Our Lady of Sorrows in the title of Our Lady under which our parish Legion of Mary is particularly dedicated. So Happy Feast to our Legionaries. It is somewhat strange to wish someone a happy feast, on a day when we are contemplating the tears and sorrows of Our Mother, but there is some happiness knowing that we honor her in a way that God wishes us to honor her.
Members of the Legion and all of us have a special duty to pray for the grieving and to go to their side: to go the grieving, to the bedsides of the dying, to attend wakes and funerals with those who grieve their deceased relatives and friends. And also the special duty to pray for those who do not grieve their sins—and to go to their side—to approach families members and members of our parish who have stopped going to Church, who do not go to the Sacrament of Confession, to invite them home.
Today’s Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows logically follows the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Yesterday, we recalled the suffering of Christ on the Cross, the Passion he suffered for our salvation. Today we recall how Mary stood close to the cross and shared his suffering. Stabat Mater Dolorosa we sing during the stations of the cross, or in English: At the cross her station keeping, Mary stood in sorrow weeping When her Son was crucified.
This Church rightly reflects upon our Lady’s suffering as she witnesses her Son’s Passion and death. The grief of any mother watching their child suffer is truly terrible. Yet, she with perfect love must have suffered all the more. The Church Fathers teach in fact, that Mary’s sufferings were so great that all the suffering of all the martyrs together do not compare to her suffering with Christ.
Who, that sorrow contemplating,
On that passion meditating,
Would not share the Virgin's grief?
We are to contemplate her sorrows, her sufferings in union with her Son. Why? Because it wakes up our hearts to the yes, the sufferings of Christ, the sufferings of Our Lady, but the suffering of others in general. Having contemplated her sorrow, her tears, makes us more attentive to the sorrow and tears of our neighbor. It opens up a path to reaching out to them in compassion. Her tears are a road to charity.
Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “Turn your eyes incessantly to the Blessed Virgin; she, who is the Mother of Sorrows and also the Mother of Consolation, can understand you completely and help you. Looking to her, praying to her, you will obtain that your tedium will become serenity, your anguish change into hope, and your grief into love.”
During the remainder of the day, let us reflect upon the sufferings of the Mother of God. May the tears of Mary give us more compassionate hearts, and keep us faithful to her Son, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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The petitions I will use today are inspired by the Seven Sorrows of Mary Devotion.
For the Church in every place; that, by calling to mind the sorrow of the Blessed Virgin Mary upon hearing the prophecy of Simeon, she may offer comfort to all who advance in this life along a path of obscurity and suffering.
For the leaders of nations; that, by remembering the sorrow of the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt,they may be moved to care for refugees and for all who are obliged to flee from war and persecution.
For parents anguishing over their children; that, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of Saint Joseph who were anguished by the disappearance of Jesus for three days, they may put their all their confidence in the Father.
For all who bear the cross of suffering; that, like Jesus bearing His cross, they may encounter the Mother of Sorrows on the way, and be sustained by her compassion.
For widows mourning the death of a beloved spouse; that, by turning to Our Lady, the Virgin Widow of Saint Joseph, they may be comforted in their solitude and inspired to go forward with courage and trust in God.
For all priests; that in the daily offering of the Holy Sacrifice, they may discover the nearness of the Mother of Sorrows and, like Saint John, take her into their homes.
For ourselves; that, by remembering the sorrow of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the entombment of her Son, we may be strengthened in hope and learn from her to wait in silence for the light of the resurrection, and for N. for whom this mass is offered.
May we be aided at your Mercy Seat, Lord Jesus Christ, now and at the hour of our death, by the pleading of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your Mother, whose most holy soul was pierced, in the hour of your sufferings, by a sword of sorrow. Who live and reign forever and ever.
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