Twelfth Station: Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own. 
(Jn 19:25-27, Douay-Rheims Version)

I wonder what Jesus was feeling when He saw His mother and the disciple He loved. I have seen the sorrow of parents when their children die before them. My late uncle had two sons who died before him. They were afflicted by muscular dystrophy. By the time they were in their mid teens, they were bedridden, and unable to sit up. With the death each son, his heart grew frailer. I could see tears welling in his eyes when he spoke of them. Jesus, who was empathic in general, would have considered the sorrow of His mother. In the midst of His physical agony, Jesus decided to do something for His mother. Just beside His mother was His disciple, the only one who had not run away to hide. He, who was faithful and trusting, would be steadfast in his responsibility to take care of her. Thus, this disciple would take Mother Mary as his own mother. Jesus uttered another of His last words on the cross: Woman, behold thy son, … Behold thy mother.

In giving Mary to the disciple, Jesus also gave the disciple to His mother. At the point of the crucifixion, it was this filial son making arrangements for the care of His mother. As a consequence, the disciple received the gift of a grace-filled and holy woman as his mother. We are called into the one family in baptism. Both we and Jesus call God Father, implying that Jesus and we are brothers and sisters of the same one Father. Similarly, we can call Mary our mother, in the spiritual sense, just as Mary is mother of Jesus, the Son of God. The gift of Mary to the beloved disciple is also Jesus’ gift of Mother Mary to all us as Mother. Therefore, the words of Jesus does not simply mean Jesus entrusting his mother to John, it also means that John is entrusted to Mary. That is why this station is entitled: Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other.

We must be careful not to make Mary more important than her son. That would not be right. Mary is made mother to care for all of us in the way that she can, not in the way that she cannot. My family started our journey as Catholics when we started going to Novena Church so many years ago. I believe that the prayers of our blessed mother were instrumental in the conversion of my family. The graces my family received so that we might be God’s children were granted by God, not by Mary. However, I do believe that Mary was involved because she had prayed for my family. Perhaps, many people approach Mary to pray for them because they find it easier to relate to a maternal figure. However, we should not wrongly believe that Mother Mary is in command. God is still in command.

In our parish, there is a popular prayer area called Mary’s Courtyard. Many people congregate there to pray the rosary every night. When the governing authorities released their advisory about closing the places of worship, I complied because I understood its importance during this pandemic. A man called me to request that I open the church so that he could pray the rosary at the courtyard everyday as he had always done. I had to turn him down. As I put down the handset to the telephone, I wondered if I should have explained to him the reasons for my decision. God has given us our intellect to understand the situation we are in. The way to lower the number of infections is to stay at home. I believe Mother Mary understands this as well. It is not where we pray that makes prayer efficacious. Not being able to pray at our favourite spot should not make us blind to the needs of all around us. Rather than pray that we can have our prayer area back, we should be praying for the people who are infected and the people who are caring for them. We should pray especially for those who are infected but are asymptomatic, because they may be still oblivious to the danger they might pose if they congregate with others and are not attentive to social distancing.

Mary is our mother and cares for our spiritual and physical well-being. She prays and she cares. Being faithful to God is not simply about our daily prayer, but being faithful in love as well. Faithfulness in love involves understanding our role in society. Thus, being faithful to God in prayer also involves being socially responsible. Perhaps this is what St. James meant when he wrote: If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.  (Jas 2:15-17, Revised Standard Version)