Our Lady Of Sorrows

1 Timothy 1:1-2,12-14
John 19:25-27

STABAT MATER

Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and today, we celebrate Our Lady of Sorrows. The Word Incarnate Himself says to Nicodemus and to us all, “Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.”-John 3:16.
And the devotion to the Blessed Virgin springs from the loving heart of her son who gave Mary to the beloved disciple to be our mother also. John 19: 26-27.

Right from the beginning, with her “FIAT”, she was ready to accept all that the Lord would reveal to her no matter the situation. Luke 1:38.
We recall also how at the presentation of Jesus in the temple together with St. Joseph, she was told that the sword would pierce her soul so that thoughts of many hearts would be revealed by Simeon. Luke 2:35 Indeed, man’s desire is insatiable and his heart is deeper than the ocean. The thoughts of many hearts are wicked and sinful but when we recognize the salvation wrought by Christ with the shedding of his blood and the privilege of Mary- Our Lady of sorrow, we are wrapped up in an inexhaustible source of grace and become aware of his endless sacrificial love for us all.

At the foot of the Cross, we see Mary sitting in the dirt adorned not with silk robes but rather wearing blood-stained garments and her tear-streaked face, all of which came from the unimaginably painful moment when she held in her arms, embraced in her lap, the broken, crucified body of her beloved Son, Jesus, our Crucified Lord.
This is when Mary became our Queen, our very own “blessed” mother when she sat in the mud and dirt of Calvary, at the foot of the Cross. And, at this moment, as we approach the Cross of Christ, it is her calloused and stained hand that can reach out and hold our own.  She knows our sorrows; she knows our pain.  Not simply as a queen gloriously enthroned in Heaven, but as a beloved mother who embraces us, even as we seek to understand the meaning behind our own crosses and suffering so often encountered in daily life. 

Mary, our Sorrowful Mother, holds us, too, in her warm embrace as she leads us to Jesus, her crucified and beloved Son.  It was on Calvary, sharing in the Passion of Christ, that Mary became our Queen, our Mother of Sorrows.  And it is this special mother gifted to us by God whom we honor on the special feast of Our Sorrowful Mother. Let us therefore offer our prayers, sufferings, and supplication without complaint in honor of such a great mother.

Fr Joseph Osho