The Passion of Mary

Pieta ~ photo by John Morgan

I, along with a large number of other worshippers, was blessed to be at Christ Church Cathedral for Palm Sunday.  A talented group of actors, dancers, musicians, and liturgists proclaimed the Passion of Christ, sweeping the entire congregation up into the drama of the story and while touching each individual differently.  I know I was not the only person moved to tears – and I know that all of us so moved were in tears at different points and for different reasons.

The moment that finally shifted me completely from watcher to participant was:  “There were also women looking on from a distance” (Mark 15:40).  A number of women, wearing black and draped in headscarves, moved into the scene, faces racked with grief.  Some were leaning on one another; some held only themselves.  They stared out, toward the off-stage sight of the crucifixion, horrified but unable to look away.  Two women walked up the aisle toward the others, carrying a white cloth.  Somehow, that cloth became a shroud wrapping the body of the man whom these women had loved and the tears streamed down my face as they carried him away to be buried.

One of the women was wearing a blue scarf.  I don’t know if she was “supposed” to be Mary, the mother of Jesus, but that’s who she was for me and my heart broke for her.  I wondered if she was remembering the prophecy made to her by Simeon, when Jesus was just a baby:  “and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

This Holy Week, pray for mothers and fathers whose souls are pierced by the death of their beloved sons and daughters.  May they find some comfort in the company of Mary.