You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever. // Psalm 16:11

She looked at me with love and with tears in our eyes, she shared a tender congratulations for all the work I accomplished. I hadn’t achieved anything external, but rather the internal accomplishment of deep inner work resulting in peace and freedom I hadn’t known was possible for my heart to feel. 

She had walked with me. Each week we had met, and with her mentorship, step by step, I moved through some of the rawest and deepest pain. She supported me, challenged me, and shared with me parts of her own story that gave me hope that I, too, could experience the joy she now lived. I couldn’t have done it alone. I needed her presence. I needed this support from my beloved mentor and friend who had become another mother to me. 

Today on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, we honor Mary, our Blessed Mother, who is a woman who knows suffering well. She is with us in our darkest hour and, in Jesus, she can mentor us, challenge us, and guide us to the heart of the Father, our source of all healing and love. Our crosses do not have to end in fruitless pain. We can be brought into new life, sometimes in ways that may surprise us.  

Perhaps our own mothers, or other spiritual mothers have been there for us in dark and painful moments along our journey. But, even if not, today let us remember our Mother Mary, who with Jesus, leads us along the path of life, bringing us to the fullness of joys with God forever (see Psalm 16:11).