The Scourging at the Pillar
Purity of Heart
No Love Without Sacrifice
by Samantha Isabel
Pregnancy demands purity. We worry about what we eat, drink, even what we inhale. For me, it felt effortless to take this initiative because there was a brand new life growing within me and I was sure I would do everything within my power to give her the best environment starting in the womb.
As we continued to read and research every topic we could think of, we come across a factoid saying something like the behavior of the mother including her moods and attitudes reflect in the child’s personality starting in the sixth month of pregnancy.
This made purity of heart hit home. I had to be even more intentional with my attitudes and surrender more everyday. As Jesus in the scourging at the pillar surrendered His sacred flesh to the cup His father had for Him. The surrender in pain is only possible if you surrender your pain to Jesus. Suffering with Him will create a peace that seems impossible but with God all things are possible!
I was silent instead of complaining, I loaded the dishwasher instead of leaving dishes out, I did my best to be the mother our baby girl would need. Constant silent prayer and exercise were what grounded me in those days.
Then the big day comes, which Hollywood has dramatized enough to scare most women from ever having a drug-free birth but I praised God for this opportunity to suffer for love! Sharing in the suffering with our savior in the scourging at the pillar. I focused on how He suffered in silence and breathed. My mother advised me to offer Jesus each contraction and miraculously each time I did I didn’t feel pain! But, when I didn’t I breathed it through and pictured the scourge made of pieces of leather and tiny bones causing deep wounds in our lord’s holy flesh as to fulfill the prophecy :
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
–Isaiah 53:5
This is the purifying process of becoming a mother. God prepares us to sacrifice and serve our children even before we can see them! My daughter was born on a Tuesday so I prayed the sorrowful mysteries. At 4 a.m. when my early contractions began, I laid in position, clutched my rosary and breathed it all in. I felt the fear and joy of the coming sacrifice of my comfort. I wore that rosary the rest of the day to keep me pure from interventions, injections and complications. The lord held me and protected me through and through!
St. Maximilian Kolbe said “Let us remember that love lives through sacrifice and is nourished by giving. Without sacrifice, there is no love.”
Holding our daughter at the end of all that, I truly felt purified.
My child was born but so was I, a new mother.
The best mothers mimic Our Lady the best they can. She was the purest of the human race and surrendered everything to God. This fallen world hates purity and suffers more in order to avoid suffering.
The persecution I’ve received as a mother doing what feels right to me and helps my baby is endless but there in Jesus I find the strength to suffer in another way. To have my pride scourged in order to keep my heart clean.
As my daughter reaches the age of one I am determined to show her the grace of suffering as a woman with Christ. We see that in the scourging and we live it in silence as He did for the love of us.
Thanks be to God, may we suffer rightly and bravely with Him and in Him!
About Samantha: Samantha Isabel is a cradle Catholic, wife, and new mother. Formerly a personal trainer she is now a happy homemaker.😁 Find more from her on Instagram @samanthaisabelfit
Motherhood Through the Mysteries 