​Do This in Memory of Me: Weeping at the foot of the Cross

By: Laura Worhacz

"Do thou be their mother, O thou strong one. Love them even as thou hast loved Me, as I have loved them. It was through love for them that My Heavenly Father made thee My Mother. It is for them that I am giving My Blood and My life. I love them more than Myself, and I transfer to them all the claims that I have to thy maternal love. Whatever thou dost for them, will be done for Me. I confide to thee the fruits of My Redemption, the salvation of mankind."   (Eymard Library, Volume 7 Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Page 95)
 
Dearest Eucharistic Family,

We are in the third week of our Lenten journey wondering with you if we are receiving all that Jesus has for us in His many gifts of the Eucharist. One of my favorite movies is Lone Survivor. If we get past all the language to the heart of this true story we find the reality of hatred and love, of war and peace. There are so many emotions in witnessing war, so many thanks to give to our service men offering their lives for our beautiful country. Michael Murphy is the main character in the movie. Michael grew up close to my hometown on Long Island, where a monument stands in his honor and it is very real for me to image his life growing up. For me the saddest part of the movie, truly the scene that pierced my heart, is when Michael Murphy’s father finds out his son was killed and throws his Rosary beads in the garbage. Tears fled from my eyes identifying with this man’s pain. We are weeping at the foot of the cross for the sin that still exits through our disobedience and the choice to do evil.
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Most of you are aware that I have published a Consecration book to Jesus through Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. My very favorite part of the meditations, rooted in Saint Peter Julian Eymard’s library, is his reference to Mary as “O thou strong one”.  We are reminded in the above excerpt that Jesus has given us His Blood, His life, and that the fruit of His Redemption that we receive is “Salvation”. Salvation remains with us on the Altar of the Lord where every consecration of the host transforms into the Body and Blood of our Savior.  God is with us, alive and lamenting with us in our pains. The greatest gift Jesus has given us after His very life is His Mother. He offered Mary to us at the foot of the Cross so she can accompany us. Mary, in the likeness of Jesus, is the strong one. She is the one who absorbed all of the ignorance of humanity with her Son. She wept at the foot of the cross and she experienced death at the foot of the cross. Mary’s life was in Heaven, where the love she offered was waiting in Its fullness.

We are awaiting the celebration of EASTER and it is there where we remember what St. Paul hopes we find, “And if Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty too, your faith.” (1 Cor 15:14).  Weeping at the foot of the Cross in the hope that exists in the God of the Eucharist. We cling to the “Strong One” offering our Rosaries for all who have lost hope through the pains of their earthly pilgrimage. May our faith not be in vain but in the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, in Jesus. 
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