As I sat pondering the Sorrowful Mysteries, a question bubbled up in my chest: Mom, what does His love look like?  How did you endure it?  

And she spoke to me sweetly throughout my time of pondering.  She led me through the Passion of Jesus, showing me what Love looks like.  I will share the fruits I gathered from this meditation.

In the Agony of the Garden…

In the very first moments of the garden, Love looked like agony.  Love looked like expiation, knowing the Son would have to leave His Mother and closest friends, knowing He would endure the separation from the Heart of God.  Still, He loved until the end.

In the Scourging at the Pillar…

During the scourging, Love looked like blood poured out and flesh torn apart.  Love looked like the Mother silently enduring every wound inflicted upon the body of her Son.  Love looked like an intimate gaze between Mother and Son, disrupted by suffering and drops of blood, yet unremoved all the same.  

Mary is the only one who saw the true dignity of Jesus all the way through—knowing Him to be in control, knowing this to be the Will of God.  She never turned away plagued by sorrow, she never fled or denied her one Love, she never gazed on Him with a look of mockery or disgust.  The whole way through, she loved with a pure, steady, knowing gaze.  And this consoled: she was the angel of Light, ministering to His every need through her faithful Love.

In the Crowning of Thorns…

As He is crowned with thorns, He endures undeniable pain: clothing is ripped from His wounded skin, reopening it to bleed profusely.  Tender, broken flesh is forced into a wooden throne, only to be spat upon and ridiculed.  And yet, the Silent Sufferer sat undisturbed.  

And perhaps, He took refuge in the Heart of His Mother, where He was enthroned and dearly loved.  In her heart, He is crowned with roses and held in her loving arms, swaddled gently and laid to rest on a bed of hay.  There He is loved and honored—there He has a home.  Her gaze reminds Him that He has a place to rest in her Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart.

In the Carrying of the Cross…

Carrying the Cross, Jesus does it with a deep Love.  He is in pain.  I am not led to meditate on Him, but on His Mother, who walks alongside Him.  She walks the same path but a block over, so that she is not seen, for she understands He must do this on His own.  As she walks, each alley she passes, she sees her Son and the two gaze across the divide, healed by the others love.  As Mary walks, she prays the psalms and speaks to the Father.  It is by her constant mental prayer that Simon and Veronica come to His aid.

In the Crucifixion…

In the moment of Crucifixion, He has given Himself totally.  Now laid upon His wooden throne, He must surrender the Heart of His Mother.  He gives away His final consolation: her Immaculate Heart.  And now, He hangs with nowhere to rest His Head except upon the wood of the Cross.  Breathing slowly, He loves until the end.

How faithful and passionate and selfless is the Love of Jesus.