Uniting Our Suffering with Christ through Mary (I)

During childhood, our mothers would often advise us to “offer it up” whenever we complained about small inconveniences and sufferings. Little did we realize that this simple phrase held the key to understanding the profound mystery of Co-redemption. As an oncologist, I’ve had the opportunity to delve deeper into this concept, looking beyond the physical veil of suffering and pain to grasp the profound spiritual reality that often goes unnoticed.

The Lord Jesus proclaimed, “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” (Matthew 25:35-36)

>In identifying Himself with the suffering patient, the Lord Jesus conveys that He is one with those in affliction. What consolation it is to know that we share in Christ’s dignity when we suffer!

>In our suffering, we can also turn to the Blessed Mother Mary. At the foot of the Cross, Mary stood as a source of consolation and strength for Jesus. She cradled Him in her arms when His lifeless body was taken down from the cross – a poignant image known as the Pieta. This moment encapsulates the profound union of Mary’s extreme sorrow and Jesus’ salvific wounds. In our own suffering, we too are linked to Mary, as we are joined with Christ, wounded and breathless, in the comforting embrace of His mother.

>Jesus was hungry, and Mary not only fed Him in her function as a mother, but also she fed Him with her obedience to the salvific plan of incarnation and passion and resurrection. Jesus was and is hungry for souls that are willing to surrender everything to Him so that those souls will be united with the Will of God.

Jesus was thirsty, and Mary not only gave Him drink during His childhood and on His preaching journeys, but also, as He suffered on the Cross, He said “I thirst” (John 19:28). His thirst was to love us ever more fully and to receive our love in return. Mary stood steadfastly at the foot of the Cross, despite almost all the disciples deserting Him. She remained there out of her profound love for her Son and her God.

Elie Dib

Source (adapted) catholicexchange.com

Note: This article was originally featured in Missio Immaculatae Volume 19/No. 5, September/October 2023 under the pen name of Elio P. Mio. Missio Immaculatae is a bimonthly Marian catechetical-missionary magazine of the Academy of the Immaculate. (https://missiomagazine.com/)