The third word of Jesus from the cross: "Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother."

What tortured thoughts and feeling passed through Mary’s mind as she saw her son in such agony. After his last word to the repentant thief, sometime has past. Now Mary sees him struggling to take his next breath, suffering to do so in order to speak his next words. Little did she know they would be for her.

Mary’s emotional anguish mirrored Jesus’ physical anguish, and his compassion moved him outside his pain to do something for her. Even while he hangs dying, Jesus concerns himself not with his own needs but those of his mother.

Father Cantalamessa has said: “When Jesus said, ‘Behold, your mother’ and ‘Behold, your son’, Jesus made Mary John’s mother and John Mary’s son. He didn’t just proclaim Mary’s new maternity, he instituted it. It doesn’t, therefore come from Mary but from God’s Word; it is not founded on merit but on grace.”  Take some time today to stand with Mary and John at the cross and reflect on these words.