Parents and elders who have lost a child in their family might find a special companionship in Jesus—in the loneliness of Jesus—revealed in the Gospel this Sunday.
Mark tells of the isolating loneliness of Jesus as he tries, and fails, to let his close friends and family understand his suffering. Perhaps you have felt something similar.
Jesus and his followers were approaching Jerusalem for the last time and Jesus had a strong intuition—which was really a certainty—that he was coming to a terrible and tragic end. However, even his closest followers could not comprehend the enormity of the burden that pressed down on Jesus. Imagine, if you can, the fear and the sadness that must have weighed on him.
Maybe you can relate to the loneliness, the isolation, and the heaviness, that Jesus must have felt. If you sometimes feel alone, whether in grief or from some other sadness, maybe this Sunday’s Gospel can offer you a unique chance to know Jesus. If you can grasp how your sadness might have something in common with how he too must have felt, it would be good to pause and stay there. And remember, as the first reading from Wisdom tells us, that Jesus carried something else. He had an enduring assurance of his Father’s tender care. However much he may have felt alone, he knew that he was always in the protective company of his Father at every step.
So too for each and everyone of us—the Creator’s spirit is also our constant companion. When you feel most alone in your suffering, you too can find solace in the company of Jesus and of the One who is ever with you, within you, and beside you.
– Fr. Mark Hoelsken, S.J.