laid out for us in the opening prayer of the first Mass setting which we are given: leaning upon St Paul’s reflection in the opening chapter of his Letter to the Colossians, we are invited to recognise that our own sufferings fill out, mysteriously, the sufferings which Christ has still to endure for his people – It makes me happy to suffer for you, as I am suffering now, and in my own body to do what I can to make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church. St Paul speaks of the unity of the Head and Body, Christ and his members, the Son of God’s perfect act which wins us redemption, and our imperfect journey in this earthly life which pushes against that mystery of redemption and salvation. That sense of completion and yet incompletion marks the paradox of our own suffering. The Prayer over the Offerings recognises Mary’s witness to that: make these offerings the sacrament of our redemption, which Mary faithfully served at the altar of the Cross.
The altar of the Cross! This pinnacle act in the Passion drama declares the very heart of the incarnate Word’s mission – to save us by becoming entirely one of us, and to enter into our misery by becoming both misery and mercy. Mary lives this with her Son. That immense fourteenth century hymn, the Stabat Mater, sees Mary joined to Christ, and with her we are brought into the suffering which always goes beyond our own: Christ above in torment hangs; She beneath beholds the pangs of her dying glorious Son. Is there one who would not weep, whelmed in miseries so deep Christ’s dear mother to behold? Can the human heart refrain from partaking in her pain, in that mother’s pain untold?
But much more is revealed in this scene of unparalleled intensity. The Preface of the Mass teaches us that, by her faithful attendance there, Mary is seen to be the new Eve, participating in the restoring of true life, embracing her scattered children with motherly love, and becoming the model of the Church which hails the Cross and the Crucified for courage in peril and persecution.
And that degree of suffering, common and individual, marks us all. Reflecting on the wonderful story of Naaman the Syrian general who was afflicted by leprosy, and who approached the prophet Elisha to be healed (2 Kings 5), Pope Francis focuses on the vulnerability and burden which illness brings, but which proclaims our own humanity, and so also the humanity by which Christ redeems us. He notes that, seeing the necessity of our wounded humanity being uncovered, we journey toward humility. Humility is the ability to know how to “inhabit” our humanity, this humanity beloved and blessed by the Lord, and to do so without despair but with realism, joy and hope. Humility means recognising that we should not be afraid of our frailty.
Lord our God, in your mysterious wisdom you fill out the Passion of Christ through the suffering that his members endure in the many trials of this life. As you chose to have the mournful Mother stand by your Son in his agony on the Cross, grant that we too may bring love and comfort to our brothers and sisters in distress.
Collect of the Mass
-Part of our ‘Mary Most Holy’ series-
Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey, Portglenone 