She, like so many mothers who pray to her for perseverance, may be honored for her undying love and faithfulness.
My son became very ill several times in his life. Once, when he was seven, and we had no insurance in the States, he was suffering from acute pneumonia.
I could see that he was slipping away and for days I held his little self in my arms all night so he could breath.
Finally, in the middle of the night, I knew instinctively that if I could not get a doctor to prescribe him an antibiotic, he would die. The hospital refused to see us, as we had no insurance. I took my phone and began phoning doctors in the Yellow Pages, A...B...and so on.
In the Bs, a doctor answered. I told him the situation and he said he could not order a prescription as he did not know me and I had no insurance. I replied, strongly, "If this child dies, his life is on your head."
And, the doctor said, "OK, OK, what pharmacy is closest to you?"
Friends picked up the strong antibiotic, and my son got through the night, as I held him upright to enable him to breath properly. I bless that doctor today. Sometimes being a mom takes courage.
How many mothers had to sacrifice nights and days by the side of sick children? How many mothers denied themselves things and comforts for their children? This type of behavior is normal for good moms.
Today, let us honor mothers who suffered for us. Let us honor Mary who suffered for us. Mary could not interfere or stop the suffering of her son. She could only share in that suffering.
From Newman...
Mary is the "Turris Eburnea," the Ivory Tower
A TOWER is a fabric which rises higher and more conspicuous than other objects in its neighbourhood. Thus, when we say a man "towers" over his fellows, we mean to signify that they look small in comparison of him.
This quality of greatness is instanced in the Blessed Virgin. Though she suffered more keen and intimate anguish at our Lord's Passion and Crucifixion than any of the Apostles by reason of her being His Mother, yet consider how much more noble she was amid her deep distress than they were. When our Lord underwent His agony, they slept for sorrow. They could not wrestle with their deep disappointment and despondency; they could not master it; it confused, numbed, and overcame their senses. And soon after, when St. Peter was asked by bystanders whether he was not one of our Lord's disciples, he denied it.
Nor was he alone in this cowardice. The Apostles, one and all, forsook our Lord and fled, though St. John returned. Nay, still further, they even lost faith in Him, and thought all the great expectations which He had raised in them had ended in a failure. How different this even from the brave conduct of St. Mary Magdalen! and still more from that of the Virgin Mother! It is expressly noted of her that shestood by the Cross. She did not grovel in the dust, but stood upright to receive the blows, the stabs, which the long Passion of her Son inflicted upon her every moment.
In this magnanimity and generosity in suffering she is, as compared with the Apostles, fitly imaged as a Tower. But towers, it may be said, are huge, rough, heavy, obtrusive, graceless structures, for the purposes of war, not of peace; with nothing of the beautifulness, refinement, and finish which are conspicuous in Mary. It is true: therefore she is called the Tower of Ivory, to suggest to us, by the brightness, purity, and exquisiteness of that material, how transcendent is the loveliness and the gentleness of the Mother of God.
