THE FOURTH STATION - JESUS MEETS HIS MOTHER. the most-moving encounter along the Way is this meeting. Amongst the bloodthirsty crowd is Mary, the Woman isolated by her grief; going through hell as she witnesses her bloodied Son getting weaker and weaker. In spite of His anguish, He finds His Mother, and as their eyes meet, so their gaze speaks deeply of love, of compassion, of the desire to soothe away the other's pain. "A sword shall pierce your heart also" - this is what Simeon was talking about over thirty years ago in the Temple on that day of Presentation.
In the Cathedral Close at Salisbury, is a life-size sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the artist Elizabeth Frink. It is quite striking, because she is walking and, more than that, she is striding forward on her pilgrimage. The sculpture is titled ‘The Walking Madonna’ and her face reveals the mystery that she has entered. The following poem was inspired by the "Walking Madonna" and by Michelangelo's "Pieta".
GET REAL
You always appear
Too good to be true, Mary.
We’ve pictured you always serene,
Never exasperated by a fractious child,
Apparently having no feelings.
But surely that initial Yes came
From a moment of overwhelming terror?And the birth tore you to the core?Didn’t he ever cry, that baby,
Give you sleepless nights?
Didn’t he irritate you, that precocious son, dismissing your anxiety with
"Didn’t you know?"
And later
That wounding question,
"Who is my mother?"
My mother would have told him! . .
Perhaps you did too,
But it wasn’t recorded.
Even at the end, you’re pictured beautiful in your sorrow, holding your dead child.
Not like those ravaged faces we see on our screens, raging at the senseless
Killing of the innocent. What’s the reality? Is it more like the aged Madonna, gaunt, face lined by experience; with hint of an arthritic hip, walking towards the complexities of life, away from cloistered peace?
Her hand is polished smooth by the touch of countless hands.
Written by "our own" Anne Lewin from Winchester,
(Watching for the Kingfisher’)
Jesus, we remember the gaze that rested between you and your mother.
In that moment of pain there was also a moment of deep and enduring love.
Jesus, give us the courage to bring that love into the deepest recesses of our homes, to our children and to our spouses, to those places of fracture
and disharmony in our circle of relationships.
Jesus, you looked through the crowd
and saw your mother’s eyes.
Her love gave you the strength
to carry on.
Walk with us.
When we don’t want to listen,
open our ears to hear.
When it would be easier to look away,
open our eyes to see.
We grieve with you,
O Mary most sorrowful.
Your heart was pierced by the prophecy of holy Simeon and Anna.
Pray with us and comfort us in our times of uncertainty and fear of the unknown. Give us tender hearts for those who live with deep anxiety
and insecurity about their future.
We grieve with you, O Mary most sorrowful. Your heart was pierced by the sudden departure from your homeland to a foreign country.
Our Blessed Mother,
Pray with us and comfort us
when we meet unexpected challenges
that draw us away from our complacency.
Give us compassionate hearts
for those who flee their homes
because of violence,
persecution, fear and insecurity.
We grieve with you,
O Mary most sorrowful.
Your heart was pierced
by watching Jesus unjustly condemned
and forced to carry
his own cross to his death.
Pray with us and comfort us
when we feel unfairly judged
and humiliated.
Give us tender hearts for all those
who are unjustly condemned,
discriminated against,
and killed in our world today.
We grieve with you, O Mary most sorrowful. Your heart was pierced when you stood at the foot of his cross and watched him declare “It is finished”. Pray with us and comfort us when we face the death of those we love. Give us tender hearts for all those who die due to persecution, abuse, neglect, and lack of resources.
Hear our prayer, O merciful God,
through the intercession
of our Beloved Mother.
Through this prayerful meditation,
may we find comfort and strength
in our own sorrows.
And, knowing that our faith
calls us to care for one another,
may this prayer give us compassion
for our neighbours.
And, at the hour of our death,
may Mary draw close to us,
bringing us to rest in eternity with you, Lord our God. Amen.
Mary in mourning,
shrouded in grief,
Your bitter tears
fall for all mourning mothers,
For all fathers who have buried a child
And all children orphaned in calamity.
May grief lead
not to rage and vengeance
but to brave encounters with others
who are also grieving
and longing for
a different co-existence.
In costly solidarity, we pray. Amen.
"In Time of War in Gaza" -
Church of Scotland
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