Good Morning All,
Our Lenten devotional today is written by Meghan Trahant. Meghan is an Assistant Professor in Harris College of Nursing. During football season, you will find her cheering on the Frogs, though her TCU pride extends far beyond game day. She has been a nurse for 27 years and has deep TCU roots. As a TCU alum, she finds special meaning in educating and mentoring the next generation of nurses at her alma mater. During her freshman year, she met her future husband and they share 3 children. In a full-circle moment, their oldest child will begin attending TCU next year! May her reflection on Mary today challenge us to find our own inner strength and encourage us to stay present. –Rev. Lea McCracken, Associate Chaplain
Scripture: John 19:25
“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother…”
Few roles in life compare with the honor of being both a mother and a nurse. As a child, I felt a strong calling to live out both. Through my years of bedside nursing practice, I have witnessed much agony and suffering, but even more moments of extraordinary compassion and tenderness. Caring for patients in these vulnerable moments has been one of the greatest privileges of my life and I know many in our profession share this sentiment.
During the Lenten season, my thoughts often turn to Mary. I am in awe of her strength amid unimaginable pain as she walked every step of Jesus’s suffering in faith and love. Father John Burns says, “Her devotion stretches to the place most of us would never choose to go- all the way to the sight of her own Son crucified. Mary does not turn away. Love keeps her rooted at the place that breaks her heart most of all. Where others see only defeat, she stays close enough to let love have the last word in her actions, even when she cannot yet see resurrection”, instead trusting in God’s plan. This Lent, I pray we each remember Mary’s strength and ask for courage to stay present, to keep loving, and resist the urge to turn away, even when it’s painful. Kate Bowler reminds us, “It’s not easy to sit with grief, or questions, or unanswered prayers but when we choose this kind of faithful empathy, it quietly transforms us and those who need us most”.
Prayer written by Father John Burns:
Teach me to love like Mary, remain when I want to flee, to look with compassion where I want to close my eyes, to trust God’s heart when I cannot see his plan and rest in the certainty that nothing given to us in love is ever wasted in your hands.