"Mother, I Make All Things New"

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, (for) the old order has passed away. The one who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Then he said, "Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true." Revelation 21:4-5

My 14 year old, 6'2", Captain of the Football Team, son Vince asked if one of his good buddies could come over, after Lacrosse practice this morning, and spend the night. This friend is a super kid and my son has been on the receiving end of heaps of kindness and hospitality from his family, so even though it was Good Friday, I quickly said, yes.

For years, Vince and I have said the rosary, and contemplated The Sorrowful Mysteries, at 3:00 on Good Friday. This year his friend ("Yes that is the kind of young man he is.") joined us. As we recited the Hail Mary's, my mind focused on the Blessed Virgin, not as some unreachable Saint, but as one mother to another. My eyes filled with tears as I looked at my own beloved son, and a boy I'd be proud to call my own, and I felt Mary's pain so acutely.

For the past five years, we've added watching The Passion of the Christ movie to our Good Friday traditions. Vince was a little worried about his friend watching the movie with us. He said, it wasn't because of the realistic depiction of the suffering and death of Jesus, but he was afraid of how his friend would react to my loud weeping!

In the movie Mary flashes back on Jesus falling as a child, and we see her running to Him; holding and loving her son. Then we watch, as our Savior, bloodied and bruised, falls with the cross, and she is reaching out, once again, to her little boy as the man looks into her eyes and says, "Mother, I make all things new."

These words touch the very part of me that is Christ and I weep with pain and awed gratitude each time I hear them.* He suffered and died; His mother watched.

The three main tenets of the weight loss group Pray It Off are Eat Less, Move More and Pray. The praying aspect doesn't just include conventional prayers - it means actively turning our lives over (the good, the bad and the ugly) to a God who loves us enough to die so that we can be made new.

I know Vince's friend will understand if this thought, trustworthy and true, is enough to make me wail.

*Biblically these words are documented only in Revelation, but I have no trouble believing He could have said them on the way to His death and even if He didn't, they are still true.




Photo: http://itsmypulp.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/passion-of-the-christ.jpg