Stabat Mater

At the cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last..
(Opening lines from the hymn, Stabat Mater)

Regardless of events in the world - of wars, uprisings, jubilees, earthquakes or peace accords - the seasons of nature and of the Church keep to their pre-ordained rhythms. Sometimes the weather or the feast will match our mood, but at other times there is a dissonance. The sun might shine on our rejoicing or our mourning; likewise, the Resurrection happens, whether we are celebrating new life or in the midst of death. 

And today throughout the Society and in our schools, whatever may be happening in our communities and our countries, we celebrate Mater Admirabilis, our image of Mary as a serene, rosily radiant and reflective young woman. Here in the UK we keep her feast only five days after the horrific, brutal murder of David Amess MP, while he was doing something as ordinary and valuable as holding a constituency surgery. And so today I look at this rosy young woman and wonder what she can say to me - to us - about this violent death, and indeed all the violence and hatred in our world, which seem a million miles from her tranquility. 

And the rosy girl reminded me that Mater Admirabilis is one and the same as the older, wiser woman who, more than thirty years later became the Mater we invoke in the Stabat Mater. A mother who stood, with courage and dignity, as life seeped from her brutalised Son, accepting a new mission and motherhood from him. A mother, matured by prayer and pain who still keeps her station - still stands, sits, kneels, crouches and lies - with all those who suffer due to violence, prejudice and hate. 

Who will we ask her to stand or sit with today...?