I have always loved the structure of today's feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, because it occurs the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Like the Cross, we encountered Mary on Good Friday, but as I said yesterday, we were so absorbed in our Lord that we were not able to fully contemplate her. Thus, we are given today's feast to do so.
St. Cyril of Alexandria said of Mary, "Through thee the precious cross is honored and worshiped throughout the world." We often here of how Mary stood by the Cross. She did not succumb to its weight, which she mystically bore in union with her Divine Son. Although through it the Prophecy of Simeon was fulfilled and the sword of sorrow pierced her heart (Luke 2:35), she knew that it was the cause of her own redemption and that of the whole world. True, she was preserved from sin from the first moment of her conception, but it was account of the merits of the Cross.
This feast, however, does not carry the same triumph as yesterday, instead it brings a sorrow to our hearts, and this is on account of how we have pained our Blessed Mother. Venerable Fulton Sheen said, "She [Mary] knows what sin is not by the experience of its falls, not by tasting its bitter regrets, but by seeing what it did to her Divine Son." Tradition records the seven sorrows of Mary: the Prophecy of Simeon, the Flight into Egypt, the Loss of Jesus for Three Days, the Meeting with Jesus during on the Via Dolorosa, the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus, the Holding of Jesus in Her Arms after His Death, and the Burial of Jesus.
We may thus see that the earthly life of our Blessed Mother was one of earthly sorrow. She had to give birth to her Divine Son in a stable because she was rejected at the inn; she had to raise her baby in exile for fear of Herod's sword. The moments of joy for every mother, were thus laden with sorrow for this mother. For three days her Son was lost to her, and this would again happen at the end of His earthly life. She felt most profoundly the pain of separation from her flesh. She had to endure the most cruel torture any mother can undergo by watching her Son expire the most horrendous of deaths. And before the end of her earthly life, her earthly time as Mother of the Church, would be laden with sorrow for she would no longer have the companionship of her Beloved Son.
And yet, in spite of all of this, Mary said, "Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. May it be done unto me according to your word (Luke 1:38)," for her profound and deepest sorrow could not suppress a love beyond all telling. As I said yesterday, the Cross is for us a joy, and so it was with our Lady of Sorrows. She knew that it was through the Cross that salvation would flow forth for the human race. Indeed she was present when the blood and water poured forth for this very purpose, and the Church was born of the wounded side of her Son (John 19:34)!
Let us venerate our Blessed Mother of Sorrows for this, however, for it was for love of us that she endured this bitter anguish. Her heart is one with that of Christ's, and since He loves us, therefore Mary loves us.
Indeed the Church today pours forth a song of sorrow for the pain we have caused our Lady. Today, the Liturgy provides us with a sequence which may be used before the Gospel at Mass, i.e. the Stabat Mater. This hymn is designed to remind us of the pain we caused Mary, on account of Christ's death for our sins, and to inspire within us a love for her and a desire to embrace the Cross of Christ as she did. Thus, through her, we will be able to pay fitting homage to it. But the Stabat Mater also reminds us of how Mary endured all of this sorrow, and that is in complete submission to the will of God, which we pray we may imitate.
As part of the sequence, we proclaim:
"O sweet Mother! font of love,
Touch my spirit from above,
Make my heart with yours accord.
"Make me feel as you have felt;
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.
"Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified."
It cannot be said enough that without the Cross there is no salvation. Venerable Fulton Sheen often said, "Great saints are only made in the shadow of the Cross." Let us never forget this important admonition. Instead let us run to our Blessed Mother; let us place ourselves under her mantle; let us pour forth our tears with her on account of sin, for which she suffered such spiritual pain as her Son suffered physically. Then, we can rest assured that the final stanzas of the Stabat Mater will be given to us!
"Christ, when you shall call me hence,
Be your Mother my defense,
Be your Cross my victory.
"While my body here decays,
May my soul your goodness praise,
Safe in heaven eternally.
Amen. Alleluia."
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