Blessed Are They Who Mourn, for They Will Be Comforted
February 23, 2021
For Lent this year, we have asked eight sisters and associates to reflect on the Beatitudes and offer ways in which we may embrace these blessings in our own Lenten journeys. There will be additional reflections published for Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Easter.
By Sister Diane Swanson
Inevitably, we all feel the pain of loss. Disease, old age, death. Anger, hurt, betrayal. Separation, the unfamiliar. We become frightened, anxious.
I think of Luke 2:41–51: “Each year, Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover, and when Jesus was 12 years old, they went up according to the custom. After they completed its days, as they were returning, Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it. After three days of searching, they found him in the temple. ‘Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety. …’” The passage ends, “His mother kept all these things in her heart.”

I believe Jesus did, too. I believe Mary and Joseph must have shared with Jesus their journey to Bethlehem, some of the circumstances surrounding his birth, the need to travel to Egypt, their fear when they thought they had lost him.
Jesus experienced the depth and fullness of human emotion. He understood their fear and anxiety.
What can be learned from fear and anxiety?
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