Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Tuesday of the twenty-fourth week in ordinary time, September 15, 2026, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

Delivered by Yovita Della Herpriyanti and Antonius Fitrianto from Saint Peter's School Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara, in the Archdiocese of Jakarta, Indonesia. Hebrews 5: 7-9; Rs psalm 31: 2-3a.3b-4.5-6.15-16.20; John 19: 25-27.THE FORGIVING MOTHER The theme for our meditation today is: The ForgivingMother. Today the Church celebrates Our Lady of Sorrows. The Virgin Mary'sexperience of grief was closely related to the suffering of Jesus Christ in theway of the cross. At the time when Jesus underwent the whole process of deathpunishment, He was alone. The apostles left Him, except for His mother and thedisciple He loved so much, John. Mary, the Mother of Jesus and three otherwomen were near at the foot of the cross. There at the foot of the cross, the Virgin Maryexperienced the peak of grief, namely the death of the Son who was born throughher womb. Long before that, when the baby Jesus was offered in the temple,Simeon had predicted that Mary would meet the terrible suffering, a sword thatpierced her heart. Furthermore, she participated in the journey of the crossuntil Jesus' final moment at Calvary. Many members of the Church consider Marya martyr in the spirit. However, Mary did not lose hope and give up because ofthese sorrows and loss. Her sorrows and difficulties were sustained by faith inGod and love for her Son. The sign of her strong faith is her unity with Jesus.Our Lady has the power of forgiveness which is equal to Jesus' power to forgivesinners, and we can see this as Jesus Himsef spoke from the cross:"Father, forgive them because they don't know what they are doing."The Blessed Mother was the witness of this. From the cross, Jesus also mandatedHis mother to adopt all her followers of all generations, and the beloveddisciple, who was with the Virgin Mary, represented them all. So, Mary waswilling to take up the duty to care for all people including those who executedher Son, they too would be forgiven, freed from sins and return to the truth ofGod. Until now, Mary, in her unity with Jesus Christ, feelssad when she sees disciples of her Son fall into sins and try hard to freethemselves from the grip of evil. Any follower of Christ who falls into sinclearly brings pain and sorrows to the body of Christ, which is the holyChurch. If some members of the Church sin and live with evil, they surelyaffect the others. Even though this grieving is hard for us to avoid, Our Ladyfrom her merciful heart asks Jesus Christ to forgive and transform us. Part ofthe Church's prayer "Hail Mary", which goes " Holy Mary, Motherof God, pray for us sinners ..." is the most obvious expression of how OurLady is always there to help us sinners. As we reflect on the sorrows of Our Lady, this shouldremind us not to constantly cause her grief and sadness because we continue tosin anytime in our lives. This is the same as we do not want to constantlycause our own mothers at home sad and grieving because of our bad attitudes andcarelessness.Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us toalways have true and enduring devotion to Mary, our mother who always forgives.Hail Mary, full of grace ... In the name of the Father ...