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Mary’s Participation in the Cross, by Aaron Kheriaty, MD – Brown Pelican Society of Lousiana

Mary’s Participation in the Cross, by Aaron Kheriaty, MD

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Christ on the Cross with the Magdalen, the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist Eustache Le Sueur (1616–1655) The National Gallery, London

By Aaron Kheriaty, MD, Catholic Exchange, April 11, 2025

Author’s Note: This is Part 6 in a weekly Lenten series on the Christian meaning of suffering and the Cross of Christ. All other articles of the series can be read here.

Aaron Kheriaty, MD, is a practicing psychiatrist and Director of the Bioethics and American Democracy Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Dr. Kheriaty graduated from the University of Notre Dame in philosophy and pre-medical sciences, and earned his MD degree from Georgetown University. He is the author of several books and articles for professional and lay audiences, and he lectures regularly on topics related to psychiatry, social science, bioethics, and spirituality.

Avatar photoIn this series I have introduced the prayer, doce me passionem Tuam—teach me Your suffering—a simple aspiration we can pray many times a day. I also offered some suggestions on preparing during Lent for a Consecration to the Most Holy Cross of Jesus on Good Friday, which I will publish here during Holy Week. Today I would like to reflect on Mary’s participation in the Cross of Christ as a model for how each of us can more fully enter into Christ’s suffering, and in doing so, grow in union with Him.

As a psychiatrist, I have learned that one of the most difficult forms of suffering we encounter is the helpless experience of seeing a loved one suffer. Mary watched her Son suffer His Passion without being able to prevent that unspeakable horror. Despite her elevated status as the Mother of God, Our Lady was not spared suffering. But rather than begrudgingly enduring it, she embraced it for love of her Son. …

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