Ponder for September #LovewinsEverytime

September is dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Given the despairing and heart-wrenching events at Annunciation a few endless days ago, we could not have a more appropriate topic. The Seven Sorrows of Mary are:

The Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34-35)
The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2: 13-21)
The Loss of Jesus for Three days (Luke 2:41-50)
Jesus’ Carrying of the Cross (John 19:17)
The Crucifixion (John 19:18-30)
Jesus Taken Down From the Cross (John 19:39-40)
Jesus Laid in the Tomb (John 19:42)

Tragic, all of them… with a hint of desperation, yes? That’s the way it is when darkness descends on our world, in our communities, and in our hearts. We wonder ‘why’ and ‘how’ and ‘what-is-going-on-here”? Jesus’ mother, no doubt, felt the same way in each of these events as she sought to protect, nurture, and guide her beloved Son. She asked the same questions we ask.

At each of these moments in Mary’s life, she had no clue what the future would bring. The culture she lived in was violent, opposed to the faith, and folks lived a hand-to-mouth life with no margin for catastrophe or even bumps in the road. Sound familiar?

Mary and Joseph lived a little town life of Nazareth but were caught up into big-city drama of Jerusalem. Nothing in her gentle and humble upbringing could have prepared her for the harsh and anguished end of her son’s ministry. He just wanted to do God’s will, after all. Why is that so hard?

Because Satan roams the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Pretty simple, that. We each fight a daily battle for our soul and then a battle for the soul of the world. It’s a battleground out in society and within the heart-mind-will, to be sure. We’re under constant need for protection (St. Michael for the win!) and to also be reminded of what we’re fighting for:

Holiness.

Pretty simple, that too. Holiness encompasses a wide range of words… redemption, virtue, kindness, mercy, and forgiveness to name a few. Holiness looks different in me than it does in you, praise Jesus, but we know it when we see it. A culture that reflects the Goodness, Truth, and Beauty of God looks different in Barcelona than it does in Hastings, but we know it when see it there too.

The truth of the matter is that alongside holiness comes some great sorrow. We might need to give up some thing we like in order to become something we love... some One we love, really. The great stories of our age, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Kristen Lavransdatter or Brideshead Revisited, all involve a deep suffering and cultural chaos that leads the heroine/hero to be something, or more aptly - someone - better at the end than they were at the beginning.

I wonder if the Lord gave us free will and still allows Satan to wander the world precisely for that reason. The drama and trauma of life is an opportunity to become a better person, city, culture, world than we once were… to become holier than we were before. If everything in our lives was perfect and comfortable, we wouldn’t strive to be more [Fr. Dave’s mantra]. It’s the struggle and sorrow that propels us into action, into battle.

This month, let’s mediate on the sorrows of Our Lady and look to see how our sorrows imitate hers. Let’s decide where to grow in holiness within ourselves and make some changes. Let’s imagine how a city of God might look and work to make it happen. Let’s envision a culture of faith, hope, and love and bring it to fruition. #Lovewinseverytime