Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Imagine being Mary, perhaps thinking the most confusing parts are over: she’s said yes to the Lord, things are resolved with Joseph, she’s had the baby, and he’s healthy. Maybe now, life can return to normal. So she and Joseph take the forty-day-old Jesus to the 
temple as the rules of their faith require, bringing a pair of turtledoves since they aren’t wealthy enough to sacrifice a lamb (ah, the symbolism).
But she quickly finds that life will never return to normal. Simeon gives a prophecy that she will be pierced by a sword “so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Consider what your own reaction might be to that prophecy. What does he mean? When will it happen? And how can such a piercing reveal the thoughts of many hearts?
One wonders about Mary’s reaction. Perhaps, from time to time, she pondered Simeon’s words late at night, when Joseph and the baby were asleep. Perhaps she wondered, “Why me?” as we do so often when our lives seem to be beset by confusion and lacking clear direction from the Lord.
Or perhaps she was so confident in God and His presence that this was simply another turn in the road. And perhaps, despite her sorrow and pain at Calvary, that confidence stayed with her every moment in the years to come. Truly, her model of faith amid uncertainty and tragedy, especially on the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, is one we can emulate, with heavenly support.
