HOMILY FOR OUR LADY OF SORROW SEPTEMBER 15 2020
*OUR LADY OF SORROWS SEPTEMBER 15 2020*
September 15 2020 falls on a Tuesday.
*COLLECTA (OPENING PRAYER)*
O God, who willed that, when your Son was lifted high on the Cross, his Mother should stand close by and share his suffering, grant that your Church, participating with the Virgin Mary in the Passion of Christ, may merit a share in his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
*THE SCRIPTURAL ROOT OF THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS*
The Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on September 15, the day after the feast of the Holy Cross to show the close connection between Jesus' Passion and Mary's Sorrows. Devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady has its roots in Sacred Scripture and in Christian piety, which always associates the Blessed Mother with her suffering Son. Here are some major references: John 19:25 (Calvary); Luke 2:35 (Mary pierced with a sword). Other sorrows can be inferred: Luke 2:7 (no room at the inn); Matthew 2:6-18 (massacre of the Innocents); Luke 2:41-50 (anxious search for Jesus); Luke 4:28-30 (rejection by townspeople of Nazareth); and Luke 11:53-54 (rejection by authorities of Jerusalem), etc.
*THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF SOROW STARTED MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS AGO*
This form of Marian piety goes back to the fourteenth century, but Mary's compassion was remembered from early centuries:
- Abbot Poemon (5AD.) Apothegms 144: "I would like to
weep with her always."
- Ephrem the Syrian (373AD)
"Lamentation of Mary" (still used in the Syrian Rite)
- Romanos the Melodist (500AD)
"Hymn of Mary at the Cross" (Jesus instructs His mother on the
mystery of the Cross).
Also to be mentioned are Ambrose, Anselm and Bernard who preached and meditated on Mary's sorrows. The devotion to the Sorrows of Mary properly appears toward the middle of the fourteenth century.
*THE SEVEN SORROWS OF MARY*
Devotion to the five sorrows of Mary appears first and eventually develops into devotion to seven sorrows. In fact, two lists of seven sorrows were drawn up, one including the infancy and childhood of Jesus Christ, the other concentrating on the Passion.
1. The prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35)
2. The flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15)
3. Loss of the Child Jesus for three days (Luke 2:41-50)
4. Mary meets Jesus on his way to Calvary (Luke 23:27-31; John 19:17)
5. Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (John 19:25-30)
6. The body of Jesus being taken from the Cross (Psalm 130; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:31-37)
7. The burial of Jesus (Isaiah 53:8; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42; Mark 15:40-47)
and ...
1. Jesus is arrested and struck;
2. Jesus is led to Pilate to be judged;
3. Jesus is condemned to death;
4. Jesus is nailed to the Cross;
5. Jesus gives up His Spirit and dies on the Cross;
6. Jesus is taken down from the Cross;
7. Jesus is wrapped and laid in the tomb.
The commemoration of Mary's sorrows gave rise to meditations, prayers, poems, lamentations, not to forget the representations of the Pieta. This devotion became part of the rosary, as we know, and the present form of the Seven Sorrows (i.e from The Prophecy of Simeon to The Burial of Jesus) was popularized by John de Coudenberghe (1482).
*HOW THE DEVOTION OF OUR LADY OF SORROW STARTED AND DEVELOPED*
The solid connection between both feasts really begins at the Crucifixion. The Church has celebrated the Exaltation of the Holy Cross from 326, when on Sept. 14 St. Helen discovered Christ’s True Cross on Calvary. The feast became prominent in the west in the 7th century after Heraclius rescued the True Cross from pagans who took it from Jerusalem in 627. Also in the 4th century Ephrem the Syrian and St. Ambrose celebrated and venerated Mary's sorrows and compassion. In the 12th century, Cistercian were observing the devotion though not made popular. In 1239 the sorrows of Mary standing under the cross became the main devotion of the new order, the Servants of Mary (Servites). In his major book The Glories of Mary, St. Alphonsus Ligouri explains how in that year Our Lady appeared to seven of her servants “with a black garment in her hand, and told them that if they wished to please her, they should often meditate upon her dolors (sorrows).” These seven became the founder of Servants of Mary, the Servites. The Holy See granted them a feast of the Seven Dolors. Thus, today's feast was introduced by the Servites in order to intensify devotion to Our Lady's Sorrows. And it started in Germany. In 1482 the feast was added to the Missal under the title of "Our Lady of Compassion." In 1668 the feast in honor of the Seven Dolors was set for the Sunday after September 14, the Feast of the Holy Cross. In 1727, Pope Benedict XIII placed the Feast of Our Lady of Compassion in the Roman Calendar on Friday before Palm Sunday. In 1817 Pius VII who suffered grievously in exile but finally liberated by Mary's intercession, extended the feast to the universal Church. In 1913, Pope Pius X fixed the permanent date of September 15 for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (now simply called the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows). The title "Our Lady of Sorrows" focuses on Mary's intense suffering during the passion and death of Christ. "The Seven Dolors," the title by which it was celebrated in the 17th century, referred to the seven swords that pierced the Heart of Mary. The feast is like an octave for the birthday of Our Lady on September 8th.
This feast is dedicated to the spiritual martyrdom of Mary, Mother of God, and her compassion with the sufferings of her Divine Son, Jesus. In her suffering during her participation in the redemption of humanity, she reminds us of the tremendous evil of sin and shows us the way of true repentance. May the numerous tears of the Mother of God be conducive to our salvation; with which tears Thou, O God, art able to wash away the sins of the whole world.
The Second Vatican Council in its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church wrote, A...She stood in keeping with the divine plan, suffering grievously with her only-begotten Son. There she united herself, with a maternal heart, to His sacrifice, and lovingly consented to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth (#58).
St. Bernard (d. 1153) wrote, Truly, O Blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart.... He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since His (De duodecim praerogatativs BVM).
Focusing on the compassion of our Blessed Mother, Saint Pope John Paul II, reminded the faithful, Mary Most Holy goes on being the loving consoler of those touched by the many physical and moral sorrows which afflict and torment humanity. She knows our sorrows and our pains, because she too suffered, from Bethlehem to Calvary. 'And thy soul too a sword shall pierce.' Mary is our Spiritual Mother, and the mother always understands her children and consoles them in their troubles. Then, she has that specific mission to love us, received from Jesus on the Cross, to love us only and always, so as to save us! Mary consoles us above all by pointing out the Crucified One and Paradise to us! (1980).
Therefore, as we honor our Blessed Mother, our Lady of Sorrows, we honor her as the faithful disciple and exemplar of faith. Let us pray as we do in the opening prayer of the Mass for this feast day: Father, as your Son was raised on the cross, His Mother Mary stood by Him, sharing His sufferings. May your Church be united with Christ in His suffering and death and so come to share in His rising to new life. Looking to the example of Mary, may we too unite our sufferings to our Lord, facing them with courage, love, and trust.
*PROMISES OF OUR LADY*
According to Mark Miravalle, a Mariologist, “So much does the Crucified Lord desire humanity to ponder, along with His own saving Redemption, the co-redemption of his Mother, that He has attached to the prayerful meditation of the seven principal historical events of Our Lady’s sufferings, promises of grace and mercy that are nothing short of extraordinary and miraculous”.
Our Blessed Mother revealed these seven promises to St. Bridget of Sweden in the 14th century. Our Lady said she would bestow seven graces to the those souls honoring her daily by saying seven Hail Mary while meditating on her tears and sorrows:
1. “I will grant peace to their families.”
2. “They will be enlightened about the divine Mysteries.”
3. “I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.”
4. “I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.”
5. “I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.”
6. “I will visibly help them at the moment of their death—they will see the face of their mother.”
7. “I have obtained this grace from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son will be their eternal consolation and joy.”
*PROMISES OF JESUS*
In The GLORIES OF MARY, St. Alphonsus also lists the four promises Jesus made for those devoted to his Mother’s sorrows. Alphonsus recounts the revelation made to St. Elizabeth of Hungary “that after the assumption of the Blessed Virgin into heaven, St. John the Evangelist desired to see her again. The favor was granted him; his dear Mother appeared to him, and with her Jesus Christ also appeared; the Saint then heard Mary ask her Son to grant some special grace to all those who are devoted to her dolors (Sorrows). Jesus promised her four principal ones: (1) those who before death invoke the Divine Mother in the name of her sorrows should obtain true repentance of all their sins. (2) He would protect all who have this devotion in their tribulations, and that He would protect them especially at the hour of death. (3) He would impress upon their minds the remembrance of His Passion, and that they should have their reward for it in heaven. (4) He would commit such devout clients to the hands of Mary, with the power to dispose of them in whatever manner she might please, and to obtain for them all the graces she might desire.”
*WHAT THE SAINTS SAID ON THE SORROWS OF OUR LADY*
Looking at Our Lady’s “sea of grief” at the Passion, St. Bernardine professed "that if all the sorrows of the world were united, they would not equal that of the glorious Virgin Mary."
St. Bonaventure asks this Mother, "O Lady, where art thou? Near the cross? Nay, rather, thou art on the cross, crucified, sacrificing thyself with thy Son."
Our Lady herself told St. Bridget, that even after Jesus’ death and Ascension into heaven, whether she was working or eating, the memory of his Passion was deeply imprinted and always in her tender heart.
An angel addressed these words to St. Bridget: "As the rose grows up amongst thorns, so the Mother of God advanced in years in the midst of sufferings; and as the thorns increase with the growth of the rose, so also did the thorns of her sorrows increase in Mary, the chosen rose of the Lord, as she advanced in age; and so much the more deeply did they pierce her heart.” There were many other Saints who were messengers of Our Lady of Sorrows.
*HOW FATIMA MESSAGE IS CONNECTED TO THE MESSAGE OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS*
In her book ‘Calls’ From the Message of Fatima, Sister Lucia brings out this same connection that “Mary, made one with Christ, is the co-redemptrix of the human race.” Lucia explains how at Calvary “she suffered and agonized with him, receiving into her Immaculate Heart the last sufferings of Christ, his last words, his last agony and the last drops of his Blood, in order to offer them to the Father.” Lucia adds as her own interpretation of this vision of Our Lady of Sorrows, God wishes “to show us the value of suffering, sacrifice and immolation for the sake of love. In the world of today hardly anyone wants to hear these truths, such is the extent to which people are living in search of pleasure, of empty worldly happiness, and exaggerated comfort. But the more one flees from suffering, the more we find ourselves immersed in a sea of afflictions, disappointments and suffering.”
How to console our Blessed Mother? During the July 13 apparition, Our Lady told the children, Make sacrifices for sinners, and say often, especially while making a sacrifice: O Jesus, this is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. There is any small sacrifice.
Do the Five First Saturday devotions. On December 10, 1925 Our Lady and Jesus appeared in the convent in Pontevedra, Spain to Lucia who described the visit. Jesus said: Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.
Then the Blessed Virgin Mary said to Lucia: Look, my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Me. Again, comforting her sorrows also means putting into practice what she said in each apparition, including on Oct. 13: I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day.
© REV UTAZI PRINCE MARIE BENIGNUS SFDPM
Updated 14th September 2020
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