#WatchAndPray reflections - Holy Week: Maundy Thursday

Mary weeps

Holy Week: Maundy Thursday

Reading

John 19.16b-27

Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”, but, “This man said, I am King of the Jews.” ’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.’ This was to fulfil what the scripture says,
‘They divided my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.’
And that is what the soldiers did.
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

Reflection

Mary weeps. Mary and the women closest to Jesus follow along as Jesus is moved towards Golgotha. This is a painful road – the Via Dolorosa – not only for Jesus, but for his mother too. She stands beneath the cross to the bitter end. Mary has known that this deep pain would come, as prophesied by Simeon when she and Joseph presented their child in the temple (in Luke Chapter 2). The knowledge of his impending death is a burden she has long carried.

Many Black mothers have carried within their souls the truth that their children – especially their sons – were likely to be killed at an early age, or jailed, victims of systemic injustice. They have had to stand by when their children have been crucified by systems of violent racism. They, like Mary, have had simply to abide – clinging to love, enveloped in tears – to the bitter end.

Watch

Become aware of mothers weeping for their children across our violent world.

...and pray

for a worldwide sorrow for the killing of innocents and children.

Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.