LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Sword That Pierces the Soul
"When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home" (John 19:26-27).
That day, in front of the cross, Mary must have clearly remembered the words that the old man Simeon had said to her more than thirty years ago, in the temple in Jerusalem: "And a sword shall pierce through your very soul".
At that moment, Mary had not understood. She was so full of joy, hearing what the people were coming to say to her little Son, that she did not heed those cold and piercing words. A sword piercing the soul?
It is true that as the Child grew older, she saw Him suffer much, and His suffering was also hers, as far as she could feel it. The scorns he received were also for her. Is it not so for a mother?
Yet now, as she stands there, facing the cross, how is it that she does not die, if she has a sword thrust into the midst of her soul? How can she bear to see her Son there, hanging there, his flesh torn, losing minute by minute his blood, his life, without her being able to help it? How is it that she does not lunge through that mob to remove him from the cross? How is it that... Oh, the sword cannot be removed from her soul! Her Son cannot be removed from the cross!
Every son is defended by his mother, even if his life is at stake. She is not allowed to do so. Every mother lets her heart-rending cries be heard at the humiliation of the one she loves; but she is not permitted to do so.
Just as the Father, far away, turns his face away so as not to see her, here, in front of the cross, she bows her head so as not to look at him. And even, perhaps, she covers her ears so as not to hear his heartbreaking words. Her head lays weakly on John's chest. It is all her comfort. Inside, she feels a perceptible strength holding her up. That is all.
Two beings live that day their most bitter moment. It is the pain of the one who loves, before the outrage of the Beloved Being. One of them, Great, Sublime, Eternal: it is God the Father. The other is a poor (though blessed) woman, of flesh and blood, there by the cross, with a sword piercing her soul.