Mary, Mother of Mercy

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

Today, we gather to celebrate the feast of Mary, Mother of Mercy.  In the words of Pope Benedict XVI, �Mary suffers with those who are in affliction, with them she hopes, and she is their comfort, supporting them with her maternal help.�

Mary experienced pain and suffering in her earthly life as the Mother of Sorrows as Simeon had prophesied at the Presentation of the Lord in the temple.  As the Sorrowful Mother who stood at the cross of her suffering son, Mary still stands by the members of her Son�s Body who in their own suffering bear the signs of his passion.  

Tal como dice el Papa Benedicto : �Mar�a sufre por los que est�n en aflicci�n, junto a ellos ofrece esperanza y es su consuelo, apoy�ndolos con su ayuda maternal". Mar�a experiment� dolor y sufrimiento en su vida terrenal como la Madre Dolorosa seg�n la profetiz� Sime�n en la Presentaci�n del Se�or en el templo. As� como la Madre Dolorosa se par� frente a la cruz de su hijo agonizante, Mar�a a�n se coloca al lado de los miembros del Cuerpo de su Hijo quienes en su propio sufrimiento llevan las marcas de su pasi�n.  

It has always been hard for us to accept the mystery of pain and human suffering especially when this mystery touches the young and innocent. Why does a loving and just God permit us to suffer?  This question is as old as time itself.  Yet, like the Old Testament Job, we still demand answers, we want reasons.  But as with Job so too with us, God is not forthcoming with pat answers � at least, not on this side of heaven.  God�s response is just one word:  Jesus.  

Of course, Jesus did not come to explain away suffering; he came to take it upon himself. His solidarity with the world of pain transforms it � for �pain received with faith becomes the door by which to enter the mystery of the redemptive suffering of Jesus and to reach with him the peace and the happiness of his Resurrection.�  In Christ, our suffering acquires a new meaning; in Christ, our suffering attains new power � and a mysterious fruitfulness. United to Christ, the one, who suffers with hope and with meek self-abandonment to the will of God, becomes a living offering for the salvation of the world.  Offering up our own pains and sufferings becomes an eloquent and a powerful prayer.

As a Haitian proverb says so well:  Ou peye dokt� a, men se Bondye ki geri.  And so, over the centuries, people of faith have found  in times of sickness and trial strength in prayer.  And many� through Mary�s intercession � have experienced healing. But even when prayers were not answered by a physical cure, people of faith have been helped by the Mother of Mercy to find peace in their acceptance of God�s will.  Mary, of course, is the model of that self-abandonment to the will of God.  And therefore it is no wonder why the sick seek out her powerful protection and intercession. We ask her to teach us to say �yes� as she did � for that �yes� joined her to the redeeming mission of Christ.  We need her to take us by the hand and lead us to pronounce our own �yes� to the will of God, with all our �existence interwoven with joys and sadness, hopes and disappointments, in the awareness that tribulations, pain and suffering make rich the meaning of our pilgrimage on the earth.�  As Mary renewed her �yes�, given at the Annunciation, at the foot of the Cross, we too must renew the �yes� of our Baptism by accepting the daily crosses we may be asked to carry.  

Mar�a es, por supuesto, el modelo de ese total abandono a la voluntad de Dios.  Y por lo tanto, no es extra�o por qu� los enfermos buscan su poderosa protecci�n e intercesi�n.  Necesitamos que ella nos lleve de la mano y nos gu�e a pronunciar nuestro propio �si� a la voluntad de Dios, con toda nuestra �existencia entrelazada con las alegr�as y penas, esperanzas y desilusiones, aceptando que las tribulaciones, dolores  y sufrimientos hace rico el sentido de peregrinos en la tierra�.  

To the Mother of Mercy, we commend the sick of our communities so that they will never feel that they are abandoned or disvalued because of their illness and frailty. We also entrust to her the family members of the sick and all health care professionals so that they in their care of the sick may reflect Mary�s own tender and maternal care towards the suffering members of the Body of Christ.  

As Christians we must strive to recognize in the features of every suffering person the face of Christ himself. Too often, the sick complain of being depersonalized by the experience of their illness.  And it�s no wonder � in a highly technological and bureaucratic world, it can seem that by becoming ill they lose their identity, their personhood.  They can easily be reduced to �the lung case� in Room 1080-B; or the �Medicaid" in cubicle D.

The mission of this hospital, and the mission of the Church in her pastoral care for the sick and their families, is to embrace the sick person as a whole person � and, in doing so, help make the time of sickness a unique kairos. That is, an opportune time to help the ill person to find adequate responses to the ultimate questions about human life � questions on the meaning of pain, suffering and death itself, considered not only as an enigma difficult to face, but as a mystery in which Christ incorporates our lives in himself, opening them to a new and definitive birth for the life that will never end. 

The Church has consistently advocated for adequate access to health care for all � we do so in the name of the solidarity we owe to our injured and ill brothers and sisters.  But in advocating for universal health care, we have insisted that any health care reform should kill no one; and it should cover everyone.  We have also argued that individuals and institutions should have their freedom to serve respected and protected.  No one should be forced to provide a product or a service that would violate their conscience or go against their faith.

We continue to be concerned about the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare: it still excludes too many immigrants from coverage; and it opens the door to using government monies to killing the unborn.  The HHS mandate which would force both individual and religious insurers to provide a product that violates their consciences and religious beliefs is unacceptable � and I would ask all of you to work that this mandate be rescinded; and, I would also urge you to vote �yes� on amendment 8 that will protect the freedom to serve of religious institutions here in the state of Florida.

A Nuestra Se�ora de la Merced, le encomendamos los enfermos de nuestras comunidades para que nunca se sientan abandonados y desvalidos debido a sus enfermedades o fragilidades.  Tambi�n le encomendamos a ella los familiares de los enfermos y todos aquellos profesionales de la salud para que en su cuido del enfermo puedan reflejar el tierno y maternal cuidado de Mar�a hacia los miembros del Cuerpo de Cristo que sufren.

And so, to those who are injured or sick, we say:  courage, God has not forgotten you.  Christ suffers with you. And by offering up your sufferings, you can collaborate with him in the redemption of the world.  

O Mary, Immaculate Virgin, Woman of suffering and hope, be kind to every suffering person, obtain fullness of life for each one.