In seven years of caring for the dying, I have stood at over a thousand bedsides and shared in the impotence of families and friends as they watch the life ebb away from someone they love. This powerlessness to prevent impending death is one of the hardest things for caregivers to come to terms with, especially when the dying person is young. It produces all sorts of emotions which are often unexpected and hard to handle and may lead to patterns of behavior which, misunderstood, can cause considerable distress, both to the person experiencing the emotion and those around him or her. The hospice movement, with its philosophy of openness, is producing a marvelous healing of the medical and nursing profession’s wounded attitude toward death and dying, a recapturing of the ancient acceptance of death as part of life.

Mary must have felt the same powerlessness at the foot of the cross.