Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us…
Imagining Mary’s journey through life in real human terms is truly humbling. Her acceptance of God’s will, from her conception of Jesus in Mystery to witnessing his brutal death on the cross, may seem almost unfathomable. But Mary is not other-worldly. Rather, God has given us the person of Mary—this fully human, abundantly vulnerable woman—not only to be the Mother of Jesus, but to be an abiding touchstone for our own troubled hearts when grief, worry, or disappointment threaten to overtake us. Given the anxieties plaguing so many in our nation currently, who more than Mary could understand our fears better? She really has walked in our shoes. 
In reflecting on the icon of Our Lady (right) created by fellow Passionist Bro. Michael Moran, he speaks of the obvious tenderness between mother and child, but also of Mary’s gaze which is directed not directly at Jesus, but outward to a middle distance. "It’s the gaze of one who contemplates," he says, "who is deeply connected to the Mystery that is God. Mary symbolizes that gentle and tender connection we all hope to have with Christ, holding and being held by him in a loving embrace. But she also models the contemplative stance that we as Christians and as Passionists hope to develop towards the Mystery that is God."
Fr. Pat Brennan, C.P., further reflects on this idea. "In the Gospel of Luke we read the profound words written about Mary, the mother of Jesus, words with which every mother can identify. The words are written after the frightening loss of the child Jesus in the temple and the only too joyful moment of reunion when he was discovered by his frantic parents sharing amazing wisdom with the elders. Luke simply tells us that, ‘He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.’
How piercing is this truth of a mother’s love that she would tenderly keep all these things in her heart. This simple verse from the Gospel of Luke wonderfully summarizes our Blessed Mother as a woman of deep reflection and contemplative prayer. Is it not the deepest desire of every person drawn to contemplation to carry deep within their hearts the amazing truth and beauty of God’s love? Certainly this is what Mary, the loving, deeply-feeling Mother of Jesus, witnesses to us. Mary, as a tender, caring Mother, contemplates the mystery of divine love and calls us to do the very same in our own life.
