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Today, at Casa Santa Mara, Pope Francis reflected on the obedience and suffering of Mary at the foot of the Cross. The Mass commemorated the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrow.
The Feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows is celebrated on September 15. According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis said that in the liturgy we are shown the glorious Cross, then the meek and humble Mother.
During his homily, Pope Francis said that Paul emphasized three strong words. Jesus “learned, obeyed and suffered” It was the opposite of what had happened to our father Adam. Adam did not want to learn, obey or suffer. Jesus, even though He is God, humbles Himself on the glorious Cross and becomes a servant.
Continuing his homily, Pope Francis told how Jesus came into the world to learn how to be a man, and by being a man, he walked with men. He came into the world to obey, and He obeyed. He learned obedience from suffering. This obedience brings hope. People who walk with God walk with hope.
Pope Francis shared that Mary, Jesus’ Mother, was the New Eve (as Paul himself calls her), so that she too can learn, suffer, and obey. “Thus”, Pope Francis said, “She becomes Mother.” In the Gospel Mary is at the foot of the Cross at the crucifixion. Jesus says to John, “Behold your mother.”
“Mary, is anointed Mother.” Pope Francis said. “We are not orphans, we have Mothers; Mother Mary. But the Church is Mother and Mother Church is anointed when it takes the same path of Jesus and Mary: the path of obedience, the path of suffering, and when she has that attitude of continually learning the path of the Lord. These two women…Mary and the Church…carry on the hope that is Christ, they give us Christ, they bring forth Christ in us. Without Mary, there would be no Jesus Christ; without the Church, we cannot go forward. Two women and two mothers and next to them our soul, which in the words of Isaac, the abbot of Stella, is “feminine” and is like “Mary and the Church”. Pope Francis concluded his homily by saying:
“Today, looking at this woman by the Cross, steadfast in following her Son in His suffering to learn obedience, looking at her we see the Church and look at our Mother. And also, we look at our little soul that will never be lost, if it continues to be a woman close to these two great women who accompany us in life: Mary and the Church. And just as our fathers left Paradise with a promise, today we can go forward with a hope: the hope that our Mother Mary, steadfast at the Cross, and our Holy Mother, the hierarchical Church, give us. “
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This article was originally published on September 15, 2014.