Mother behold your Son
Introduction
People who want to carry out their mission in life have often a high price to pay. Jesus continued his mission of love of doing the Father’s will to save us and was nailed to the cross for it. Mary had been told by Simeon that she would suffer for and with her Son. When a child suffers, also the mother suffers. Yet she too was faithful to her mission of giving Jesus to the world. The closer one is to the Lord, the closer one often is to his cross.

1 Reading 1 Corinthians 10:14-22
My beloved ones, avoid idolatry.
I am speaking as to sensible people;
judge for yourselves what I am saying.
The cup of blessing that we bless,
is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation in the Body of Christ?
Because the loaf of bread is one,
we, though many, are one Body,
for we all partake of the one loaf.

Look at Israel according to the flesh;
are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
So what am I saying?
That meat sacrificed to idols is anything?
Or that an idol is anything?
No, I mean that what they sacrifice,
they sacrifice to demons, not to God,
and I do not want you to become participants with demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons.
You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.
Or are we provoking the Lord to jealous anger?
Are we stronger than him?

Responsorial Psalm 116:12-13, 17-18
R. (17) To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.

How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.

To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.

Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary;
without dying you won the Martyr’s crown
beneath the Cross of the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel John 19:25-27
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas,
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Commentary
By comparing the gospels with one another we see that if the third woman at the cross of Jesus – variously called “Salome” (Mk 15:40), “Jesus’s mother’s sister Mary, who was the wife of Cleopas” (Jn 19: 25), and “the mother of the sons of Zebedee” (Mt 27:56) – was indeed one and the same person, then the Sons of Zebedee were cousins of Jesus. They could not be full cousins, because there would not be two Marys in the one family; but it was normal to give the word ‘sister’ a wider meaning, so they were cousins of some kind. (Perhaps this is why they expected privileged positions in the Kingdom!) So, the three women who stood by him (in a most literal sense) were his mother, his ‘aunt’, and his friend Mary Magdalen. Thank God for their greater fidelity and courage. They put the men disciples to shame. Do you stand by your faith in the face of your daily cross?

Blessing
Our living and loving God,
in this holy meal we have celebrated
the death and resurrection of Jesus, your Son
and proclaimed suffering and death
as a painful, but necessary way
to lasting glory an happiness.
Let this Eucharist be our strength
to carry the burdens of life
and to learn from Mary
to stand by the side of all
in whom suffers your Son and hers,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

May the Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!