The Healing Journey

December 9, 2024

It’s easy to think of the Virgin Mary as a saint who is somehow impervious to pain and disassociated from humanity. Of course, nothing is further from the truth. Her suffering was real, and she knew grief from a young age, in addition to having the plans for her life completely changed when she accepted the plan that God had for her. She and Joseph had to face disappointment and danger, and, most assuredly, the derision of their neighbors, who suspected something was different about this marriage, although they may not have been entirely sure what.

Consider that Joseph, her earthly husband, died when Mary was probably in her early 40s or younger. When Jesus was crucified, she would have been about 47.

This is excerpted from the book, “Christmas, a Paradise of Gratitude with Mary, Mother of Jesus:” How I loved them all in those moments when my own little family was beginning. Life comes in periods of time and that period of time marked the beginning of a joyful adventure. Later, I would have to experience both the grief of a wife who loses a beloved spouse and later again the grief of a mother losing a child to murder. The physical pain you just witnessed was nothing at all. The deep anguish of abandonment and grief that came later was also as nothing when it is put up against the benefits that came from both of those lives.”

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

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