7 Sorrows of Mary

In the sorrows of Mary, we see how Mary offers Jesus to God.  From the very first sorrow where the child Jesus is offered at the temple towards the sacrifice, crucifixion and burial of Jesus, Mary offers Him and gives Him over to God the Father in increasing generosity and intensity, in ever increasing pain and loss, letting Him go in full trust and surrender.  May we also be able to offer to God everything and entrust upon His hands all of those whom we love and cherish.

Mary, the Mother of God spoke to the bride of Christ and said: “My daughter, consider the suffering of my Son, for his limbs were like my own limbs and his heart like my own heart. For just as other children use to be carried in the womb of their mother, so was he in me. But he was conceived through the burning charity of God’s love. Others, however are conceived through the lust of the flesh. Thus, John the evangelist, his cousin, rightly says: ‘The Word was made flesh.’ He came through love and was in me. The Word and love created him in me. He was truly for me like my own heart. For when I gave birth to him, I felt as though half my heart was born and went out of me. And when he endured suffering, it felt like my own heart was suffering. Just as when something is half inside and half outside - the half outside feels pain and suffering, but the inside also feels a similar pain - so it was for me when my Son was scourged and wounded; it was as if my own heart was scourged and wounded...

Mary stood by Jesus for hours during His agony on the cross before His death, but what seemed to be short hours seemed like an eternity of torment and pain.  Such is our pain at times.  We wonder when it will ever end.  Will they ever end?  Our Mother knows our suffering because she, too, suffered beneath the cross for those seemingly unending hours of agony before her Son's death.

How difficult it is to live in another culture!  You don't know much of the language or the customs and traditions.  You don't know whether you can find a new job.  You may find that you have to relearn almost everything including the food you eat or the clothes you wear.  You have to adapt to the climate and the laws.  You have to learn to understand the people living there. This becomes even more difficult when you have a child.  You worry how the child will adapt in that new place.  You wonder how he will grow up there.  This is especially true if you live amongst a people that does not recognize your faith. Let us take to heart all the difficulties of families fleeing to another culture as we reflect upon the second sorrow of Mary, her flight to Egypt! Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I ...

"Joseph and his mother were marvelling at the things which were spoken concerning him,   and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” -Luke 2:33-35, WEB We often get anxious of the future even without knowing what's in store for us.  How much more worried should we have been had we known something really difficult or terrifying is going to happen? When Simeon prophesied to Mary, how must she have felt that her beloved child will be a "sign which is spoken against"?  And what does it mean that a sword shall pierce also her soul? Every mother only wants the best future for her child.  The more she loves her child, the more she would want his good, and the more her concern shall be for all his troubles. Mary understands the concern of ev...