And what creature knows the meaning of suffering better than Mary, His Mother? "And because of Our Lady God fell in love with humanity."
Mary stood at the foot of the cross on Calvary and saw her Son breathe forth his human life as an oblation to God the Father for the sins of mankind. She is the tender, loving Mother of Mercy. Because she herself knew every sorrow except sin, she knows the philosophy of the Cross, which is that to suffer is to live not only here, but hereafter. We too must go through a refining process if we are to possess God for all eternity. As St. Paul says, we must lose our life to save it; we must crucify our body and bring it into submission; we must die to the things of this world if we are to enjoy the fullness of life hereafter. The Cross is ever with us; but in Mary we have the eternal cross-bearer. When the Angel told her that she had been chosen by God, she foresaw the trials, the burdens, the sacrifices, the sorrows that awaited her. Yet she confidently placed herself in God's hands, and accepted her mission as co-redemptrix of mankind with the words: "Be it done to me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38).
Now, in order to bring the body into subjection so that the soul may enjoy the glorified life for all eternity, we must practice penance and mortification; which is just another way of saying that the cross is always with us. From the natural point of view, this is a hard saying. Being human, we instinctively shrink from pain, and even discomfort. It is not easy to accept the cross. Indeed, who can accept it without the help of Mary, who bore her cross so nobly? For a moment let us contrast the philosophy of the cross with the philosophy of the world.
A characteristic of the philosophy of the world is that being agnostic—that is, not-knowing—it has neither vision nor retrospection. Indeed, both must be alien to it, because by its nature the philosophy of the world is of the present, and of the present only. It recognizes no spiritual origins, and hence can have no destination beyond the limits of this world's horizons. According to this philosophy, life has only a material purpose; and since there is no spiritual end, those who live by it have no choice but to be of the earth, earthy; and to pervert the natural order and use earthly means as ends in themselves.
Consider today's cult of sun-worshippers. Perhaps they
