Our Lady of Sorrows

So many sorrows!  So much suffering did our Blessed Mother endure for us!  When I think of the terrible swords that pierced her soul--from the flowering of her youth throughout her life--I am humbled and even a little ashamed of my own weakness.  

Yet this sorrowful mother holds all the hope of salvation in the record of her life.  

She chose the path of suffering.  She assented at every turn:  "May it be done to me according to Thy Word." By her faithful willingness to endure the sorrows of her life, she made hope and joy possible for all of us.  Her life is a perfect exemplar of God's will for us:  we work, suffer and endure for the sake of others, and for God's glory to be revealed through us.  

We are called to bring Christ to others--to reach out to others and to see Christ in them.  We are asked to be His body in the world.  She was the original bringer of Christ, and through her continuous outreach to us, she draws us all closer to him.  Blessed be the womb that bore him!

When we were first coming back to the Church, this old devotion (that I had never seen nor heard before) came to me.  What a wonderful way to honor our Queen and mother, and to remind ourselves that we are called to spend ourselves utterly doing His Will.  

In all that pain and suffering, in the weight of doom to come, in the knowledge of sorrow and grief, she was faithful.  She drew near to our Lord and trusted Him.  She allowed Him to give her the strength to stand at the foot of the cross and to gather His poor, wounded body into her mothering arms once more. 

Pray for us, most Sorrowful Virgin: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.