The Third Beatitude - Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Merriam-Webster defines ‘mourn’ as, “To feel or express grief or sorrow.” The motive for mourning in this Beatitude is “not to be drawn from the miseries of a life of poverty, abjection, and subjection, which are the very blessings…, but rather from those miseries from which the pious man is suffering in himself and in others, and most of all the tremendous might of evil throughout the world.” 1
Reverend Ahern teaches that mourning can best be illustrated through the life of St. Margaret Mary. “She was to seek a special happiness in convent life through mourning for sins and outrages committed against the Sacred Heart of Jesus and person by so many ungrateful men.”2
Margaret Mary “found happiness through mourning for the sins of others.”2 And like Margaret Mary, a mourning soul is a victim soul who continue Jesus’ life upon earth, choosing to receive the flames of His heart for the sake of His most precious blood. Asking for sanctity of souls, these souls desire to be nailed, with Jesus, to the Cross, for suffering and reparation. These souls desire to soothe the pain which the creatures give Jesus with their sins; to console Jesus and draw souls to Him, to repair for their sins.
To mourn, in the vocation of wife and mother, is to desire to repair for our sins and those of our brothers and sisters in Christ. First it is important to realize why a soul would choose to mourn in this way.
There is such grace that flows into a soul who is open to receive it, who, for love of God, works avoid offending Him through sin. The peace and joy of surrender into His loving arms brings such delight to a soul and when a soul lives in this privileged state, it desires nothing more than for all souls to share in this paradise. To see other souls, that also offend God or don’t know Him, causes mourning; mourning for the soul that is not at peace, separated from Him. This is true pain, indeed. For each soul desires this peace and joy without the full understanding of how to realize it. For offenses we commit against Jesus, we willingly take on the suffering of Jesus, that we and other souls may be drawn closer to Him. We do this to repair for sins and offenses against Him. In order for us to enjoy this type of relationship with Jesus, we need only ask forgiveness from Jesus, ask Him to help us love Him more, and obey His Will for us in our lives.
As a wife and mother, we have much opportunity for suffering, and we need not look far to find it. We can unite the suffering we endure with Christ Crucified in our own home, be it a round of the flu, poor decisions made by our children, financial stress, etc. Through these opportunities, we can choose to accept this suffering for the misgivings of ourselves and our brothers and sisters, to join it with Jesus’ sacrifice at the Holy Mass. Carolyn King calls this the “great exchange.”
Luisa Piccaretta, in The Twenty-Four Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ illustrates this beautifully in conversation with Jesus:
I will give you the drops of my blood to atone and make up the honor and regard that your enemies deny you with their insults and offenses… When I suffer sorrows, pains and bitternesses, then pour out Your justice upon me, O Jesus, and take the satisfaction You want. But may the sinner be saved. O Jesus; may my pains be the bond which binds You and the sinner; and may my soul receive the consolation of seeing your Justice satisfied.” 11
“My beloved Good, You suffer greatly for the loss of souls, and for compassion, I place my being at your disposal. I will take your pains and the pains of the sinners upon yourself, leaving You relieved, and the sinner clinging to you. 11
Jesus made satisfaction for our sins on the cross, He suffered that we may be saved. We can cooperate with Him, for the love of souls. The saints understood this, and when we choose to mourn in this way, we can be like St. Margaret Mary who was “never unhappy, for she saw no contradiction between pain or suffering and happiness.”
Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation. - St. Augustine
Sources –
1. Newadvent.org
2. Eight Happy People, Reverend John J. Ahern
3. Etymonline.com
6. Happy are you Poor, Dubay
7. Volume 6, Direction for Our Times – Anne the Lay Apostle
8. Courageous Virtue, Stacy Mitch (A Bible Study on Moral Excellence For Women)
9. Catholic.org
11. The Twenty-Four Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ – Luisa Piccaretta
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