2nd Sorrow of Mary - 3 Concept Self - Catholic Mediation Lessons

[Beatificus]

Soon after the birth of Jesus and the prophecy of Simeon, Mary immediately embarked on her mission to be the Mother of Society. With word from passersby (the ones in the bible known as the 3 kings who were traders of incense and gold) who warned her that families were escaping King Herod's declaration that he wanted all males under the age of 2 to be killed by his soldiers throughout Palestine, Mary's joy quickly turned to fear and sorrow, as this was the first test on her path to spiritual enlightenment. King Herod was given a prophecy of his own; he had a vision that a male child would soon be born who would overthrow his rule of his country. King Herod did not know that his fear of losing power and selfishness was being used as a conduit for other spiritual worlds to try to eliminate spiritual enlightenment by influencing his thoughts and actions. King Herod had also killed his own sons even before Jesus' birth, all driven by his greed for power.

In many testaments and paintings, it is depicted that Mary's escape to Egypt was guided by God and angels, that they provided her refuge by bending palm trees, providing water and necessities to make her journey with Jesus safe and easier. However, their escape was one of hardship and many difficulties. She was constantly plagued with fear and doubt as she realized that this was only the first of many attempts of killing and harming her only child. The journey was through the desert; intense heat, lack of water and food, and roads prone to bandits. She suffered though the journey for almost 14 days.(Because of these types of misinterpretations in writings and artifacts, people think that faith will deliver them for their sufferings, but faith is what allows them to deliver themselves from their own suffering).

When safe in Egypt, she saw that all of the communities were filled with many idols - ranging from humans with beastly bodies or beast heads on human bodies; people worshiping them for incorrect reasons and ideas - to gain power, money, take away their illnesses, imploring for ways to change their fate to make their lives on earth better. They did not realize that their wants were granted at the price of their souls, creating more karma rooted to this earth and not to Heaven. Seeing such idols and lost souls, Mary was again reminded of her mission to nurture society to true enlightenment and to support and encourage Jesus through his own purpose.  After experiencing such a difficult journey, she knew that her faith made it possible for her to overcome her hardships, not take it away or make things easier for her. It made it possible for her to overcome the negative energies of this world so that she can pass on to where she belonged in her true form (Heaven) and to lead others on the same path to spiritual enlightenment along the way.

At this moment, Mary could have made the choice to remain in Egypt, where her child could live safely. However, determined in her faith and her love for people, remembering her purpose, she continued to move from city to city after the dangers of infant genocide had passed, to seek out the most tormented of lost souls and live among them without judgement, but with love. From His Mother's actions, Jesus would soon learn and begin his own purpose. 

From this, we gain this mantra -

Self-awareness, self-fullfillment, selflessness

Self-awareness. Understanding who we are from within, how we react to situations, and do we willingly accept our karma. Understanding that our life has to be that way (sickness, etc.) and using our faith to get through it, to find ways to redirect negative karma into positive karma. We do not deny our given karma from past life mistakes, but accept it and find ways to not make the same mistakes again, which would only perpetuate the negative karma from one life to the next until it has been resolved appropriately. Mother Mary understood and accepted that her life was centered on not only sadness, but pure sorrow; but, from her sorrow she chose to use it as a way to spiritual enlightenment not only for herself but for others.

Self-awareness then leads to Self-fulfillment. The ability to be happy with oneself because of the decisions we make and not focusing on the ideas and praises of others or thinking of gaining earthly things. We simply do the right thing because it makes us feel complete. At this point you no longer rely on humanly behaviors or worldly possessions as something to be proud of, and status on earth (popularity) becomes nothing because it is truly nothing. You are looking to fulfill your soul, not your body, which is a place your soul ultimately does not belong to. Mother Mary sought out opportunities to nurture others and supported Jesus through his own spiritual journey. Rarely do you hear Mother Mary being the center of attention in the Bible; in fact, her involvement is rarely even mentioned in Christian books and paintings after Jesus becomes a man. Even her hardships during Jesus's infancy is covered in the Bible by Joseph. She did her work quietly, touching people's souls without them even noticing it. She suffered quietly, feared quietly, and remained determined on her path of spiritual enlightenment without bringing attention to herself, all because she was fulfilled with her own spiritual completeness although her human form was suffering almost daily.

Then, we attain Selflessness. Our actions through positive self-awareness and self-fulfillment allows us to reach the level of forgetting even oneself; it becomes so routine that we automatically seek out spiritual enrichment and our soul is constantly nurtured. Your body - any physical form - is tied to Earth. It is an encasement that keeps your soul until it has found its true destination. When you are able to look beyond your physical form, beyond this world, you realize that your true form - your soul - can succeed anything and everything. You can be everywhere and nowhere all at once, and you understand that life is impermanent (vo thuong), that all things happen because it needs to happen - it is what it is. When you have reached a high level of mediation, you begin to feel as though your soul has nothing to return to, as it has attained its true form, in which it is aware of everything and nothing at the same time. Mother Mary's ability to detach from her human sufferings is one of the examples of this; it was painful, yes, but her selflessness allowed her to maintain her resolve to continue on her spiritual path.

Self-awareness, self-fulfillment, and selflessness is a part of the path to spiritual enlightenment. Repeating this mantra - self-awareness, self-fulfillment, and selflessness - as a prelude before the Act of Contrition (Sam Hoi) will help you relieve yourself of humanly desires and begin to focus more on a spiritual one. Your soul can then begin to repent for its negative karma as it now understands the goal of attaining spiritual enrichment through those 3 concepts.