Today is the feast of Our Mother of Sorrows. Do you know the seven sorrows of the Blessed Virgin?
To celebrate the feast of Our Mother of Sorrows is to celebrate Mary's role as co-redemptrix. In seven ways, this Mother suffered with this Son like no mother has ever
suffered before.
1. The prophecy of Simeon: "A sword shall pierce through your own soul, too" (Luke 2:35).. Mary knows her child was born to die, as the Presentation at the Temple profoundly pre-figures Golgotha.
2. The flight into Egypt by the holiest of families will bring newfound pains to the heart of the Mother. Herod's soldiers seek the blood of the Redeemer too early. St. Joseph brings the child and his mother to a foreign land, a pagan land that is not well-disposed to Jewish refugees based on an exodus in the past. Mary must care and protect for her son in a hostile environment until heaven directs otherwise.
3. When Jesus is "lost" for three days in the Temple, the Redemption is again foreshadowed. Mother and Son will be separated for three days, as each will complete the Father's business on Calvary and await the Easter victory. Mary "kept all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51).
4. The Way of the Cross enacts and signifies the joint spiritual journey of the Son and the Mother in their unified mission of Redemption. She walks with him as he carries the cross on his bloodied shoulders, and she carries the cross in her maternal heart.
5. As Jesus is physically crucified, Mary is spiritually crucified. As John Paul the Great notes, "Crucified spiritually with her crucified Son, she contemplated with heroic love the death of her God.
6. When Jesus is taken down for the cross, the Mother can finally unburden her heart with full mourning and lamentation, as before this time she had to remain strong in solidarity with her Son and the redemptive mission, "stabat mater" (John 19:25).. Now the Mother horrifically sees the price of Redemption, wound by wound.
7. As the body of Jesus is entombed, the Mother's heart is called to the greatest act of faith amidst the greatest suffering, and against all human analysis. From man's perspective, her son's effort to win souls to himself has ended in failure and murder. From God's perspective, "consummatum est" (it is finished), and now patience must bide its time until the Easter morning victory in perfect fulfillment of God's plan.
The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady have been collectively meditated upon in the Church since the 14th century. In the recently Church-approved Marian apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda, Our Lady calls us to return to the weekly praying of the Chaplet or "Rosary" of the Seven Sorrows with the promise of extraordinary graces.
Why ponder the Mother's sorrow? It is a concrete, motherly example for us on how we are to face our own personal sufferings, which seem to be growing domestically, nationally, and globally by the day. We are to in every situation unite our sufferings with those of Jesus, as did the Mother, for our own redemption, and for the co-redemption of our brothers and sisters throughout the world
[Source: Mark Miravalle, professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Author of more than a dozen books on Mariology, and editor of "Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons."]
You might also want to check out a devotional on the Seven Sorrows suggested by Heidi Guttemuth.
To celebrate the feast of Our Mother of Sorrows is to celebrate Mary's role as co-redemptrix. In seven ways, this Mother suffered with this Son like no mother has ever
suffered before.1. The prophecy of Simeon: "A sword shall pierce through your own soul, too" (Luke 2:35).. Mary knows her child was born to die, as the Presentation at the Temple profoundly pre-figures Golgotha.
2. The flight into Egypt by the holiest of families will bring newfound pains to the heart of the Mother. Herod's soldiers seek the blood of the Redeemer too early. St. Joseph brings the child and his mother to a foreign land, a pagan land that is not well-disposed to Jewish refugees based on an exodus in the past. Mary must care and protect for her son in a hostile environment until heaven directs otherwise.
3. When Jesus is "lost" for three days in the Temple, the Redemption is again foreshadowed. Mother and Son will be separated for three days, as each will complete the Father's business on Calvary and await the Easter victory. Mary "kept all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51).
4. The Way of the Cross enacts and signifies the joint spiritual journey of the Son and the Mother in their unified mission of Redemption. She walks with him as he carries the cross on his bloodied shoulders, and she carries the cross in her maternal heart.
5. As Jesus is physically crucified, Mary is spiritually crucified. As John Paul the Great notes, "Crucified spiritually with her crucified Son, she contemplated with heroic love the death of her God.
6. When Jesus is taken down for the cross, the Mother can finally unburden her heart with full mourning and lamentation, as before this time she had to remain strong in solidarity with her Son and the redemptive mission, "stabat mater" (John 19:25).. Now the Mother horrifically sees the price of Redemption, wound by wound.
7. As the body of Jesus is entombed, the Mother's heart is called to the greatest act of faith amidst the greatest suffering, and against all human analysis. From man's perspective, her son's effort to win souls to himself has ended in failure and murder. From God's perspective, "consummatum est" (it is finished), and now patience must bide its time until the Easter morning victory in perfect fulfillment of God's plan.
The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady have been collectively meditated upon in the Church since the 14th century. In the recently Church-approved Marian apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda, Our Lady calls us to return to the weekly praying of the Chaplet or "Rosary" of the Seven Sorrows with the promise of extraordinary graces.
Why ponder the Mother's sorrow? It is a concrete, motherly example for us on how we are to face our own personal sufferings, which seem to be growing domestically, nationally, and globally by the day. We are to in every situation unite our sufferings with those of Jesus, as did the Mother, for our own redemption, and for the co-redemption of our brothers and sisters throughout the world
[Source: Mark Miravalle, professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Author of more than a dozen books on Mariology, and editor of "Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons."]
You might also want to check out a devotional on the Seven Sorrows suggested by Heidi Guttemuth.
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