Your Grief will become Joy

Jesus exhorts us to pray always without getting discouraged. “Will not God vindicate His elect, who cry to Him day and night?” (Lk 18:7)

“Has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?” (Sir 2:10)

There’s a beautiful story in the history of the Church. The great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo, as a young man was anything but a saint. Living a life steeped in sin, he was lost to all forms of licentiousness and immorality and even advocating a heresy against the Church. He was popular and admired as a great scholar and orator, but he also was a terribly hardened sinner.

Augustine had a mother, Monica, whose one concern was his shocking sinfulness. She was fasting, taking on penances and praying for the salvation of her son. His way of life, however, was going from bad to worse. Monica was tired. She went in despair to Bishop Ambrose of Milan and cried out, “How much longer should I suffer? Will I see my son converted, or will I lose my son forever?” The holy Bishop, exhorting her to continue her sacrifices, left her with the assurance that, “A son of tears will never be lost.” We know the rest of the story. Augustine was not lost. God intervened. What a marvelous intervention it was indeed! Augustine was converted. He ascended great heights of holiness. Many divine revelations were opened to him. He devoted his life and strength to the truth of Christ. He wrote volumes and volumes that even today the pundits of the Church are waiting and praying over. St Augustine, a shining star in the horizon of the Church, was the gift of the tears of a mother.

Will our children be as blessed as St. Augustine to have a parent who would suffer for them? We are eager that our children should receive the best. After all that we have given them materially, if we have failed to offer for our children our prayers and sufferings, we have given them but precious little. Without complaining about their failure, if we can suffer for them, our tears, aches and ailments will be added with the wounds of Jesus and offered to the Heavenly Father.

“Love… endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7)

At the foot of the cross of Calvary we see another Mother—a Mother whose grief is yet to be surpassed in history. For she had to stand and watch her only Son abandoned by everyone, despised, crawling in the dust like a worm, weighed down by the heavy cross on His shoulders, with everyone screaming insults at Him, and finally having nails driven into His palms to hang Him up on the cross under the hot searing sun, struggling for breath. The Mother stood helpless, unable to offer even a drop of water to the dying Son.

When Jesus was but a baby in Mary’s arms, Simeon had prophesied to her that “a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Lk 2:35). A sword did pierce her heart. Here was the mother shedding tears of blood from her heart that was now torn apart brutally. Yet, as she stood beneath the cross, she did not complain or question the love of God, but only held on to her prayer of surrender: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). That faith commitment made at the time of Annunciation had become her life breath. She looked up to her son hanging from the Cross. A sight her heart could not bear. She offered her pierced heart with the broken body of her Son to the Heavenly Father for the salvation of humankind. Thus, beneath the cross of Calvary, she became a co-saviour.

Seeing His mother’s participation in His salvific offering, Jesus said to John, “Behold your mother” (Jn 19:27). Look to her and learn to suffer. Indeed, it is to every one of us that Jesus is pointing out His mother. Every time we are in tears and life’s burden is far too heavy for our hearts and shoulders, we hear this direction of Jesus: “Behold your mother.” Hold on to your mother. The mother will hold on to you.

Let us offer our wounded heart and body together with the wounds of Jesus to the Heavenly Father. Then we shall become co-saviours for those we love. We love by suffering for them. Suffering is neither a curse nor a punishment. It is a glorious call to love, to save. When we look at the tragedies of our life, we can perhaps even at this moment feel the sword pierce through our hearts. Today, we realise this is a privilege. Here, we are closest to Jesus. We praise God for the privilege of participation in such lasting glory. The praise we offer shall cleanse our hearts of hatred, depression and self-pity – all negative attitudes unworthy of the disciples of the crucified Lord.  For we have the assurance from the Cross of Jesus that “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim 2:12).