Some of you may have known that my nephew passed away a few weeks ago. My wife and I flew to Los Angeles to attend his funeral earlier this week.

We arrived in LA on Monday afternoon, rented a car and checked into our hotel without too much trouble, everything was smooth as we had planned. After settling down a little, we went to dinner with my sisters and their families. We didn’t talk much on the first day because we didn’t want to create unnecessary burden except to show our condolence and our companionship. Nevertheless, during our stay, I did have the chance to sit down with my older sister and listen to her mourning and grieving. All I could think of was the quote from Jesus’ beatitudes, “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” I am not sure if my sister felt any comfort from our conversation, but one thing for sure was that I could feel her grief and unwillingness to let go of her son. What had happened to my sister reminded me of our sorrowful Lady, mother of God, Virgin Mary, who stood beside Jesus when he was hanging on the cross. She was so helpless and speechless to watch her Son breathe out His last breath. I can’t imagine how she accepted such a painful separation. I pictured Our Lady with my sister, who both shared this loss with the same mourning and sadness.

I would therefore, like to invite you to meditate on the crucifixion for a little bit, let’s picture ourselves standing right by Our Lady under the cross, and we hear Jesus say to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Mother Mary raised her head and looked up to her Son, the Son she carried in her womb for 9 months, the Son she raised and taught, the Son she had laughter, tears, happiness and worry. The Son she said to the Angel “fiat.”, and the Son she had told to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now let’s envision Our Lady with her head lowered looking at John and us, pondering Jesus’ request “behold, your son.”  “Behold your son.” Now listen to the next sentence that Jesus squeezed out while suffocating on the cross, “Behold, your mother.” “Behold, your mother.” Yes truly, we are her children, we can be with her, rely on her, and listen to her. Whether we are happy, pleasing, and joyful or if we are grieving, lost, doubt, or even in our disobedience and rebellion, because she is our heavenly mother and loves us unconditionally, we need to grow to the resemblance of our elder brother, Jesus Christ, and share his mission of combating sin and conquering it as the handbook said in today’s reading.

My dear brothers and sisters, truly, Mary is our Mother, who intercedes for us every single moment in our lives.
God bless us.