Today the church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Mary who stood at the foot of the cross, looking on as the son she bore and cradled, the young boy she searched desperately for when he was lost, the young man she called to ministry at the wedding in Cana, as this God/man who was also her child died a violent death in and for love … She knows love. She knows sorrow.

It is good to pray with Mary, to bring the sorrows of our lives and the sorrows of our world to her. She who know love. She who knows sorrow.

And sorrows abound. Who is not moved by the wave upon wave of desperate people fleeing violence and war, entire families seeking safety on foot just as the Holy Family did 2,000+ years ago. Indeed, Mary knows.

Who is not moved by the sorrows of embedded structural racism, ever increasing income inequality, exploitation, violence and oppression?

There is so much sorrow, it can be overwhelming. Yet Mary knows. Mary prays. Mary is with us.

My own mother had a very special relationship with Mary. It was a quiet and personal relationship, but I know my mother drew strength from her.

And so today, touching the sorrows of our wounded world, I pray on this feast day with Mary as one who know sorrow, as one who knows love.

Pray for us woman of hope, holy mother, queen of peace.