Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER - 9.5.04 Acts 14,21-27; Apoc 21,1-5; Jn 13,31-35 Mother’s Day through Mel Gibson’s movie Woman,
behold your son. In
‘Passion of the Christ’, Mel Gibson gives his own insight in the Catholic
teaching on Mary & her role in the “Passion”. Today, Mother’s Day, we
honour Mary on Calvary, as Mother of God & our Mother. It’s always hard
for people to meditate on suffering: be it in Christ, in Mary, in us. Yet, in
Mel Gibson’s movie the agony of Jesus & Mary have an amazing impact on the
viewers. And this, not simply because Mary is physical Mother of the Messiah,
but because she is Queen of Martyrs, and her special role with Jesus on Calvary
is central to Catholicism. Mary, (by
her “yes” at Annunciation - her ‘sword’ that would pierce her heart
- her “Pieta’” role at the Cross - her place at Pentecost), knew
& believed. Indeed all her life she lived, acted & suffered with full
awareness of being: first, staunchest, most devoted disciple of the Lord: her
Son. Mel Gibson’s film is not scriptural or scholarly, but devotional &
popular. It’s a devout meditation, taken from a German book written way back
in 1833: ‘Dolorous Passion of Our Lord’. It depicts the terrible agony of
Jesus, as seen in visions by a German nun, with vivid imagination and the soul
of a mystic: Sister Anne Catherine Emmerick (b. 1774 - d. 1824). As we watch the
film, we realize that some scenes are new, unfamiliar, but quite moving and
imaginative; they are not found in the Gospels. Her account
of the Passion -Jesus’ & Mary’s-, while faithful to the Bible, is
heart-rending and surprisingly intimate. The parts that are not strictly
scriptural are plausible and would’ve naturally happened. Many scenes describe
in every detail, Mary’s participation in the suffering of her Son, giving the
viewers a poignant understanding of why Mary is called “Queen of Martyrs”. Behold
your Mother! From
the start, we notice that Mary is present not just at the end, weeping under the
cross, but is prominent and active everywhere. More than the other disciples,
she knows, prays, understands, accepts God’s will and suffers with her Son at
every step. With Jesus, Mary is caught in the struggle against evil at Gethsemani,
- at Caiaphas’ house, when Jesus is sentenced to death, - supporting Peter
after his denial, - at the horrendous scourging and crowning with thorns.
Indeed, it’s at Jesus’ flagellation that Mary receives with deep human touch
a armful of towels from caring Claudia, Pilate’s wife. “Mary saw her Divine
Son, all torn & mangle, being led away after the scourging... He wiped his
eyes, which were filled with blood, that he might look at his mother... And soon
after, I saw Mary and Magdalen... they knelt down near the pillar and wiped up
the sacred blood with the linen that Claudia had given’ (Emmerick’s book
pages 224-5+234). At every step towards Calvary, Mary did react, stagger & hurt: as
Jesus was condemned to the horrendous death by crucifixion - as He met Mary
while carrying his cross and fell under it (Here is the beautiful flash-back of
mother longing to protect her child! - even the bystanders said with feeling :
‘She is the mother of the Galilean!)-
as the man from Cyrene helped, - at the nailing on the cross, when his arms were
stretched and dislocated to make them reach the holes previously bored on the
cross - as Jesus was erected on the Cross and Mary kissed and caressed Jesus’
feet covered in blood - at Jesus’ words: ‘Behold your Son & Behold your
Mother’. - At the “Pieta’” scene: Jesus’ body is lowered from the
cross, and Mary sitting at its foot, receives it. With blood on her face,
holding the body of Our Lord, she seems to say: ‘as you pass by, stop &
see if there is a greater sorrow ’ Prayer
Mary, loving mother, Happy Mother’s Day: Pray for all our mums. ______________________________________ |
