Jesus told the crowds, “Blessed are you who mourn, for you will be comforted.”
Do we not all mourn with our brothers and sisters when there is suffering? We mourn because of the miseries of poverty, oppression and depression within ourselves and in others. But the pious person mourns most of all from the tremendous might of evil over our lives and throughout the world.
Yet we bear the sorrow for the sake of the Cross with our hope firmly in the Lord, seeking consolation from Him and the promises of the resurrection.
The Blessed Mother knew mourning as she accompanied Christ on His journey. She embraced the sorrows of her life and the tremendous sorrow of the Cross, comforted by her faith that God’s will was being accomplished and it was all for a greater good.
St. Francisco was constantly aware of the sorrows of others. Once when a woman asked him to pray for her son, he knelt before her with all humility, took out his rosary and prayed with her. He entered into her sorrow, not able to relieve her misery, but firm in his faith that God could. He accompanied her in her mourning, restoring her hope and peace in God. And God comforted her soul.
St. Francisco was always aware of the great sorrow of Mary and Jesus due to man’s rejection of God. He mourned for them, seeking to console them with his own heart, despite his own miseries on earth.
Ask St. Francisco to accompany you in your mourning, for he can now draw down God’s comfort from his eternal home in heaven.
