Digital Edition
Mother of sorrows
03
May
May
Learn to take your troubles to the Black Madonna
The Black Madonna stays present with us through times of distress.
In 2003, when I was 33 years old, my mother died. Her body became overwhelmed quite suddenly by infection because of years of use of prednisone to treat the terrible pain and disability her rheumatoid arthritis caused her.
I was very close with my mother. I considered her to be one of my best friends. Her death was sudden. It was wrenching. It was excruciating. I came undone in my grief for many months.
Many people tried to offer comfort and wisdom. Most often the words they spoke felt trite and meaningless under the weight of my mourning. But there were some whose words sparked something in my heart. A new opening. One such gift of wisdom offered was an invitation in the midst of my loss to reimagine my relationship to my mother, and indeed “Mother” as an archetype. Since she was no longer on the physical, tangible plane, I could only reach out to her through the veil that separates us from our ancestors and the communion of saints.