Feast of Mary ~ A Woman of Sorrows

 

Pieta by Sister Mary Peter Tremonte, O.P.,
Designed for Holy Family Catholic Church
Abilene, TX

A Sorrowful Mystery!

So must we, though anxious and uncertain, breathe the words
passed on through the ages.

Do not be afraid, though we cannot see nor dare imagine
what awful things evil would wreak on our fragile world.

Still we dare believe in the graced breaking through of salvation,
Precipitated and thrust forth from insistent, dogged faith –

Incubator of hope,
And so you carried life for the world, Mary,
as you fled, to protect that very life
from threats of death joining the world’s
mass of displaced people
you became
Refugee,
Alien,
Immigrant,
Homeless,
And settled in a foreign land –
the only place to safely nurture your fragile dream.

Like so many other women who flee violence,
Clutching their babies,
You crossed the border defining you a stranger,
Dependent on foreign aid, welfare and hand-outs –
to feed the Son of God.

(Soul Sisters by Edwina Gateley)