I first experienced the living presence of Mary in Jerusalem. While there on a study tour, I slipped into a chapel one day, seeking a few moments of reflective solitude. I found myself drawn to a gentle, lovely image of Mary over a side altar. As I enjoyed her beauty, I realized that she was becoming real to me as never before. While I had known Mary since childhood as a biblical and historical figure, now it was as if I were meeting her for the first time as a vibrant human being.

In particular, it was the sorrowful Mary who came alive for me as I sat only blocks away from Golgotha. The vulnerability of her suffering opened her humanity to me. I thought of the horror of watching helplessly as her son died a violent, shameful death, hung high on a cross. All the suffering of humanity throughout history, including my own, seemed enveloped in her sorrow at the foot of the cross. I felt at peace, at home with her in the corner of that chapel.

Jesus knew the need for companions in suffering. In a strik¬ing moment of compassion in the midst of his agony on the cross, he entrusts his mother and his beloved friend to one another as a new family from that moment forward. He invites us, too, into this family as members of the Body of Christ, entrusting us to one another and to his mother, Mary. We find in her a companion in our sorrows and a model to follow by sharing our gifts as we stand in solidarity with others, most especially in their times of suffering, sorrow, and grief.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Baker, PhD, is associate professor of patristics at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology and co-founder of Women of the Church, a Catholic leadership forum.

Kimberly Baker, from the September 2026 issue of Give Us This Day giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2026). Used with permission.