Read the Passion from Mary's view

April 9, 2006 -- Palm Sunday

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. In what sense can suffering be a grace? 2. What do you do when you cannot mitigate the suffering of others? 3. Does the concept of a crucified God cause you confusion?

Raissa Maritain, the wife of the famous philosopher Jacques Maritain, once wrote: "But our God is a crucified God: the Beatitude [happiness] of which He cannot be deprived did not prevent Him from fearing and mourning, or from sweating blood in the unimaginable Agony, or from passing through the throes of death on the Cross, or from feeling abandoned."

L e n t
• Everyday People, Everyday Faith articles
• Other Lent articles

This is the God we encountered on Palm Sunday as revealed in Jesus. Jesus knew fear; Jesus felt abandoned; Jesus suffered death on a Cross. Such suffering is painful to watch and yet we know that beneath the agony was an extravagant love for humankind. The prophet Isaiah recounts how God's servant endured beatings, buffetings, and spitting. And yet that servant, the one we call Jesus, remained faithful to His call.

St. Paul records a hymn that captures well the mystery of our crucified God. The passage tells of Jesus' self-emptying, of His obedience unto death, and of His being exalted by His Father. We have in this brief account the essence of the Christian message. We have here the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption woven together in lyrical form. So deep is the mystery that we must come back year after year in our attempt to fathom the various levels of the enigma.

But it is in the Passion narrative that the details unfold: an alabaster jar of perfumed oil; the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb; the Last Supper scene; the journey to the Mount of Olives; the garden of Gethsemane; the betrayals; the unjust trial; the crucifixion itself. We know the story so well and yet to experience its depth will take a lifetime. With great wisdom, the ritual of the Church draws us back year after year to revisit and re-experience this great mystery of our faith.

And yet suffering and death remain such mysteries.

Caryll Houselander writes this of Mary, the mother of Jesus: "She knew, better than anyone else will ever know it, that the greatest of all griefs is to be unable to mitigate the suffering of one whom we love. But she was willing to suffer that, because that was what He asked of her."

We should attempt to read the Passion of our Lord from the perspective of Mary. She was unable to lessen Jesus' suffering; she had to stand by and offer but her gift of presence. And yet what a consolation that must have been for Jesus; and, yes, what an increase of sorrow as well. Mary was simply there, dwelling in the rawness of the pain. Artists have attempted to capture her grief in color and stones; none have succeeded completely.

One author, Ken Wilber, attempts to interpret suffering in a positive light. At least, he maintains, suffering holds the possibility of some creativity: "For suffering smashes to pieces the complacency of our normal fictions about reality, and forces us to become alive in a special sense - to see carefully, to feel deeply, to touch ourselves and our world in ways we have heretofore avoided. It has been said, and truly I think, that suffering is the first grace."

Whether or not he is correct in this line of thinking, one thing is sure for the person of faith: Jesus' suffering has brought us the life of grace. It is in the Cross that we find salvation: "We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee, because by thy holy cross you have redeemed the world."

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)