Mater Dolorosa. The Unruined Heart.
The swords through your heart are not the ones that caused your wounds, but rather, these swords of strength were earned by your struggle through hard times.
Sword of Surrender is one of the swords. It means the sword to use to withstand this time of learning. Isn’t it true sometimes that learning is really painful, or really hard?
The second, Sword of Veils, pierces the hidden meaning of this time to cut right through all the fog, all the veiling that occludes the center, the core, the sweetness, the heart, the hope, the jewel at the center of the wound.
The third sword, a Sword of Healing, to lance open one’s own agony and bitterness to let it drain away.
The Sword of New Life to cut through, to cut loose, and to plant anew. Long ago, people used their swords to plant with. They would drive them into the ground, pour the seed, take a step, drive the sword into the ground, plant a seed, take a step. Because there used to be farmer warriors who were holy people and they used their swords for everything.
Sword of Courage is the next one: to speak up, to row on with, to touch others with. Remember to be knighted, a king would touch the sword to the shoulder of the knight: meaning you can take this blow. You can take this. You are strong.
The Sword of Life Force to draw from, to lean on, to purify.
The Sword of Love is often the heaviest to lift consistently. The sword turns one away from war, resentment, retaliation, and instead helps one to fall into the arms of immaculate strength at the center through the Holy Woman.
So we pray.
Oh immaculate heart of my mother, give me shelter in the beautiful chambers of your heart. Keep me strong, fierce, loving, and able in this world. Remind me. Remind me daily that despite my imperfections, my heart remains completely unruined. So may it be for you. So may it be for me. So may it be for all of us. In her name, amen,—which means “let it be so.”
extract from Untie the Strong Woman by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
