Wonder Struck

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, October 13th, 2024:
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Hebrews
4.12-13​

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And before God no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

As I write this, we’re coming to the end of the month dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. Images of a sorrowful Mary often show her heart pierced with seven swords, each one representing the pains and horrors she faced in her life, as prophesied by Simeon at the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple.

Swords are popular in scripture and Catholic art and iconography, for obvious reasons. Like fire, they are powerful images that can be both terrifying and emboldening. There’s another pretty famous sword-bearer in Mary’s holy alliance, St. Michael the Archangel. In ancient Jewish tradition, he was tasked with guarding Eve. He has been the guardian of the Church since its birth. So for Saint Michael, Mary, as his Queen and Mother of the Church, is probably a pretty high priority.

The two-edged sword mentioned in this reading from Hebrews is also invoked in the Psalms. It is the Word, the second person, Jesus as well as the divine word of Scripture.

“How is it two edged?” asks St. Augustine. “It speaks of things temporal, it speaks also of things eternal. In both cases it proves what it says, and him whom it strikes, it severs from the world…. He severs from you that which hinders you.”

This  word-sword is sharp, but that doesn’t mean it is painful. I think Mary received her first sword at the moment Gabriel the Archangel greeted her. (Michael was probably busy with a very, very upset Satan.) I think this because this is the first moment, Saint Luke tells us, that Mary ponders something in her heart – which makes sense to me, because she has just received within her the Word, two-edged, human and divine, temporal and eternal. “Oof,” I imagine young Mary saying. “There’s something in my womb and in my heart that was not there this morning.” This brings a whole new meaning to the term “wonder struck.” This sword emboldens her to run to the home of her cousin to proclaim the Gospel to Elizabeth, Zechariah and John.

Mary will receive word-swords to carry with her in her heart twice more, and in fairly short order: when the shepherds tell her of the marvels they’ve seen in Bethlehem (angels, again), and when she and Joseph bring the runaway child Jesus home to Nazareth. Each sword arms her for challenges that require extraordinary, angelic strength: the flight to Egypt and the two decades she spends raising and protecting her Messianic son.

When we gaze on an image of Mary’s heart pierced with seven swords, we are seeing an earthly woman at her mightiest. Mary’s swords are not evidence of her woundedness but of her spiritual arsenal, both in life and in her eternal Queenship. Simeon’s prophecy perhaps was not one of woe but of encouragement: the swords of the Word will be with you, Mary, in this life and the next.

Tradition holds that Saint Michael has the privilege of shepherding Mary into Heaven at her Assumption. At last the two-edged sword severs her from what is hindering her, her earthly limitations, and frees her to be Mother to all, our strength in sorrows and our companion in joy.

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​Kate Mosher

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