Praying at the Cross

Reading the account of Jesus' crucifixion, something different caught my attention this time: the women, watching at a distance - Mary his mother, Mary Magdalene, and the mother of James and John.

I found myself wondering: how did they pray, as they stood there? And, more generally - how is it possible for us to pray for those who suffer, especially when we witness that suffering? What words can we possibly find to express the impotent anguish we feel? 

Perhaps there are no words - just a jumble of tears and shudders and sobs. And the desperate sense that this is so wrong, and so needs to be put right, somehow, right now.

You will probably have your own experience of something like this - struggling to pray in a time of great hardship. And today, as we picture Jesus on the cross, we can hold in our prayers - with or without words - all who suffer pain, all who feel abandoned as he did, and those who watch and wait with them. May God give them comfort and hope in their time of need.