V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world.
How could our Lady bear to see her Son suffer so dreadfully? Every mother's heart aches for her children and she longs to be able to take those pains herself so that sometimes she offers a greater sacrifice by seeing others suffer than by suffering herself. Mothers hate to feel powerless, for they must reach out to serve, to love, to lift up: it is their very nature.
Yet Mary, the Mother of God, did not try to take away her Son's suffering as she followed Him on the way to the cross. Her willingness to suffer with Him by seeing Him suffer united her loving heart with His.
When finally she broke through the crowd to meet Him face to face, the tears must have streamed down her wordless face that saw His face so disfigured. She must have longed to take Him into her arms to comfort Him as she had when He had been a little child, but she could not, for that would have renewed His pains a thousand-fold.
Perhaps she reached out to touch Him gently, her fingertips softly caressing His cheek in the only place still unhurt. In that touch, He who had felt power flow out of Him so many times to heal must also have felt power flow into Him: the power of His mother's love, a constant love that embraced the will of the Father in all its unpleasant manifestations. So too in the meeting of their gaze must love have flowed. In that moment, the God of the universe drew strength from His dear creation.
In our sufferings, may we look to our Blessed Mother, knowing that she longs to take away our pain and grief, but knowing also that she bears to see us suffer out of love. She knows that what our Lord allows to happen to us out of His most abundant Providence will transform us, transfiguring the muck of our lives into a brilliant pearl to offer Him.
My most loving Jesus, by the sorrow Thou didst experience in this meeting, grant me the grace of a truly devoted love for Thy most holy Mother. And thou, my Queen, who wast overwhelmed with sorrow, obtain for me by thy intercession a continual and tender remembrance of the Passion of thy Son. I love Thee, Jesus my love; I repent of ever having offended Thee. Never permit me to offend Thee again. Grant that I may love Thee always; and then do with me what Thou wilt. (From the Stations of the Cross according to Saint Alphonsus Liguori.)
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