"All ye who pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow"

“All ye who pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow”

A cry of lamentation that cities out to the Lord; is there anyone who understands my sorrow as I watch my only son pierced with nails, as he dies for the very sins that you have repeatedly performed.  (cf Lam 1: 12).

It is an essential reminder that without our attention to what occurred after the angel Gabriel  announced to Mary she was to become the Mother of God and confirmed in the temple by Simeon as he took Jesus in his arms saying, “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory for your people Israel.”  Then to Mary, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  (Lk 2: 25, 29 - 32, 34 - 35).  A sign of lamentations!

Are we to repeat this very prediction of what the Blessed Mother was going to suffer as she was chosen to be his mother?  The answer is what else occurs when the Lord calls us, not just into a ministry that might present lamentations, but into the very substance that his Mother would experience; and if we are open to what this call means we will also become aware that small things that hurt will become large enough to crucify our weak hearts.  This is what the call to ministry is all about, not just to minister to the needy but to carry our cross even to death if needed.

Perhaps we needed Mary, the Mother of God, to set the standard of what real sorrow means when she is to be the one chosen to give birth to the Son of God without the exemplary signs until her Assumption.  Very little is mentioned of her in scripture except for the three hours in front of her Crucified Son and the Pieta as she holds the lifeless body of her own flesh and blood, now dead but yet a life that will rise again.  When the past events in our history of God and our salvation seem to be passe’ we must remember all these events lead to our very salvation and the forgiveness for our sins that the suffering of Mary is the opening to our own lamentation that exists for eternal justice and mercy that she herself had a primary role in achieving.

“Come, all you who pass by the way, look and see whether there is any suffering like my suffering, which has been dealt me, when the Lord afflicted me on the day of his blazing wrath.”

(Lam 1: 12). 

Ralph B. Hathaway