Mary at the Foot of the Cross: a Model for the Laity

We all share in the priesthood of Christ.  There is the universal priesthood and the ministerial priesthood.  Both share intimately in the Mass but in very different ways.  These are not just in degree but in essence.  How can we understand this in a way that is meaningful for our lives.  The Blessed Mother is the one who unlocks the doors to the mysteries of God.  The Mass, as many of you know, is the re-presentation of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary.  Who else was there?  The Blessed Mother, the beloved disciple, and others...

Yet it was Mary's presence that was most significant because she was the sole representative of humanity that was fully united with Our Lord in that sacrifice.  She was there in his life from beginning to end so much so that when His Sacred Heart was pierced....hers was also mystically pierced.  Both hearts were pierced in this sacrifice of total self-emptying self-dontation and self-giving love that was offered to the Father in atonement for our sins and for our own redemption.  As the husband and wife united, offer themselves for the physical feeding and wellbeing of their children....so too Jesus and Mary offer themselves for the spiritual feeding and salvation of us...their spiritual children.  Outside of the self-emptying love of the Trinity...no where else do we see an image of this sacred and precious love that is found in Calvary...at the foot of the cross.

Each of us can share in these roles...sometimes we are in the place of Jesus...emptying ourselves for someone else....sometimes we are fully receiving the self-emptying love of another or of Christ himself....as Mary did...and sometimes we are the fruit of that blessed and mystical union...and hence we too are 'beloved' as the Beloved Disicple.  We are called by Christ to 'take up our cross'....but whenever we take up the cross....Jesus is on it....and Mary is at its' foot....