Devotion to Our Lady: My God because you abandoned me

From noon onwards, darkness has spread all over the earth until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock Jesus shouted in a loud voice: "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which means "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?" Matthew 27: 45-46

These words of Jesus must have deeply pierced the heart of our Blessed Mother. He approached him, staring at him with love, adoring his wounded body given for the world, and felt this cry spring from the depths of his being.

"My God, my God ..." It begins. While our Blessed Mother listened to her Son speak to her heavenly Father, she would find great consolation in her knowledge of her intimate relationship with the Father. He knew, better than anyone else, that Jesus and the Father were one. He had heard him speak this way in his public ministry many times and he also knew from his maternal intuition and faith that his Son was the Son of the Father. And before his eyes Jesus was calling him.

But Jesus kept asking: "... why did you abandon me?" The sting in his heart would have been immediate as he sensed the inner suffering of his Son. He knew he suffered much more pain than any bodily injury could inflict. He knew he was experiencing deep inner darkness. His words spoken by the Cross confirmed every maternal concern he had.

While our Blessed Mother meditated on these words of her Son, again and again in her heart, she would have understood that Jesus' inner suffering, his experience of isolation and the spiritual loss of the Father, were a gift for the world. Her perfect faith would lead her to understand that Jesus was entering the experience of sin itself. Although perfect and sinless in every way, he was letting himself be carried away by the human experience that results from sin: separation from the Father. Although Jesus has never been separated from the Father, he entered the human experience of this separation in order to return fallen humanity to the Father of Mercies in Heaven.

As we meditate on this cry of pain that comes from our Lord, we must all try to experience it as ours. Our cry, unlike our Lord, is the result of our sins. When we sin, we turn to ourselves and enter isolation and despair. Jesus came to destroy these effects and to restore us to the Father in heaven.

Reflect today on the deep love that our Lord had for all of us as he was willing to experience the consequences of our sins. Our Blessed Mother, like the most perfect mother, was with her Son at every step, sharing her inner pain and suffering. He felt what he felt and it was his love, more than anything else, that expressed and supported the constant and unshakable presence of Heavenly Father. The love of the Father was manifested through his heart as he looked lovingly at his suffering Son.

My loving Mother, your heart has been pierced by pain while you have shared the internal suffering of your Son. Her cry of abandonment was what expressed her perfect love. His words revealed that he was entering into the effects of sin itself and allowing His human nature to experience and redeem it.

Dear Mother, stand by me while through life and feel the effects of my sin. Even though your son was perfect, I am not. My sin leaves me isolated and sad. May your maternal presence in my life always remind me that the Father never leaves me and always invites me to turn to His merciful Heart.

My abandoned Lord, you have entered the greatest agony that a human can enter. You allowed yourself to experience the effects of my own sin. Give me the grace to turn to your Father every time I sin in order to deserve the adoption conquered for me by your Cross.

Mother Maria, pray for me. Jesus I believe in you.