15 September 2021
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Our meditations today closely follow those of yesterday. Mary is “blessed” because she believed in the goodness of God, in doing his will. She is also blessed because she brought Jesus to others. This two-fold optic enables us to appreciate Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows, the memorial we celebrate today.
The seven sorrowful events in her life are not meant solely as contemplations of past events. They are also contemplations of God, who today as yesterday, saves us through Christ in the Spirit. That is another aspect of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of Jesus, the feast we contemplated yesterday.
During the sorrowful moments Mary underwent during her life, especially as she stood beneath the Cross, as described in today’s Gospel, she was completely faithful to God’s will, and therefore her sorrows magnified the glory of the Cross. She is therefore the model for us to follow.
She also brings Jesus to us by showing us by her faith how we are called upon to respond to the crosses we encounter. She shows us, though the contemplation of these seven events in her life, that united with him, as she always was, we can learn how to become companions in his work of salvation for all. Hail Mary, full of grace, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Pray also that we, like you, bring Jesus to others, particularly those who suffer in our world today.