Our Lady of Sorrows

Following the triumphant feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, comes the memorial of the mournful mother, Our Lady of Sorrows. Is there any worse pain than what a mother goes through when her children suffer from illness, wander from the values instilled in them at home, or die untimely? A mother in Michigan mourns this day as her 18 year old son, who graduated from high school in May, died of cancer yesterday. Another mother anguishes as her once conserative and well-behaved son is "experimenting" with the "other side of life" as he is influenced by liberal ideas in college. The Monica story repeats itself generation after generation. Our Good Mother, Mary, is no stranger to these sufferings, "Come, all you who pass by the way, look and see/whether there is any suffering like my suffering." (Lam 1:12). Michaelangelo's Pieta graphically portrays Mary's pain. She was warned of the seven sorrows when she and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple after his birth, and as she accepted the invitation to be his mother, she accepted the pain that went with it as well, in obedience to the Father. Her sharing in the suffering of Jesus is part of the plan of redemption, and is a source of encouragement to us when we think we have reached our limit. We pray on this day, "As we honor the compassionate love of the Virgin Mary, may we make up in our own lives whatever is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the good of the Church. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord."
(Prayer after Communion)
Bro. Rene