Behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begins.
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day
On Monday night, the first day of the Republican Convention in Ohio, revelations by the mother of Sean Smith, one of four Americans killed in Benghazi, brought me to tears. American Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty pled for help from the U.S. government to no avail. “All security had been pulled from the embassy, Patricia Smith said. “Nobody seemed to listen, nobody seemed to care. . . .The last time I talked to Sean, the night before the terrorist attack, he told me, ‘Mom, I am going to die.’ ”
What a tragic betrayal! A current story, one of many, where the life of a child is snatched from his/her mother; and yet, the mother courageously goes on to make sure that her child did not live in vain.
* * *
A mother–every mother–is forever bound to her child. At one time or another, she will experience sorrow.
Sorrow. Maybe because of what her child does.
Sorrow. Maybe because of what is done to her child.
My heart aches for all mothers who have lost precious sons and daughters.
What can a mother do with her sorrow? What good can come from it?
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. –Luke 2:19
THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY
1.The Agony in the Garden. Fruit of the Mystery: Sorrow for Sin, Uniformity with the will of God
2.The Scourging at the Pillar. Fruit of the Mystery: Mortification, Purity
3.The Crowning with Thorns. Fruit of the Mystery: Contempt of the world, Courage
4.The Carrying of the Cross. Fruit of the Mystery: Patience
5.The Crucifixion and Death of our Lord. Fruit of the Mystery: Salvation, Forgiveness
Translating a World on the Edge 