Dear Dolores,<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t tell you how deeply sorry I was to hear the news of your mother\u2019s death.\u00a0 Please count on my prayers.\u00a0 It has been said that we can offer no greater prayer than that made of humble tears; I am sure we are both praying especially well right now.<\/p>\n
I doubt it\u2019s mere coincidence that today is the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, when the whole Church commemorates the incomparable sufferings of the Blessed Virgin Mary.\u00a0 As you bear your grief, you might want to look to her to learn how to bear it as God would have you.\u00a0 Our Lord did not wish to spare her the deepest sorrows.\u00a0 From the moment of Simeon\u2019s prophecy, when he foretold to Mary that a \u201csword would pierce your heart,\u201d through the desperate, midnight flight into Egypt when Jesus was just a baby, to the three days when as a boy he inexplicably disappeared, to his walk to Calvary, crucifixion, deposition, and burial, she bore in her heart the indescribable pain of seeing her only son suffer injustice, torture, and rejection.\u00a0 And since her heart was unmarred by selfishness, she loved him more than we can imagine, which only compounded her sorrow when she witnessed his sufferings.\u00a0 Why would Christ have not spared her these pains?\u00a0 The answer to that question lies hidden in the mystery of love and sacrifice, a mystery that no mind can penetrate, but every loving heart can grasp.<\/p>\n
My dear niece, bring your sorrow to the feet of the Cross, where Mary accompanied her dying son.\u00a0 Stand there with her, mingle your tears with hers as together you contemplate the wounds of our Lord.\u00a0 You will find, as all the saints have found, that those tears will bring you closer to Christ; they will teach you to recognize his voice more readily.\u00a0 There on Golgotha his love will seep deeper into your soul, and you will emerge better able to bring that love to others.<\/p>\n
A week ago we celebrated Mary\u2019s birthday, and today we celebrate her sorrows.\u00a0 It reminds us that we can count on few things in this life, and one of them is suffering.\u00a0 We might as well learn from the experts how to live it well.<\/p>\n
Love,<\/p>\n
Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Dolores, I can\u2019t tell you how deeply sorry I was to hear the news of your mother\u2019s death.\u00a0 Please count on my prayers.\u00a0 It has been said that we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n