This article is part of the Marian Mondays Series, a weekly reflection on the mysteries of the rosary by Jonathan Conrad, owner and founder of The Catholic Woodworker.
When I opened my Bible to read the crucifixion passage from the Gospel of John for today’s reflection, my first thought was, “Who am I to provide any sort of meaningful perspective on the Crucifixion?”
It was a painful and discouraging thought—and one I struggle with often when approaching prayer or scripture. Even so, I reminded myself to dismiss these thoughts and feelings because I didn’t want to let them stop me from moving forward in prayer.
Maybe you struggle with these kinds of thoughts or feelings too; especially when picking up the rosary to pray. If you do, I want you to know that you’re not alone in feeling this way. You can let the thoughts in and then let them go because they do not have a permanent place in your heart or mind. You came to prayer not to be met with discouragement but to grow in faith, even if and when it might feel new, hard, or challenging to do so.
When I let those thoughts pass and finally turned to scripture, this moment between Jesus, Mary, and John stood out to me:
“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:26-27)
In my Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, the passage was paired with this illuminating footnote:
“Jesus honors his Mother by entrusting her to the protective care of the Apostle John, presumably because Mary had no other children to assume the responsibility. John is not just an individual disciple, he is portrayed by the evangelist as an icon of every disciple whom Jesus loves. In this sense, Mary is given to all beloved disciples of Christ, just as every disciple is given to the maternal care of Mary. The assumption here is that family relations are extended beyond the limits of natural lineage, so that every baptized believer has God as a Father, Christ as an eldest brother, Mary as a Mother, and the saints as brothers and sisters.”
Reading this was comforting and reassuring for me, especially knowing that at this point Jesus is on the cross dying and barely able to speak. Yet this message was so important that He mustered up the strength to say it out loud: that we have an advocate in Mary, our mother and Queen.
Moments like this remind me why I love the rosary so much—because when we pray the rosary, we’re going to Mary, our advocate, and asking for her to intercede for us on behalf of her Son.
We bring her our prayers, intentions, hopes, dreams, trials, struggles, and sufferings because this life is difficult. And our Holy Mother wants to help us persevere to the end. She is here to help us live out our call as baptized Christians to offer our lives as a total gift of self to the Lord.
And this total gift of self is not complete until our life is over. Until then, we have work to do; beautiful work that’s been set apart and prepared for us for God’s glory and our own sanctification.
So as we remember Jesus’s Crucifixion, we’re reminded of that call to die to self. We’re reminded of the example that Christ set for us. And we’re reminded that He gave us his mother as our greatest advocate so that we might not fall victim to discouragement and despair, but so we may persevere in Christ who has already won victory over death.
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