Mamma Mary and Emotional Suffering

An excerpt from my journal when I saw this image tonight...

(scroll down to see it! I was praying in the chapel at St. Francis University tonight and saw this beautiful shadow from the crucifix, perfectly reflecting onto the Blessed Mother).

"Mamma... The cross... You're crucified too. Yours was an emotional cross. It's real. Its a cross. You were certainly afraid, but you chose to trust. Fear isn't the sin, it's the lack of trust that is sinful. You were afraid! But you trusted!! The 'Why, God?'; the 'How is this gonna work out?!'; the 'I'm scared, Lord' all went through your head. You cried, I'm sure. You felt. You know what this feels like. <3 Let me suffer well in my sufferings, like you, and unite my cross to yours and to your Son's."

Friends, if there's anything the Lord (and my campus minister...) have been showing me since the beginning of college, it's been that emotions aren't sinful. Being sad, angry, homesick, scared, or anxious isn't a sin. It's how we can sometimes handle it. No one likes feeling any of those things, but please, friend, do not be afraid. You are not bad because you're feeling these things. Jesus is inviting you to surrender to Him more deeply. Let Him hold you. You console His heart when you do this!

This Summer, I became a Marian missionary of Divine Mercy. This picture in this post is, I believe, a beautiful image of what it means to be a Marian Missionary of Divine Mercy. Suffering with our Mamma Mary... simply being with Jesus. Knowing that though sorrow and pain are real and will happen, we need not despair. Jesus continuously holds us and invites us to unite our sufferings to His. In our sorrows, we must simply be with Jesus. Imitate Mary in her trust, even in our moments of emotional suffering.

Simply, Trust.