The Suffering Mother
Written by: Sister Valerie Schneider, SND
September 15
Trembling in waning light of near Sabbath
A mother charred by agony’s fire
Dispels the darkening sky with her solitary hope.
No Elizabeth to call her “blessed among women.”
No husband for support.
The Via Crucis so horrific in its havoc disrupts the order of creation
And furrows her maternal heart.
Mary’s love stronger than death embraces her boy.
Jesus’ darkening blood, the very power of YHWH, smears her veil.
The mother yields to God’s will,
Her soul as empty as her Son’s kenosis.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
gently raised the bruised Slain Lamb from her lap, the corpse revealing the muscled solemn strength of the Man of Sorrows.
“Shalom,” she whispers releasing her hold that thirty-three years ago laid her Baby in his crib.
The forces of evil have done their worst,
Yet forged her soul’s depth to affirm once again “Fiat!”
In the promise of New Creation.
