a mother's wounded soul
Early in Luke's Gospel, blessed Mary, the mother of God, receives a shocking prophecy from Simeon in the Temple: "...a sword will pierce your own soul, too." (Luke 2:35) The Greek word for soul is where we get the English word psyche. Simeon foretells that Mary's psyche/soul will be pierced by the death of her child, Jesus. This past Mothers' Day, as we celebrated mothers, I was deeply aware of all the mothers and all parents who have lost children. The pain from the death of a child can drive a person insane: a wounded psyche, a wounded soul. Simeon shares an ancient wisdom that too many mothers have faced; to experience the death of a child is soul piercing. It overturns the expected order of life, and it takes intentional soul work to take the steps toward healing. In my 8 short years of being a priest, I feel like I have already known too many mothers who have lost their babies. The first time was while I was still in seminary, and that already seemed like