15 September, Monday — Bearing sorrow patiently

1 Tim 2:1-8
Jn 19:25-27

… and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet.

Today’s feast of our Lady of Sorrows invites us to embark on a reflection on the different episodes in the life of Mary and how she struggled to deal with the pain that came along with it. It permits us to discover that in each of the sorrowful mysteries holds the key to how we can handle the demands of our lives.

In particular, the role of praying for civic authorities may seem out of place with today’s reflection, but I feel that a part of the sorrows of today stem, in part, from the actions of people in authority. There are decisions that authorities make which bring about a direct negative impact on the lives of others. For example, the decision by Pilate to condemn Jesus to death, brought tremendous sorrow to our Lady. Although the Bible does not explicitly write how she suffered, we can just imagine that the grief was one which no word can describe, and no voice can utter. This highlights the point that civic authorities can introduce grief to the people around them through their decisions.

If we are unable to control the circumstances around us, what can we do? We can follow the example of our Blessed Mother, who treasured all these things in her heart. How does one treasure pain and grief? Through an in-depth prayer life, which allows us to surrender to God the things and episodes in our life which we cannot understand now, with the faith that He will show us what is needed to do in the future. Perhaps, it will be good for us to identify the individual pains we are going through in our life and like Mary, offer them to Jesus. Similarly, let us continue to pray for civic authorities that they reduce, rather than increase, the sorrows of the people under their care.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Nicholas Chia)

Prayer: Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks for all who show us how to bear suffering patiently.