Mary’s Tears (III)

When Mary weeps over us, her Tears are indeed a universal out flowing of heavenly Blood, of which she is the sovereign Dispenser, and this outpouring is at the same time the most perfect of oblations For, through grace, she is the only mother who has the power to lead her countless other children to worship by dint of her tears. The tears of the Blessed Virgin are only mentioned once in the Gospel, when she utters her fourth word after she has found her Son. And it is she who is speaking then. Elsewhere, the gospel-writers merely say that Jesus wept, and this must be sufficient for us to guess as to what His Mother is doing. Saint Bernardino of Sienna says that the grief of the Blessed Virgin was so great that if it were divided and shared among all creatures capable of suffering, they would die in an instant. Now, if we take account of the way in which this simple soul, filled with the Holy Spirit, was so greatly illumined with the Holy Spirit for whom the future had a present and significant reality, this affirmation must be heard down the ages, not just on Good Friday, but at every moment of her life from the Annunciation of the Archangel unto her death.