Mary: Mother of Sorrows and a Mother Who Understands Our Sorrows

Today, we Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, have been given the privilege of celebrating the Feast of the Sorrowful Mother on this Sunday. I would like to share with you brief reflections on the seven sorrows of Mary.

The First Sorrow: The Prophesy of Simeon--Simeon prophesies that Jesus will be the cause of the rise and fall of many in Israel and then tells Mary that her own heart will be pierced with sorrow.  Imagine being a young parent. You present your child for baptism and are told that this child is going to cause you a lot of pain and suffering. That is all that is said! Mary ponders these words in her heart and she knows the pain of parents whose children’s behaviors cause them intense sorrow.

The Second Sorrow:  The Flight into Egypt--Shortly after Jesus is born, Herod seeks to kill him. Joseph is warned in a dream to take Mary and the child and flee into the night to escape Herod’s murderous rage against their son Jesus. Think of the many parents who fear for their children’s safety and flee their country and  become refugees in order to protect their children from harm’s way.  Mary’s know their pain!

The Third Sorrow: The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple--Mary knows the sorrow of parents who have lost their child to drugs, to the sex slave, to human trafficking and other violent movements in our world. She knows the pain of parents who have lost communication with their child/children, whose children have simply gone their own direction without telling them their whereabouts.

The Fourth Sorrow: Meeting Jesus on the road to Calvary, carrying the beam of wood upon which He will be crucified, so weak from the loss of blood in the scourging that He can hardly move forward and is beaten if He falls--Mary knows the pain of a parent seeing a child on his/her deathbed or a child watching his/her parent die or a friend die. Mary knows the pain of a parent seeing his/her child bullied and unable to stop the violence. Mary’s heart bleeds and grieves with anyone in such positions.

The Fifth Sorrow: Mary Standing beneath the cross watching her Son die--Mary supports Jesus in His most hideous of sufferings. She does not abandon Him in this hour of dire need.  Mary knows the pain of parents/children or friend, husbands/wives who, no matter what, stand by, stay with, and give support to a loved one, whose suffering one is unable to lessen or alleviate. She knows the pain of those who risk death or another person’s scorn by staying with another abandoned to death, condemned unjustly.

The Sixth Sorrow: Mary receives the dead body of her Son--Mary knows the pain of parents, husband/wives, children who are given the dead body of their loved one returned from war, found beaten to death on the side of the road or some ally in our city streets.

The Seventh Sorrow: Mary at the burial of her Son: Mary knows your pain when you have to bury a child, a parent, a friend, a husband/wife, especially when such a person was in the prime of his/her life and ministry; when that person seems to have died prematurely, unnecessarily, humanly speaking.

MARY KNOWS YOUR SORROW AND GRIEVES WITH YOU!  GO TO HER IN YOUR GRIEF! SHE IS YOUR MOTHER. SHE KNOWS HOW TO COMFORT YOU, SUPPORT YOU. SHE UNDERSTANDS!