AS JESUS WAS DYING ON THE CROSS, MARY, HIS MOTHER, WAS THERE STANDING NEAR THE CROSS. SHE SAW HER SON DYING AND SHE WAS HELPLESS BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THAT SHE WAS THERE, SHE WAS PRESENT DURING THE DEATH OF HER SOON. WE THE BAPTISED ARE THE CHURCH, THE CHURCH THAT IS A MOTHER TO ALL. MANY PEOPLE ARE DYING, LITERALLY DYING IN HOSPITALS, AT HOMES, AND EVEN IN THE HOP E HOUSE AND SIMILAR PLACES. SOME ARE DYING EMOTIONALLY, SOME ARE DYING OF HUNGER, SOME OF ALL KINDS OF ABUSES: DRUGS, ALCOHOL, SEXUAL, GENDER BASED VIOLENCE, PHYSICAL, STRUCTURAL, ETC. SOME ARE DYING IN PRISONS, SOME OF LONELINESS, SOME OF POVERTY, SOME OF DISFUNCTIONAL MARRIAGES, SOME OF ABSENT PARENTS, SOME DYING BECAUSE OF THE PAIN OF SEEING THEIR PARENTS DIVORCING. DEAR FRIENDS I CAN IMAGINE SUCH PEOPLE ASKING IN THEIR ANGUISH: WHERE IS MY MOTHER CHURCH IN MY MOMENT OF DEATH? WHERE ARE THE BAPTISED? MARY WAS THERE WHEN JESUS WAS DYING. DURING THIS PERIOD OF LENT LET US BE THERE FOR THOSE WHO ARE DYING. LET MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD CONTINUE TO INSPIRE US WITH HER LIFE. SHE WAS THERE WHEN HER SON WAS DYING.