Grace and Space

Jn 19:25-27
[or Lk 2:33-35]

Sword: After the Triumph of the Cross, we celebrate “Our Lady of Sorrows” to remind us that the Blessed Mother shared the passion of Jesus for our redemption.
The two gospel readings offered point to the “sword” that pierces Mary’s heart. John’s scene of Mary standing by the cross points to the sorrow of Mary at Calvary. What about the “sword” which Simeon speaks of in Luke? In popular Marian piety, the common interpretation is that of the sword of suffering which passes through Mary’s soul, when the Mater Dolorosa stood by the cross and saw her Son die, pierced with a lance. Scholars, however, doubt if this is the mind of Luke who does not situate Mary underneath the cross. They see the sword more as a “sword of discrimination,” a sword that divides. Simeon prophesies that Mary’s child is destined for the fall and the rise of many in Israel. Jesus will later say that he has come to bring division among families (Lk 12:51-53). The Matthean form of this saying coming from the Quelle (Source) speaks of sword: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword” (Mt 10:34).
Simon’s prophecy is soon fulfilled when the boy Jesus gets lost in the Temple. Mary chides him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety” (Lk 2:48). In the very first words spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, Mary is told that obedience to his Father’s will takes precedence over his ties to his family. Mary will ponder over this, and she herself will submit to the divine will, as she had already done at the Annunciation.