Holy Saturday | Catholic Faith | Mother Mary
If you’ve ever had to scoop a child in a deep sleep off a couch, you know how hard it is to position them in a way that you can lift them, walk while carrying them, arms limp, head rolling here or there. The bigger your kids get, the harder this feat becomes. So imagine Mary holding the lifeless body of Jesus. Imagine the strength it took to hold the body of her dead, adult son, and not only its physical weight, but also its emotional weight.
Mary Has Incredible Strength
The Pietà provides us with a grim romantic version of this scene. When you look at the Pietà, you feel the weight of the moment, but you forget the weight of the body. Mary’s face sorrowful, but serene. It’s her right hand, fingers sprawled, which you can almost miss, peeking through under his body, where you glimpse the strength it must have required to keep his body propped up. His head, weighing heavily on her forearm.
However, this is a frozen moment, because it would make sense that Mary did not simply sit there motionless. I imagine Mary was remembering much about her Son and was also wanting to tell Him how much she loved Him, how very blessed she felt to be His mother, and how She trusted in God’s plan.
I imagine her wanting to inspect His face and look over His entire body, remembering both what He looked like before, but also what He looked like now: ravaged by scourging, thorns, nails, and death.
What strength it must have taken to lift her arm in order to turn His lifeless face towards hers, a face whose eyes could heal at first glance; eyes that could no longer open.
Mary Uniquely Understands the Weight of Our Sins
She understood the weight that she was holding was not simply the weight of her son, but was the weight of generations of sins, the sins of the whole world for all time. She understands second only to Jesus how deeply sin equals death. She also understands that it is only with Jesus that new life, resurrected life comes.
She understands our brokenness in a special and unique way that leads her to accompany us and intercede for us. A mother never wants to see her child’s hard work and sacrifices wasted. So imagine if your child’s work was to save sinners …
Mary only wants to call our attention to God. She is never saying look at me; she is constantly pointing to the sacrifice of her Son and asking us to make reparations for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Why? Because she held that body and understands the price He paid in a way no one else in this world can.
Listen to Mary
Mary is vigilant for our souls because Her Son is vigilant for us. He paid for the weight of the world’s sins, but she held Him in her arms. She understands not only the weight of our sins, but also the burden of the price of our sins.
Let’s be grateful to Mary this Lent for her yes at the Annunciation. Let’s be grateful for her staying with Jesus at the Crucifixion. Let’s always listen to how Mary is asking us to make reparations for our sins and the sins of the whole world, so that we might stay in close relationship with Jesus and someday be united with Him in heaven.