The Feast of the Sorrowful Mother

With special permission from the Vatican,  the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother celebrate their congregational patronal feast day, the feast of the Sorrowful Mother, on the Sunday following the feast of the Sorrowful Mother, September 15th.

As I reflected upon Mary standing beneath the cross, my heart felt pierced by Mary standing their watching her beloved son die an agonizing death.  As Jesus walked up the hill to Calvary to be crucified, as He was scourged and crowned with thorns and covered with blood and wounds, as He died an agonizing death on the cross, Mary, too, was tortured as His mother, as any mother would have been to watch their beloved child, in similar circumstances, put to death!  And as He was dying, Jesus gives His Mother to us, saying to the beloved disciple standing with Mary: "Son, behold your Mother" and "Mother, behold your son."  Mary is our Mother, as she is the Mother of the Son of God made flesh. We are her daughters and sons, as is Jesus her son and our brother.

Mary stands by us in our sufferings, as she stood with Jesus.  She stands by every person in the process of dying physically or dying psychologically to selfishness, greed, envy, anger, hatred and other evils that may grip our souls.  May we, in turn, comforted by Mary, offer support to those who are in pain, whether that be physical, psychological or spiritual.

Mary, our Queen-Mother and Intercessor

Today we celebrate the Queenship of Mary.  Mary is our Queen-mother. As such she brings our petitions to our Lord, intercedes for us, and has our best interests in mind as she approaches her son.  It was Mary at the wedding feast of Cana who noticed the distress of the wedding party as the wine ran out. She it was who brought the situation to the Lord and said to Him: Jesus, they have no wine. Though Jesus responded that His time has not yet come to reveal who He was by working a miracle on behalf of the distressed wedding party, Mary did not walk away by saying to the concerned persons: I’m sorry; there is nothing I can do.  Mary knew her Son and says to the attendants: “Do whatever He tells you.”  

Today, Mary, our Queen-mother, is the same!  She is our Queen-mother and the mother of her Son. She will intercede for us, as she did for the wedding party and the attendants at the wedding. They needed help and Mary knew it. In fact, she saw the need and alerted her Son even before the attendants approached her. So, too, today. She is alert to what is happening in your life and mine and takes her concern to Jesus always! She is not the kind of Queen who simply sits on a throne distant from us and detached from us. No, she is walking among us, paying attention to every detail of our lives and interceding with her Son accordingly. That is what a mother does for her children! Mary is no different than the most attentive and caring of mothers.