Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us!

 

The Pieta, by Michelangelo. Picture taken at St. Peter's Basilica, July 31, 2023

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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. I'd never had a devotion to Our Lady under this title, until I attended a parish by this name in Phoenix, Arizona, and the priest taught us about it. The seven sorrows of Our Lady, all found in Scripture, are: he Prophecy of Simeon, the Flight into Egypt, the Loss of Jesus in the Temple, the Meeting on the Way to Calvary, the Death of Jesus, the Piercing of His Side and the Taking Down from the Cross, and the Burial of Jesus. 

Under this good priest's guidance, I realized that Our Lady's Sorrows all relate to her motherhood. If you are a mother, you can comprehend a little sliver of what she is going through on these seven occasions. When our mother-hearts are aching, she understands. We can ask her to intercede with her Divine Son for us.

"Oh Mother, for the love of this Son, accept me for thy servant, and pray to Him for me." ~ St. Alphonsus de Ligouri

A witty mother once said, "Yes, but she only had one Child, and He was perfect!" Yes, but on the Cross, that One Son gave her all the rest of us as her unruly, disobedient children, and her heart bleeds for all of us. "Behold thy Mother," He said to John, and to her, "Behold thy son."

I remember reading that St. Dismas was the first spiritual child she helped to save. She had just been given to us as our mother, and she prayed fervently for the dying Dismas. Her loving prayers for his salvation merited for him the words,

"This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." Oh, may she pray for us so that we may hear those words someday too!!!