Alicia (Scheidler) Nagy ’99
Director of Music Ministry Sacred Heart Parish,
ND Parent

After Jesus bequeaths to the beloved apostle the gift of his mother and gives up his spirit, his battered and torn body is lowered from the cross and given to Mary’s waiting arms. Michelangelo sculpted this moment into marble in the Pieta.

Mary again accepts her vocation to hold Jesus and the mysteries of God’s Will, to which she is invited to participate. She held him in the secret of her womb, then as an infant in her arms. She steadied him as he learned to walk and kept holding him with her heart as he followed the roads of his public ministry. With each step along this journey, her capacity to hold Jesus and his mission grew until she was asked to hold the beloved apostle and, with him, all of us, the church.

When sculpting the Pieta, Michaelangelo had to make Mary’s lap enormous to balance the size of Jesus’ dead body. If she were to stand up, she would be a giant. In reflecting on her unique vocation, we can see that spiritually, she has indeed been made so. Her load does not crush her. She trusts and endures with peaceful hope.

Today, we celebrate Mary's memorial as Mother of the Church. As a mother of eight children, I look to Mary to guide me in this vocation of holding, as each of my children brings me their unique daily needs, concerns, complaints, and hopes.

Our eldest son moved many states away with no housing, no guarantee of income, no insurance, and no set return date to follow a lead that might launch his career. Another son navigated a breakup, lost a friend group, and received a rejection letter from his first-choice college. Particularly as my oldest children endure more and more grown-up life challenges, Mary shows me how strong God’s grace can make me, too, as I wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises.