“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38)
How have you heard this question phrased over the past year? As a college campus minister, I was blessed to listen to it articulated numerous ways through a group of college-aged women of color who came together to pray and share their collective sorrows and crosses.
While each woman spoke of her wounds and the her of their trauma, I recalled the Seven Sorrows of Mary. I encouraged them to turn to Our Lady of Sorrows to seek comfort, and hesitantly they did, slowly pressing their open wounds to the crucified wounds of Christ. The healing they experienced was astonishing.
The pierced hearts they kept hidden from the world reflected Our Lady’s as Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce her heart, “so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34). Our Mother Mary may not have cried out, “Father, do you not care that my Son is perishing?” but her stabbed heart likely silently wailed similar words. She hears our cries and holds us as close just as she cradled Jesus beneath the cross of Calvary, gently kissing our cuts as only a mother could.
Mary journeys alongside us, speaking the same truth Jesus says over the storm in Mark’s gospel, “Quiet! Be still!” (Mark 4:39). He’s not just telling the waters to calm; no, he is commanding the Apostles to quiet themselves and pay attention to the storms thrashing inside them, the fears and trauma they would rather ignore. Christ is inviting us to be still and process our pain to fully heal body, mind, and spirit.
Too often, we want to experience resurrection before our time in the tomb. The tomb is where we heal!
When the storms of life trigger memories you would rather not revisit, invite Our Lady to intercede for you. She not only relates to your sorrow, but she has experienced even greater sorrows watching her children suffer and grieve. But remember, according to Tradition, she embraced her Son’s resurrected, glorified body, and one day God willing, she will hold ours as well.
Sister, ask yourself the question Jesus asked the Apostles, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” (Mark 4:40)
The tomb is where we heal. // @SoCalTriciaT Click to tweet
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