From their outset their lives, Jesus, Mary and Joseph are stamped with the sign of the Cross. Old Simeon indicates the pain that awaits Mary along her journey across the earthly stage:
“Simeon blessed them [Jesus, Mary and Joseph] and said to Mary his [Jesus’] mother, ‘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 revealedd'” (Luke 2:34-35).
Mary will accept her pain confidently for she understands the redemptive significance and meaning that it brings whenever we look through our suffernigs to the Cross of Christ.
Today, let us imitate Mary and unite all our sufferings to Jesus whose own suffering, death and resurrection was accomplished expressly for us and our salvation.
