THE MOTHER OF SORROWS


OUR LADY OF SORROWS

1 Cor 12:12-14,27-31; Ps 100; Jn 19:25-27

Woman, behold Your Son

The Blessed Virgin Mary features prominently in the life of the Church because she played a key role in the life and mission of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures reveal the Church as the body of Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ as her sacred and divine Head. The Holy Cross of Jesus Christ, which we understand as encompassing all that the Son of God endured in his Incarnation, life, death, and resurrection for the salvation of man, spills into the life of all his disciples. In a very prominent way, it spills into the life of his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. For this reason, the Church celebrates her sorrows immediately after the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Seven Sorrows of our Lady are events of her participation in the Cross of our Lord. The Seven Sorrows are: (1) The Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34–35), (2) The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13–14), (3) The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41–50), (4) Her encounter with Jesus on the Way to Calvary (John 19:17), (5) The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (Jn 19:25), (6) The Piercing of Jesus' Side and Descent from the Cross (Jn 19:34), (7) Jesus Laid in the Tomb (Jn 19:41-42).

These are seven key events indicating how the Blessed Virgin Mary participated in the Cross of her Son, Jesus Christ. By our vocation to Jesus Christ, our journey into his mysteries will lead each of us to participate in the Cross of our Lord in varying ways, as our Lady did. Each of us will have his or her cross to carry and sorrows to bear. Our faith in the Lord transforms our crosses and sorrows into avenues of participating in the cross of our Lord and sorrows of our Lady. This is because of the same Spirit we have received through our profession of faith in Jesus Christ, as Saint Paul explains. “Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.” Our Lord Jesus Christ taught this when he answered the two sons of Zebedee that they would surely drink his cup and be baptised with his baptism. Hence, in the sorrows of our Lady, we recognise our own sorrows and pains, and we ask for her maternal intercession that we may carry our crosses and bear our sorrows fruitfully for our salvation. For this reason the Church bids us to celebrate this memorial in honour of the Seven Sorrows of our Lady.

Her sorrows give her a privileged place in the economy of our salvation because of their intensity, surpassing the sorrows of any other person. She suffered more than any other because of her relationship to Jesus Christ. Her sorrow was at its peak at the crucifixion of our Lord, who is her Son. “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’” Our Lord did this to console his grieving mother, and to entrust his disciples to her maternal care. The Lord knew the important role she was to play in the formation of the Church, his body. So, John represented the Church and took her home. “And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.” Similarly, following the Lord’s directive, the Church has a special place for the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Lord expects each of us to do the same, that she may continue her formation work in each of us. “Now you together are Christ’s body; but each of you is a different part of it.” May the prayers of Our Lady of Sorrows help us to contain our sorrows and worship God gladly in all our trials. “Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy.”

Let us pray: O God, who willed that, when your Son was lifted high on the Cross, his Mother should stand close by and share his suffering, grant that your Church, participating with the Virgin Mary in the Passion of Christ, may merit a share in his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.   

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