Our Lady of Sorrows School, White Plains, NY:
 The students had a “Giving Tree,” to collect gifts for individual families, parish shut-ins, Shepherd’s Flock, children in North Central Bronx Hospital, and Westchester Jewish Services.

They also played Penny Bingo on the last day of school and all monies raised went to charity.
(Thanks, Sr. Cecile Larizza!)

Kennedy Catholic High School, Somers, NY:
Kennedy students signed up to buy gifts for a boy or girl at Mustard Seed Migrant Ministry in Goshen, NY.

They bought and wrapped 84 gifts and then headed to Mustard Seed for a party on the 29th. Several of the girls who spent a week as volunteers at Mustard Seed last summer went to help out at the party.
(Thanks, Sr. Barbara Heil!)

Shepherd’s Flock, White Plains, NY:
By tapping the resources of local businesses and parishes, Sr. Alice Conrad gathered gifts for 97 families plus 468 other children living in local shelters and agencies. Some of the donors were: Curves, Knights of Columbus, Holy Name Parish in Valhalla, Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in White Plains, and Bloomingdale’s.

One of the Sisters present at the presentation of gifts by the employees at Bloomingdale’s reported:

“The employees chose Sr. Alice and Shepherd’s Flock as their Christmas Activity.  They were given many items on ‘wish lists’ drawn up by the families.

“On December 15, at 8 am, before the store opened, executives and employees of Bloomingdale’s gathered, amid cocoa and cookies, singing ‘Sister Alice is coming to town.’

“Santa came in full regalia and some speeches were made. Santa was asked about his elves and the gifts, and then down from the escalators came about 30 employees laden with gigantic bags filled with beautifully wrapped gifts.  My estimate is that there were well over 200. Tears actually came to my eyes.  It was fantastic.”
(Thanks, Sr. Gertrude Kallenbach!)

Preston Center of Compassion, Bronx, NY:
   The Preston High School girls ran a “New Glove, Hat and Scarf Drive” from Mid-November to Mid-December. The 60+ donations were distributed via LAMP Ministry’s outreach van, which provides food along with evangelization of those in need.

In addition, CoCo (Center Of COmpassion) made 30 packs of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with two snacks and juice or Gatorade drink bags and delivered them to LAMP for distribution, as well.

(Thanks, Margaret Damo!)

Well, that “someday” finally arrived, and on a warm beautiful August day,  Jenny and John got married.  We started out the day at Arista Hair Salon in Leawood  where they did a fantastic job on hair and makeup.

Then off to one of my favorite churches , Our Lady Of Sorrows , to get married!  I can’t explain how beautiful Jenny looked on her wedding day ,as she expressed nothing but sheer joy, all day and all night long. It also needs to be noted that the three little flower girls and the three little ring bearers were the cutest ever!

One of my favorite moments of a wedding day is when the new bride and groom exit from the church, and Jenny and John did it in such a unique way.  Everyone waved colored ribbons with messages on the ribbons.  People of all ages loved those ribbons!!!!! ( and it made for really fun photos!)

The crossroads district was where we decided to go for fun and fantastic photos of Jenny and John and their great wedding party.  WOW, did we have a blast there!!!  It is SO wonderful to take photos of people in love and having fun, and that’s just what Jeff and I did .

Once at the reception the fun continued as everyone danced the night away!

What can I say except thank you Jenny and John for asking us to capture your wedding day, it was an honor and it was Amazing!

The Wedding Details:

Church: Our Lady of Sorrows

Cake: Creative Cakes

Flowers: Cains Flowers

Dress: David’s Bridal

Event Center: AMP Event Center

Wedding at Our Lady of Sorrows

I associate with

Pain and sadness

I take comfort from it

There is a certain

Contentment in despair

Sorrow holds no surprise

There is no hope in sorrow

Therefore no disappointment

I keep this feeling

Close to me

At all times

I welcome it

I embrace it

I celebrate it

there is no

confusion

there is no anxiety

Nor aspiration or determination

It just is

Nothing more

There shall be

No rules on who I am

How I should act

Or how I should live my li(f)e

Sorrow is consistent

What I am supposed to do

has no worth

For I am

Tormented and troubled

What else could

Possibly matter?

For the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich., on their feast day.

“And then there were two,” St. Augustine wrote. He was commenting upon the passage in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, when the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus and made her stand in the middle. And they asked him whether she should be stoned, in accordance with the Law of Moses. And then, after he responded, they went away one by one, until he was left alone with the woman before him. “And so there were two left— relicti sunt duo, misera et misericordia—the miserable and the merciful.”

St. Thomas Aquinas observes that “a person is said to be merciful [misericors], as being, so to speak, sorrowful at heart [miserum cor]; being affected with sorrow at the misery of another as though it were his own.” (ST I, 21, 3) Misera et misericordia: the sorrow of the one, as a whole, prompts an empathetic sorrow of heart in the other—an affective response of pity, compassion, mercy. And this affective response then leads to an effective one: “Hence it follows,” he writes, “that he endeavors to dispel the misery of this other, as if it were his.” The effective action of mercy to relieve, strengthen, heal, the misery that is seen in the other.

And so, St. Thomas says, we can appropriately attribute mercy to God. For, though he draws back from affirming that God, in his divine nature “sorrows… over the misery of others” as human beings do, which comes through a sort of defect or weakness in our nature—nevertheless God is infinitely equipped to dispel that misery, to heal that defect, through the communicating of his perfections in his infinite goodness. And so how appropriate that the mercy of God is so often affirmed throughout the Old Testament—as in that great repeated refrain of Psalm 136, “His mercy”—his chesed in Hebrew, misericordia eius in the Vulgate—”His mercy endures forever.”

But if St. Thomas hesitates to affirm the vulnerability of sorrow of heart in the divine nature, we have no such hesitation when it comes to the Word made flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ. For when he assumed the fullness of our human nature, he was made like us in all things but sin. Quite unable to be pierced in his divine nature, he took on a heart that could be pierced—so that it could be pierced with the compassionate sorrow of mercy, again and again, throughout his earthly life; so that it could be pierced by the soldier’s lance as he hung upon the cross; so that he might pour forth the blood and water, and his infinite grace, which is that great storehouse by which he can heal and relieve the great misery of the world.

And so there are two: misera et misericordia.

But there is another standing by his cross, as we hear again in the Gospel reading: the Virgin Mary, our Blessed Mother. Long before, she knew the mercy of the Lord, as she sang in her Magnificat. For she knew the great things that the Almighty had done for her, in the weakness of her humble humanity; and which he had done for her People for so many generations. She sang of it; she trusted in it; she commended this great mercy to others.

And she showed mercy herself. So many times when we see her in Scripture she is responding to others’ needs: to the need of Elizabeth in her pregnancy, such that Mary made that journey in haste to be with her and assist her (Luke 1:39-56); to the need of the bride and groom in Cana, when they ran out of wine and she pointed out this need to her Son (John 2:1-11).

And now, once again, she accompanies this divine Son in his great Passion, in his misery and sorrow. Her presence at the foot of the cross is itself an act of mercy: certainly the affective aspect of it, as she shared in his sorrow within her own heart, as we recalled last week under her title of Our Lady of Sorrows. And yet also effective. What could she do to relieve or heal his suffering? She could accompany him—”comforting the afflicted,” one of the seven spiritual works of mercy—offering him the warm love of her motherly presence; and keeping before his eyes this most beautiful, immaculate creature that he had made—clothed with a robe of salvation, wrapped in a mantle of justice, adorned with a diadem, bedecked with jewels.

In the movie The Passion of the Christ, we can note that, several times when she makes direct contact with him as he walks the Way of his Passion, he has collapsed upon the ground through his exertion and suffering. And her contact has the effect of strengthening him to stand back up and press forward in his salvific action. “See, mother, I make all things new!” he is depicted as saying at one point (cf. Rev. 21:5). And why not? For when he looks at her, he sees the beauty that he made in her; and he sees the beauty of what he is making in this act he is accomplishing, this Passion he is undergoing, as he redeems the world. And so her mercy toward him is not only affective but also effective, even toward our Lord: this mercy of our Mother of Mercy, at the foot of the cross.

And so there are two: misera et misericordia.

And yet, again, there are not only two, for there are others besides her at the foot of the cross. There is also St. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved; and there is St. Mary Magdalene. And both of these know in their own ways the mercy that our Lord has given to them over the course of years. We know that St. Mary Magdalene had had seven demons cast out of her (Luke 8:2): she knew the Lord’s mercy. And about St. John—though Scripture may not connect these dots explicitly—we know the mercy that he needed to receive, together with his brother: needing to be healed of vain ambition (Mark 10:35-41), and of a furious rage (Luke 9:51-56), and surely of many other things. They had received that mercy so many times—and now, there they were, with our Mother of Mercy, at the foot of our Lord’s cross.

And perhaps we note especially in their case the risk that they are taking by being there—the sacrifice that they potentially are making—so that they also may be close to this great fountain of mercy, and perhaps, in their own way, to offer mercy to him. But such is the call of mercy upon them: to respond to the one who has shown them mercy. With sacrifice, with risk, paying the price, accepting the danger, to be there at the foot of his cross.

How fitting that, when our Lord looked and saw these two, characterized by mercy—our Lady and, in this case, St. John—whom he loved and yet whom he knew had needs that would have to be met in the future—that he would give them to each other. So that each could show mercy to the other and receive it in turn. So it is that, to all the faithful, our Lady is given as a mother—as one from whom we receive mercy in this earthly life as well.

To receive mercy; to be affected by mercy, so that we perceive the other’s need and respond to it affectively in others; to be supplied, by natural means and by grace, by which we can also respond to it effectively, to strengthen and heal that need in others; even sacrificially, making the great gift of ourselves, taking that risk. This is certainly something that was seen some eight hundred years ago, in the calling of those Mercedarians, under St. Peter Nolasco and the others, as they in particular perceived the need to reach out in help to those Christians being held, kidnapped and in danger of losing their faith. And so they strove—in prayer, in their efforts of ransom, and even, if necessary, to exchange themselves into the captives’ place—this was the call of mercy upon them.

And it is the call of mercy upon us, who also have received that mercy, in so many ways we know so well; who have had our hearts softened and sensitized to the needs of others; who have been supplied with the supernatural means to reach out and touch out those sources of sorrow; and who are called to do so, even at cost to ourselves.

And so there are two: misera et misericordia. Our Lord, in his infinite mercy upon the cross; our Lady, the Mother of Mercy, beside him; and each of us, also called to be there with them. Called into a family of mercy, to stay with them always, to join with them in that work: for the sake of the Kingdom, of making all things new.

+

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CREDITS

Photography: Kyo Morishima Photography

Ceremony: Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Hamilton, NJ

Reception Venue: Nassau Inn, Princeton, NJ

Bride’s Hair and Makeup: Robert James Salon, Hamilton, NJ

Flowers: The Flower Shop of Pennington Market

DJ: Nick Burrows

Mary, though I suffer trials, nothing compares to your Immaculate Heart, pierced with pain as you gazed upon your Son, rejected and beaten by this world. Our Lady of Sorrows, be with me in my suffering. Let me know your heart, feed me with your wisdom. Help me keep my eyes ever on His Cross. Let me not turn from His wounds in fear, but remain at His feet, that I may be covered in His Precious Blood. Save me, Jesus. I offer all that I am, all that I will be, all my gifts, all my limitations, all my failures, all my sins to You. Cleanse me Lord, by the Blood of Your Cross, that I may one day join You and your beautiful Mother in Heaven. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us sinners.

Stabat Mater

At the cross her station keeping,

Mary stood in sorrow weeping 
When her Son was crucified.

While she waited in her anguish, 
Seeing Christ in torment languish, 
Bitter sorrow pierced her heart.

With what pain and desolation, 
With what noble resignation, 
Mary watched her dying Son.

Ever-patient in her yearning 
Though her tear-filled eyes were burning, 
Mary gazed upon her Son.

Who, that sorrow contemplating, 
On that passion meditating, 
Would not share the Virgin’s grief?

Christ she saw, for our salvation, 
Scourged with cruel acclamation, 
Bruised and beaten by the rod.

Christ she saw with life-blood failing, 
All her anguish unavailing, 
Saw him breathe his very last.

Mary, fount of love’s devotion, 
Let me share with true emotion 
All the sorrow you endured.

Virgin, ever interceding, 
Hear me in my fervent pleading: 
Fire me with your love of Christ.

Mother, may this prayer be granted: 
That Christ’s love may be implanted
 In the depths of my poor soul.

At the cross, your sorrow sharing, 
All your grief and torment bearing, 
Let me stand and mourn with you.

Fairest maid of all creation, 
Queen of hope and consolation, 
Let me feel your grief sublime.

Virgin, in your love befriend me, 
At the Judgment Day defend me. 
Help me by your constant prayer.

Savior, when my life shall leave me,
Through your mother’s prayers
 receive me
 With the fruits of victory.

Virgin of all virgins blest! 
Listen to my fond request: 
Let me share your grief divine.

Let me, to my latest breath, 
In my body bear the death 
Of your dying Son divine.

Wounded with His every wound, 
Steep my soul till it has swooned 
In His very Blood away.

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh, 
Lest in flames I burnand die, 
In His awe-full judgment day.

Savior, when my life shall leave me,
Through your mother’s prayers 
receive me
 With the fruits of victory.

While my body here decays 
May my soul your goodness praise, 
Safe in heaven eternally. Amen Alleluia.

Image via Wikipedia

Before I converted to Catholicism 11 years ago, I did not consider the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  I did not understand the sacrifices that she agreed when the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38) occurred.

Fortunately, the Church remembers the Seven Sorrows of Mary and today is the day in the liturgical year to reflect on them:

The prophecy of Simeon
The flight into Egypt
The Loss of Jesus in the Temple
Mary meets Jesus on the way to the cross
Jesus Dies on the Cross
Mary receives the dead body of her son
Jesus is laid in the tomb

Reading the versus for each of these sorrows is a powerful reminder of the sacrifices made by Mary.  As a parent, it is hard to imagine her feelings for any of these sorrows and unfortunately, she was told by Simeon of the fate of her son and had to live with that knowledge for 29 years as Jesus grew to become a man and later began his ministry.

In one of the Gospel readings today (audio link) from John 19:26-27:

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

In the Gospel of Luke, Mary is portrayed as a willing participant in God’s plan.  Her faith was clear when she agreed to give birth to Jesus.  Mary was obedient.

God calls us to be obedient both in the Old Testament in Exodus 20 and reiterated in the New Testament by Jesus in Matthew 22:37.

Obedience is such an interesting, powerful and scary word.  I have been disobedient (and will be again) to our Lord.  For me, it is the loss of control (or perceived loss of control) that I often an unable to handle with grace and humility.  Through my daily reflections, prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit, I believe I am learning obedience.

Perhaps as a father I am more able to understand the impact of disobedience.  My 8 year old son and I have a frequent battle over reading.  His school sets a goal for him to read at home almost every day for 30 minutes.

What does my son do when I remind him to read?  He questions it:  Dad, why do I have to read?  I then proceed to explain to him a litany of reasons why this skill is vital to his future capability as an adult.

It is ironic to me that I do exactly the same thing my son does when my father, our Lord, calls me to do (or) not do something.  I know when I am disobedient to the teachings of the Lord because I feel it inside my gut – the signal that my spirit is no longer in communion with God’s will.  Yet for so much of my life, I allowed myself to be disobedient every time I chose my will over the will of the Lord for me.

The key teaching from Jesus that I often rationalize away is that the Lord loves us and has the best intentions to encourage our salvation.  It is like when I attempt to explain to my son that my intention for him to practice reading comes out of my love for him.

This image of our Lord as my Father is powerful because I can learn to be a pious and good Father from a multitude of examples from the Bible.  I look for situations when the Lord is compassionate, forgiving, loving and kind and I do likewise.  I remember stories where a disciple was obedient and did not question the intent of God’s will for his life.

Today was the first day of That Man is You and I was moved by the opening stories.  I’ll spend some time reflecting an writing on the weekly lessons.  We have 22 more of them over the next 9 months.

Please send me your prayer intentions for yourself or your loved ones and I will add them to my digital prayer intention book (the PrayerJournal app for iPhone).

In Christ’s name, I pray for you.

Today’s Notes

• The History and Seven Graces of the Seven Sorrows of Mary (cantuar.blogspot.com)
• Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (onecatholicnews.wordpress.com)
• Do you know the 7 Sorrows of Mary? (cantuar.blogspot.com)
• His mother stood by the cross (deaconjohn1987.wordpress.com)
• Our Lady of Sorrows (frstephensmuts.wordpress.com)
• Why Celebrate a Sorrowful Mother? A Reflection by Mark Miravalle (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
• Why Celebrate a Sorrowful Mother? (onecatholicnews.wordpress.com)
• Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (franciscansisterspeoria.wordpress.com)

Today is the 40th anniversary of Greenpeace, founded by 17 activists in Vancouver who were protesting against offshore nuclear testing in Alaska.

Famous people who were born on this day: 27th President of the United States William Taft (1857), actor Tommy Lee Jones (1946), and British mystery writer Agatha Christie (1890).

It is Battle of Britain Day, in remembrance of the climactic WWII air campaign of the German Luftwaffe against the British RAF (1940).

Slovakia celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Spain observes Nuestra Señora de la Bien Aparecida.

Happy Independence Day to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Today, I went to 9 a.m. mass.  I had been so busy with work the past two days that I did not go – I felt I had to get my work done in order to justify my thirty minute absence.  This morning, I awakened feeling totally overwhelmed – as though I were about to succumb to a giant wave.  Needless to say, I dropped everything at 8:55, and ran to meet Jesus.

Normally, I enter church through one of the side doors in the front.  Today, for some reason, I decided that I preferred to sit in the back of church, so I entered through the rear doors.   As I approached, I noticed a woman walking a few steps behind me, tears in her eyes.  I paused, turned around and asked her if she was all right.  She began to sob, so I offered my arms to hug this stranger.  She gripped me tight and told me her worries and troubles – her deepest fears.  I asked her to tell me her name so that I could pray for her.  She told me that her name was “Mary,”  and that she had just moved here from a place thousands of miles away.

Mary is a single parent who returned to the Church last Easter after being away for many years.  When I learned that her name was Mary, and that she was filled with sorrow at the moment, I told her that today is the feast of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.  I know that I was supposed to meet her today.  I left feeling as though I wished I could do so much more to ease her pain.  How often we underestimate the value and importance of prayer – how often we trivialize it.

I hope that I see her again.  I also hope that she will be o.k.  Just like me, Mary was feeling overwhelmed and burdened.  Just like me, she had run to church to see Jesus, knowing that He is the giver of True Peace. I  know that whatever happens with Mary’s health concerns – whether or not she receives physical healing – God has already shown His amazing love to her in that she has been spiritually healed.  Her faith was returned to her by the grace and mercy of God.   I cannot think of a more precious gift!

Today is the day that we commemorate Our Lady of Sorrows. Fr. Longenecker reflects on the seven sorrows of Mary in order to help grieving mothers:

So often in counseling or the confessional I come across grieving mothers. Mothers who are so terrible concerned for their children who are straying–mothers upset about their childrens’ loss of faith. Mothers worried about their children’s choice of spouse, their grandchildren’s religious education, their children’s career choice. You name it.

The typical male response is, “Get over it.” But I realize that the mother has a bond with the child that the father doesn’t really understand. Mama finds it difficult–very difficult to let go.

There’s a little line at the heart of Arthur Miller’s play, The Death of a Salesman where Willy Loman’s wife, Linda sits on the stage alone. Her sons have both turned out to be losers. One she hasn’t heard of for years. The other one is a layabout and a phony. Then her husband commits suicide. In her grief she says, “Life is a casting off.”

So it is. Life is about letting go, not grabbing. We must, in the end, let go of all things and go out of this world naked and alone–just as we came into it. Life is a preparation for this final letting go, and therefore we should start practicing how. Throw the lumber overboard! Life is a casting off.

This is where the devotion of the Seven Sorrows of Mary can help women. In the seven sorrows the Blessed Mother struggles to cast off. Of all women she has an even closer bond to her child than others. Because she has the perfect bond with her son, the tearing away of motherhood is even more poignant and painful. Identifying with her sorrows through this devotion can help women make sense of their own suffering with their families.

How does this work? Like this: First sorrow–the prophecy of Simeon that a sword would pierce her own heart also. Women who are suffering begin to realize that this special mother’s suffering is a way to draw closer to Christ and through their suffering a sword will pierce their own heart, and that this is part of the mystery of being one with Christ.  Continue Reading…

The Word on Fire Blog also has a lovely reflection by Fr. Steve:

The poet Wendell Berry reflects that for parents, the only way is hard.  We who give life give pain.  There is no help.  Yet we who give pain give love; by pain we learn the extremity of love…  In other words, it may be different in another world, but in this world, all love requires a sacrifice, and with that sacrifice there is inevitable pain.  To reject sacrifice as the condition for the possibility of love is to live an essentially loveless existence.  

Berry continues his reflection with this insight: I read of Christ crucified, the only begotten Son sacrificed to flesh and time and all our woe.  He died and rose, but who does not tremble for his pain and loneliness, and the darkness of the sixth hour?  Unless we grieve like Mary at his grave, giving him up as lost, no Easter morning comes…  Continue reading…

The Blessed Mother, as Our Lady of Sorrows, can help us through every suffering, but we could help her out by not bringing suffering upon ourselves.

We live in a suffering world.  A world full of war, famine, natural disasters, poverty, disease, oppression, loneliness, aimlessness, bad choices.  Everyone suffers in some way, shape or form.  Suffering is a part of life; it’s a part of being human.

In this suffering, the Church calls us to look to Christ on the Cross and to our Blessed Mother.  In his suffering, Christ gave his mother to St. John and to the rest of us.  If our every need, temptation and suffering, she is there.

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.  We are asked to contemplate upon the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, specifically the many sorrows she experienced.  And in doing so to unite our own sufferings to her sorrows and take them to the Cross.

But, we need to do more than just unite our sufferings with the Blessed Mother’s.  We need to examine our lives and determine which of our sufferings are created by us; which ones are self-inflicted.

There are those who are sick but do not take the steps necessary to get well; those with addictions that will not seek help; those with difficult relationships who refuse to reconcile them; those who are enmeshed in sinful behavior but will not amend their ways.  There is just a lot of suffering that goes on in our lives that we bring upon ourselves.

But, even if our suffering is self-inflicted, Our Lady of Sorrows can help us.  If we ask her to show us which of our sufferings can be prevented and then pray that we are given the grace, through her intercession, to take the steps necessary to overcome the behavior causing the suffering.

Bad choices lead to suffering.  A life lived separated from Christ leads to suffering.  Trying to solve our personal problems without recourse to the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Mother, and the angels and saints, leads to suffering.

We can this very day eliminate a great deal of suffering in our lives if we just figure out which of our sufferings are our own creation and which of them have been given to us by God as a grace to lead us and others to eternal life.

But first we must go to Mary.  We must go to Our Lady of Sorrows.

Catholic Culture has a great overview of this feast day, as well as some appropriate prayers and devotional exercises.

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

The Madonna in Sorrow

Gift: Knowledge – With the gift of knowledge, we understand the meaning of God’s Revelation, especially as expressed in the life and words of Jesus Christ. A person with knowledge is always learning more about the scriptures and Tradition.

Reading:  “(and you yourself a sword will pierce)^* so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  (Luke 2:35)

Observation:  The footnotes for this verse do not say why the beginning is placed in placed in parentheses, but my understanding is that it means that the original source of this story about the presentation of Jesus in the temple does not include this part.  For me, this morning it was if Luke was writing it directly to me.  From the moment I saw that it was the Memorial to Our Lady of Sorrows, I could feel that God was trying to tell me something about my sin.  I made it to my journal this morning, so I am happy to say that my sin did not prevail over me this morning, but I must stay vigilant and rely on the Virgin Mary’s intercession to help me conquer my sin.

Personification: Patience  I am thankful to God that he is patient with me, and I will show my thankfulness by patiently waiting for others to join me at Bible study today.  The first reading tells me to use the gift that God has given me, and I will hopefully be able to use it today and everyday for the rest of my life.  The grace of God that keeps me from sin, will also keep me in his Word.

Prayer:  Lord, please continue to shower your grace over me, because without your grace I am stuck in my sin.  I ask this, as always, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit.  Amen.

Related articles

• Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (franciscansisterspeoria.wordpress.com)
• The Blessed Virgin Mary “has experienced every joy and pain imaginable” (insightscoop.typepad.com)
• Story of the Miraculous Medal (catholichomeeducationnetwork.wordpress.com)

The sufferings which Christ endured atoned for all the sins of the human race. God suffered as a perfectly innocent man. And He suffered in body and soul more deeply than we can imagine. The Son offered to the Father the dereliction of His apparent abandonment.

God made the Virgin Mary the mother of the sacrificial Lamb. She raised Him with sublime tenderness. Then she had to witness the agony by which He consummated His mission. The Virgin Mary shared in the most intimate way in the dereliction of the crucified Son of God.

More than anyone else, she knew the purity of His innocence and the injustice of His death. More than anyone else, she sympathized with her Son’s intimacy with the heavenly Father. She stood closest when the Lord cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Can anyone doubt that she would have preferred to die, rather than hear this?

But our Lady of sorrows gives us hope precisely because she knew such indescribable motherly pain. She has faced everything that we must endure; none of our sufferings are foreign to her. She greets them all with her patient faith.

She trusted in God even as she held her Son’s dead body in her arms. In the end, things turned out okay.

Today we celebrate

The first sorrow of Mary:  The prophecy of Simeon

Let us pray for all those mothers who have concerns for their infant children.  Hail Mary…

The second sorrow of Mary: The flight into Egypt

Let us pray for all those mothers who have been forced to leave their homes.  Hail Mary…

The third sorrow of Mary:  The loss of the Child Jesus in the temple

Let us pray for all those mothers whose children are missing.  Hail Mary…

The fourth sorrow of Mary:  The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross

Let us pray for all those mothers who witness their children suffer and are powerless to help.  Hail Mary…

The fifth sorrow of Mary:  The Crucifixion

Let us pray for all those mothers who have watched their children die.  Hail Mary…

The sixth sorrow of Mary:  The taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross

Let us pray for all those mothers have held their lifeless children in their arms.  Hail Mary…

The seventh sorrow of Mary:  The burial of Jesus

Let us pray for all those mothers who have lost a child.  Hail Mary…

 O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!  Anne

]]> http://franciscansisterspeoria.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/memorial-of-our-lady-of-sorrows/ Thu, 15 Sep 2011 08:00:39 +0000 Sister Veronica http://franciscansisterspeoria.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/memorial-of-our-lady-of-sorrows/ http://ordokalendar.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/our-lady-of-sorrows/ Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:53:35 +0000 zaK http://ordokalendar.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/our-lady-of-sorrows/

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

Perfect love leads a man on to perfect fear. Such a man fears and keeps to God’s will, not from fear of punishment, not to avoid condemnation, but because he has tasted the sweetness of being with God; he fears he may fall away from it.  — St. Dorotheos of Gaza  http://ewtn.com/devotionals/inspiration.htm#15#ixzz1XvPfc5VS

First Reading:  1 Timothy 4:12-16
Psalm 111:7-8, 9, 10:  How great are the works of the Lord!
Gospel:  John 19:25-27 or Luke 2:33-35

John 19:25-27

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Or Luke 2:33-35

Jesus’ father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
and you yourself a sword will pierce
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/091511.cfm

Reflection:  Does suffering or sorrow weigh you down? The cross brings us face to face with Jesus’ suffering. He was alone. All his disciples had deserted him except for his mother and three women along with John, the beloved disciple. The apostles had fled in fear. But Mary, the mother of Jesus and three other women who loved him were present at the cross. They demonstrate the power of love for overcoming fear (1 John 4:18).

At the beginning of Jesus’ birth, when he was presented in the temple, Simeon had predicted that Mary would suffer greatly – a sword will pierce through your own soul (see Luke 2:33-35). Many have called Mary a martyr in spirit. Bernard of Clairvaux said: Jesus “died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his.” Mary did not despair in her sorrow and loss, since her faith and hope were sustained by her trust in God and the love she had for her Son. Jesus, in his grief and suffering, did not forget his mother. He entrusted her care to John, as well as John to her. No loss, no suffering can keep us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35-39). Paul the Apostle says that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:3). We can find no greater proof of God’s love for us than the willing sacrifice of his Son on the cross. Do you know the love that enables you to bear your cross and to endure trial and difficulties with faith and hope in God?

“Lord Jesus Christ, by your death on the cross you have won pardon for us and freedom from the tyranny of sin and death. May I live in the joy and freedom of your victory over sin and death.”  http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/sep15.htm

Saint of the Day:  Our Lady of Sorrows

For a while there were two feasts in honor of the Sorrowful Mother: one going back to the 15th century, the other to the 17th century. For a while both were celebrated by the universal Church: one on the Friday before Palm Sunday, the other in September.

The principal biblical references to Mary’s sorrows are in Luke 2:35 and John 19:26-27. The Lucan passage is Simeon’s prediction about a sword piercing Mary’s soul; the Johannine passage relates Jesus’ words to Mary and to the beloved disciple.

Many early Church writers interpret the sword as Mary’s sorrows, especially as she saw Jesus die on the cross. Thus, the two passages are brought together as prediction and fulfillment.

St. Ambrose (December7) in particular sees Mary as a sorrowful yet powerful figure at the cross. Mary stood fearlessly at the cross while others fled. Mary looked on her Son’s wounds with pity, but saw in them the salvation of the world. As Jesus hung on the cross, Mary did not fear to be killed but offered herself to her persecutors.  http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1139

More Saints of the Day

• St. Aichardus
• St. Aprus
• St. Vitus
• St. Valerian
• St. Emilas & Jeremiah
• St. Eutropia
• St. Hernan
• St. Joseph Abibos
• St. Leobinus
• St. Mamilian
• Bl. Roland de’Medici
• St. Ribert
• St. Ritbert
• St. Nicomedes
• St. Maximus
• St. Melitina
• St. Merinus

From a Lasallian Prayer:  Let me be the change I want to see.  Even if I am not the light, I can be the spark.