Our Lady of Sorrows

+JMJ

This Sunday the Universal Church celebrates the Memorial of the Virgin Mary under her title, Our Lady of Sorrows. It seems at first an odd thing to "celebrate," her sorrow that is, for why should anyone's suffering be cause to celebrate? But what Our Lady, and thus the Church through her, is showing us is that there can be no celebration in the eternal realm without some measure of sorrow. Love and suffering cannot be separated. In fact, it has been said in different ways by countless saints, that love is cheap without the willingness to suffer for our beloved. Should it not then follow, that the two who loved best in all the world, Mary and her Son, also suffered the greatest? There is no way to heaven but through the Cross, and Our Lady knew that sorrow all too well. There is so much wisdom in why The Church places this feast day next to the feast of the Exultation of the Cross.

In her sorrow Mary fully conforms herself to the precious heart of her son, uniquely sharing in his mission as his silent, and emotionally modest, support. We hear in scripture, that she "kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." Luke 2:19  She gives us an incredible example for times of sorrow in our own lives; teaching us by perfect example, humility, grace and modesty. She checks her emotions, always taking the focus off herself and always redirecting us to her son. She rarely speaks, unless to tell us to "do whatever he tells you." John 2:5. Yet within her heart, her pure and sinless heart, she felt the most profound sorrow.

The Church gives us the Chaplet of Mary's Seven Sorrows, and in it we take a prayerful walk through the seven swords which pierced her heart most profoundly. There are many known graces given to those who are prayerfully devoted to her sorrows through this Chaplet. To me, as a woman and a mother, I find deep consolation in knowing Our Momma Mary, knew the sorrows of my own heart within her own. She experienced them herself, and to an even deeper extent. Sin and wounds dull the heart and put barricades around it, preventing us from feeling what we ought. Mary and her son, due to their sinless nature, felt every sorrow much more profoundly than we can. 

I have recently started praying this Chaplet, as I am walking in the thick of a personal time of sorrow right now... one which I know carries a few of my own personal swords within the journey. The greatest of the gifts this Chaplet has given me thus far, is a deeply empathetic heart for Mary's suffering and those suffering around me. It pulls me out of my own sorrow, and moves my heart to empathy, while simultaneously comforting me in the knowledge that Momma walked this road and walks beside me even now. Through it, I place myself at the foot of Jesus' cross and humbly lay my own swords down for His consoling and healing repair of the wounds left behind. She teaches me not to succumb to despair, which lately I have been prone to, which is a sinful state of not trusting in The Lord's goodness. Instead she encourages me to hold the sorrow in tension with full trust in His ability to restore, redeem and heal; to trust in His goodness, despite the circumstances, precisely even IN those circumstances. Is that not the Cross? No matter how sad things were on Holy Thursday, how desolate things appeared on Good Friday; no matter the swords which pierce us to the core of our souls, where only a groan within will suffice in expressing it, there is always a resurrection to come! Easter Sunday always follows Good Friday! I believe that surrendering to that is where our glory lies.

So to take this back full circle, as to why we "celebrate" the Sorrowful Heart of Mary, it is because through the Cross we arrive to Glory. I recently listened to a podcast where renowned exorcist, Fr. Ripperger, suggests that it was precisely in those sorrows of Mary's that her glory was manifested. Those were her strongest moments of glory- because they were when all the virtues shined forth in her. If that is true, then it is in our ability to surrender our will fully to Christ and to unite our sorrows to His at The Cross, that virtue will grow in us, and through that and God's grace, we will arrive at our own glory. 

So today, I leave you with this beautiful painting of the Blue Madonna. It is one of my most favorite images of Our Lady because it profoundly expresses her sorrow to me. Yet she remains serene, humble and modest in her composure. I pray that in your times of sorrow, you might turn to her and find consolation, as I am (trying!) to do myself, and courage to lay down your will at the foot of The Cross, surrendering to Him, who is the restorer, the redeemer and the reconciler. And know that I am on this journey with you, very imperfectly (as my best friend could tell you), learning to surrender through a thousand tiny deaths to my will, every day. Know of my prayers for you too friends. 

In Christ,

Cristina