Lenten remembrance of Mary, Mother of Jesus

MANILA, Philippines - Of the many fascinating movies for the Lenten Season that have been shown in my adult years (Jesus Christ Superstar in 1973, Jesus of Nazareth in 1977 — bracketing my college years, The Passion of the Christ in 2004 and Son of God this year), one stands out: Mary, Mother of Jesus, a 1999 made-for-television Biblical film, because it retells the story of Jesus through the eyes of Mary, his mother. It stars Swedish actresses Pernilla August and Melinda Kinnaman as Mary, and British actors David Threlfall as Joseph and Christian Bale (more popular as Batman) as Jesus.

The film, produced by Eunice Kennedy Shriver and aired on NBC, underscores Mary’s importance in Jesus’ life, from cradle to crucifixion. It even suggests that His parables were inspired by stories she told Him in His childhood, and takes dramatic license in His private meeting with her after the resurrection. Scripture scholars might find these apocryphal, but for mothers, they are just logical. The movie closes with Mary doing what mothers do best, advocating for their children, suggesting the disciples should start preaching about her son.

I was a mother of three young boys when I visited the Romanesque Baroque Church of the Holy Sepulcher, within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem in 2000. This is the first among the early Christian shrines (called Golgotha, the Hills of Calvary), which, according to folk belief, is where Jesus was crucified and buried. The resurrection has been celebrated there for many centuries as the most sacred place in all of Christendom. Standing here, I imagined Mary, watching her only son die right before her eyes, and one can only marvel at the fortitude of this woman from Nazareth, who, according to the Jewish tradition of her time, bore her son when she was still a very young girl.

A few steps from the site of the crucifixion is the Chapel of the Nailing of the Cross (11th station of the cross), on the left of which, towards the Eastern Orthodox Chapel, there is a statue of Mary, believed to be working wonders (the 13th station of the cross, where Jesus’ body was removed from the cross and given to his family — His mother and His beloved apostle, John, as His adoptive father, Joseph had long passed on even before He began His public ministry).

At the time of my pilgrimage (part of a scholarship at the Golda Meir Mt. Carmel Center), I could not fathom the depth of agony suffered by this woman, embracing the lifeless body of her son, after having gone through the via crucis, mocked and mauled by the Roman centurions and reviled by his fellow Jews. My farthest approximation came later, when my eldest son’s heart broke over the loss of a girl; when my middle son came home with thighs black and blue from a fraternity hazing during his first years in Law school; and when my youngest son had to be taken by classmates to the hospital. The suffering of one’s own children is something one would not wish on one’s worst enemy. But Mary endured the slow agonizing death of her son and wept quietly until she could hold His battered body for burial, a harrowing scene captured in Carrara marble by the Italian genius, Michelangelo Buonarroti Simoni in Pieta, a masterpiece which we also took our sons to see at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

Later, when our sons were grown, my husband and I took them to the place where Mary spent her remaining years on Earth — Ephesus, Turkey. In this pilgrimage (segment of our family’s Mediterranean tour), we wanted them to know that before Jesus died, He did what a dutiful son was obligated to do — make sure that His mother will not be left to fend on her own. I remembered what the tour guide in Israel, octogenarian Mary reminded: That Jesus was a good Jew when He was here on Earth, so He knew that a widow like Mary would be miserable, now that her only son has also departed from this world, and must find someone to take care of her.

The House of the Virgin Mary (Turkish: Meryem ana or Meryem Ana Evi, “Mother Mary’s House”) is a shrine located on Mt. Koressos where St. John attended to her like his own mother while he preached in this part of Asia Minor, until her Assumption (according to Catholic Doctrine) or Dormition (according to Orthodox belief). The Roman Catholic Church has yet to pronounce on the authenticity of the house, for lack of scientifically acceptable evidence, but has taken a positive stance towards the site in 1951.

Our tour guide, a high school teacher named Tevye, gladly announced that Christians and Muslims alike celebrate Aug. 15, the Feast of the Assumption, as a special day in Ephesus, ever since the beginning of time, but specially so when Mary’s House was elevated to the status of a Holy Place by Pope Pius XII. Looking down at the well where Mary could have drawn water for cooking, I could only commiserate with her thwarted longing to see her son get married and sire his own children, her would-be grandchildren.

St. John of Damascus wrote of Mary: From her we have harvested the grape of life; from her we have cultivated the seed of immortality. For our sake she became Mediatrix of all blessings; in her God became man, and man became God. This Lent, let us not forget Mary, and pray for all women whose noble mission in life is to love their children unconditionally through their passion and penitence, as only mothers can.