Mary stood at the Cross. Imperfect love recoils from the pain of the one we love. Perfect love suffers with the beloved.

Our Lord has given Mary to us as our mother so that we might learn from her what he learned from her, how to love.

Mary has a unique and unrepeatable vocation, like all of us. Hers is to be the mother of God. She is Our Lady of Sorrows because her sorrow at the Cross of Christ is the greatest of kind and degree.

Where am I running from my vocation by running from the pain it will cause me? Where am I running from the Cross?

Our Lord is inviting us to learn from his mother, from our mother, what our vocation is, to love through suffering, and to embrace the Cross in our lives for the salvation of the world.