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Friday, September 15, 2023

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

Heb 5:7-9; Jn 19:25-27 or Lk 2:33-35

The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows invites us to understand the truth that there was a close connection between Jesus’ passion and Mary’s sorrows and that the mother of the ‘suffering servant’ equally suffered as well. 

That is why St. Bernard felt that the ‘physical death’ of Jesus and the ‘spiritual death’ of Mother Mary were closely interlinked. He wrote: ‘He [Jesus] died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She [Mary] died in spirit through a love unlike any other since His.’ Explaining how Mother Mary is ‘Queen of Martyrs,’ St. Basil said, ‘As the sun surpasses all the stars in luster, so the sorrows of Mary surpass all the tortures of the martyrs.’ 

We don’t understand a mother’s love away from her sacrifices. Similarly, Mother Mary’s willing cooperation in God’s salvific plan cannot be understood in all its profundity apart from the sacrificial sorrows she endured all her life. Hence, if a mother is a symbol of sacrifice, then the Divine Mother is no exception. In that sense, our Blessed Mother’s entire life was a martyrdom. 

Mother Mary’s ‘Way of the Cross’ covers the lifespan of Jesus, stretching from Bethlehem to Calvary. All along, she was a suffering presence with Jesus. It is because Mother Mary participated in her son’s suffering that she also partakes in his heavenly glory. This is the reason all generations call her blessed (Lk 1:48). 

The sorrowful mother is also our ‘Teacher in Faith.’

1.She knew misery. Mary knew what it was to suffer disgrace, embarrassment, poverty, and homelessness. That is why she could intuit the helplessness of others and rush to help them out. She is sensitive to the helpless situation of Elizabeth and the family that ran short of wine in the middle of the wedding feast at Cana. The Mother who had walked through misery could volunteer to rescue others who were caught in it. Mother’s example is an invitation to imitate her. 

2. She knew grief. Having lost her son as a child of 12 at the temple and witnessing his agony and death at the Calvary, Mother Mary was left to grieve. On account of such swords that pierced her heart (Lk 2:24-35), she became a martyr without dying. Hence, if there is someone who can help us wade through our grief, it is Mother Mary whose own grief surpassed everyone else’s. As a woman and mother who endured lifelong anxiety and uncertainty, Mother would be our source of comfort and consolation. We are called to disseminate what we experience in her. 

3. She knew despair. With the death of Jesus, Mary’s sorrow was not over. It now continued in the form of Jesus’ disciples who looked clueless and disbanded after his death. Though she was grieving the death of her son, her motherly concern rushed to embrace the stranded disciples. She transforms her grief into an empathizing and accompanying presence in the Upper Room (Acts 1:13-14). It is like the Mother reassuring them that they are not alone in this and helps them understand the power of supportive prayer, solidary presence, and loving communion. The comfort she offered was liberative in spirit. Learning from Mary’s virtues and examples, the apostles regain their strength to be authentic witnesses of the Risen Christ. This is the reason Mother is known as the ‘Queen of Apostles.’

Our Lady of Sorrows could endure the greatest suffering because she was capable of the greatest love for God. Her own experience of sorrow makes her compassionate towards all those who are subject to it. 

St. Oscar Romero once said: ‘There are things that can be seen only with eyes that have cried.’ Is it not true of Our Lady of Sorrows? 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar