Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Catholic Online

"I will hear their weeping, their sorrow, 

and will remedy and alleviate all their 

multiple sufferings, necessities and misfortunes."

An elder Mexican man makes his way to Mass in the early morning twilight of December 9, 1531. He is a peasant, a simple farmer and laborer, and he has no education. Born under Aztec rule, he is a convert to Catholicism, and each step he takes this morning is a step into history.

The morning quiet is broken by a strange music that he will later describe as the beautiful sound of birds. Diverting his path to investigate the sound, Juan Diego comes face to face with a radiant apparition of the Virgin Mary.

Juan Diego is 57 years old. He has just encountered the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill, the site of a former Aztec Temple. His wife has died two years earlier, and he lives with his elder uncle, scratching his living from the earth as a humble peasant farmer. Why should this unlearned, man be chosen by Our Lady to carry a message to the Bishop? Perhaps because she would find none other as humble as Juan Diego.

Juan Diego is dazzled by the incredible beauty and miraculous nature of Our Lady's appearance. She appears as a native princess to him, and her words sound more beautiful than the sweetest music ever made.

Our Lady calms the startled traveler, and assures him of who she is. She instructs Juan Diego to visit his bishop and ask that a temple be built on the site of her appearance, so that she will have a place to hear petitions and to heal the suffering of the Mexican people. "Now go and put forth your best effort," Our Lady instructs.

Visibly shaken, Juan Diego approaches the Bishop who is initially very skeptical of his account. What did this peasant truly want? Does he merely seek attention? Notoriety? Money? Or is he possessed by demons? Has Juan Diego been tricked by the Devil?

The Bishop patiently listens to Juan Diego's accounts and dismisses him. The humble farmer has failed.

Juan Diego begins to doubt himself. He returns to Tepeyac Hill where he hopes for some conformation of what he's experienced. Indeed, Our Lady does not disappoint, for she appears again, as radiant as before. Juan Diego tells Our Lady what she already knows, that the Bishop did not believe him. She instructs him to return the next morning and ask again.

The Bishop is beside himself. Why did this peasant insist on telling this story? How could he know if the peasant was lying or perhaps insane? At their second meeting, the Bishop asks for a sign. Juan Diego makes a promise he won't keep, saying he will return the very next morning with a sign from Our Lady.

But that evening, Juan Diego returns home to find his uncle, Juan Bernadino, who is 68 years old, and suddenly, terribly ill. The illness is known to the people there and it brings a burning fever so hot, it's almost always fatal. Juan Diego cannot leave his uncle's bedside to keep his pledge to the Bishop. He spends two days with his uncle, trying to save him. When it becomes apparent his uncle is about to die, he leaves to find a priest who can prepare him for death.

Frightened and saddened, Juan Diego sets off in a great hurry, time is running out, and Juan Diego is afraid his uncle will die without a last confession. On the road, in his way, Our Lady appears for a third time. Upset and afraid, Juan explains himself. Our Lady replies, "Am I not your mother? ... Are you not in the crossing of my arms?" she asks.

Shamed by the admonishment, but emboldened by Our Lady's presence, Juan Diego asks for the sign he promised to the Bishop. He knows he is wrong to doubt Our Lady. Juan Diego is instructed to climb to the top of Tepeyac Hill where he will find flowers. He is to pick the flowers there, which are unlike any he has seen before, and he is to keep them hidden in his tilma until he reaches the Bishop.
Juan Diego is skeptical again. It's December, what flowers could grow on the summit of the hill in this cold?

Nevertheless, he obeys and atop the hill he finds a great number of flowering roses which he picks and hastily gathers into his cloak.

For the third time, Juan Diego is ushered in to see the Bishop. The skeptical cleric has waited for two days to see what sign Our Lady has for him. Juan opens his tilma, letting the roses cascade to the floor. But more than the roses, both men are astonished to see what is painted on his humble tilma - an exquisite image of Our Lady.

In the image, she stands as she appeared, a native princess with high cheekbones. Her head is bowed and her hands are folded in prayer to God. On her blue cloak, the stars are arranged as they appeared in the morning darkness at the hour of her first apparition.

Under her feet, is a great crescent moon, a symbol of the old Aztec religion. The message is clear, she is more powerful than the Aztec gods, yet she herself is not God.

At the same time Our Lady is appearing to Juan Diego, and directing him to cut the flowers on Tepeyac Hill, she also appears to his uncle, Juan Bernadino who believes he is about to die. As soon as she appears, the fever stops and Juan Bernadino feels well again. She tells Juan Bernadino, she wants to be known as "Santa Maria, de Guadalupe."

Our Lady of Guadalupe did not appear again, for her mission was complete. The temple was built and remains there today, in what is now a suburb of Mexico City. Juan Diego's tilma, woven from cactus fibers, with a shelf-life of just 30 years at best, remains miraculously preserved.

The symbolism of Our Lady's dress is obvious to over eight million Native Mexicans, whom all speak different languages. She is brighter than the sun, more powerful than any Aztec god, yet she is not a god herself, and she prays to one greater than her. Her gown is adorned with stars in the correct position as in the night sky, and the gold fringe of her cloak mirrors the surrounding countryside. Millions of natives will convert at the news of what has happened. Millions more will make pilgrimages over the next five centuries to see the miraculous tilma, and to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe. Great miracles continue to occur, even today.

On October 12, 1945, Pope Pius XII, decreed Our Lady of Guadalupe to be "Patroness of all the Americas." Her feast day is December 12, and it is a Holy Day of Obligation in Mexico.
Our Lady of Guadalupe had this to say to Juan Diego:

"Know for certain, least of my sons, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near and far, the Master of heaven and earth. It is my earnest wish that a temple be built here to my honor. Here I will demonstrate, I will exhibit, I will give all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your merciful mother, the merciful mother of all of you who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me, of those who cry to me, of those who seek me, of those who have confidence in me. Here I will hear their weeping, their sorrow, and will remedy and alleviate all their multiple sufferings, necessities and misfortunes."

Published:

December 12, 2024, 4:25 AM

December 12, 2023, 6:30 AM

December 12, 2016, 7:12 AM

Immaculate Conception

The Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Solemnity)

A feast called the Conception of Mary arose in the Eastern Church in the seventh century. It came to the West in the eighth century. In the eleventh century it received its present name, the Immaculate Conception. In the eighteenth century it became a feast of the universal Church.

In 1854, Pius IX solemnly proclaimed: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.”

It took a long time for this doctrine to develop. While many Fathers and Doctors of the Church considered Mary the greatest and holiest of the saints, they often had difficulty in seeing Mary as sinless—either at her conception or throughout her life. This is one of the Church teachings that arose more from the piety of the faithful than from the insights of brilliant theologians. Even such champions of Mary as Bernard and Thomas Aquinas could not see theological justification for this teaching.

Two Franciscans, William of Ware and Blessed John Duns Scotus, helped develop the theology. They point out that Mary’s Immaculate Conception enhances Jesus’ redemptive work. Other members of the human race are cleansed from original sin after birth. In Mary, Jesus’ work was so powerful as to prevent original sin at the outset.


Comment:

In Luke 1:28 the angel Gabriel, speaking on God’s behalf, addresses Mary as “full of grace” (or “highly favored”). In that context this phrase means that Mary is receiving all the special divine help necessary for the task ahead. However, the Church grows in understanding with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit led the Church, especially non-theologians, to the insight that Mary had to be the most perfect work of God next to the Incarnation. Or rather, Mary’s intimate association with the Incarnation called for the special involvement of God in Mary’s whole life. The logic of piety helped God’s people to believe that Mary was full of grace and free of sin from the first moment of her existence. Moreover, this great privilege of Mary is the highlight of all that God has done in Jesus. Rightly understood, the incomparable holiness of Mary shows forth the incomparable goodness of God.

Quote:

“[Mary] gave to the world the Life that renews all things, and she was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.

“It is no wonder, then, that the usage prevailed among the holy Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin, fashioned by the Holy Spirit into a kind of new substance and new creature. Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the splendors of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is, on God’s command, greeted by an angel messenger as ‘full of grace’ (cf. Luke 1:28). To the heavenly messenger she replies: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word’ (Luke 1:38)” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 56).

Published:

December 08, 2024, 4:04 AM

December 08, 2023, 6:18 AM

December 08, 2010, 6:19 AM

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

“Blessed are those who hear 

the Word of God 

and observe it.” 

(Luke 11:28)

The Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple recalls – according to the apocryphal gospels, the day on which Mary, while still a child, was brought to the temple in Jerusalem to be offered to God. The Church wants to emphasize not so much the historical event in itself, of which there is no trace in the Gospels, but the total gift that Mary made of herself, by listening: “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it” (Lk. 11:28). This experience prepared the young girl from Nazareth to become the “temple of the Son of God”.

The celebration of this feast dates back to the 6th century in the East with the dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary the New built by the Emperor Justinian I near the ruins of the temple in Jerusalem. There is evidence that various monasteries in Italy celebrated the feast in the 9th century. It was not until the 15th century that it was included in the Roman Missal.

This is also the on which the Church celebrates the World Day of Cloistered Life, established by Pope Pius XII in 1953.

While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother”. (Mt. 12:46-50)

Bonds of love, not of blood

For the Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the liturgy proposes the passage from Matthew that speaks about how we are “related” to Jesus. It is a relationship not formed by blood, but by imitation: “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother”. To become a member of “His family”, one must do so not by blood or belonging to a particular religion. Rather, it is a free and personal choice that translates into a commitment to do the will of the Father.

Mary, the first disciple

Confirming what has just been said, Jesus Himself said this in responding thus to a woman who was praising His Mother: “ ‘Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.’ He replied, ‘Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.’ ” Mary is the woman who knows how to listen, who knows how to contemplate, who knows how to refer everything to her Son – “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn. 2:5). Mary is the One who never abandoned her Son Jesus, not even along the way of the Cross. She “stood” under the Cross. She is a disciple who never abandons the Lord Jesus, who always “stands behind” Him.

Mary, model for Christians

All of this can help us imitate the Virgin Mary. Every Christian is called to look at Mary so as to learn from her, to entrust themselves to her intercession and to guard the “purity of the faith” against any idols that surround us.

Prayer

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand,

sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/liturgical-holidays/presentation-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-.html

Published:

November 21, 2024, 4:30 AM

Our Lady of the Pillar

Our Lady of the Pillar

Our Lady of the Pillar (Spanish: Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary for her miraculous appearance in Zaragoza, Spain at the time of the emergence of Christianity. She is the Patroness of Spain, the Spanish Civil Guard and the Hispanic world. Her shrine is the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar situated by the Ebro river.

According to ancient Spanish tradition, on October 12, 40 AD, in the early days of Christianity, James the Greater, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, was preaching the Gospel in what was then the pagan land of Caesaraugusta (now Zaragoza), in the Roman province of Hispania. He was disheartened with his mission, having made only a few converts. While he was praying by the banks of the Ebro River with some of his disciples, Mary miraculously appeared before him atop a pillar accompanied by angels. Mary assured James that the people would eventually be converted and their faith would be as strong as the pillar she was standing on. She gave him the pillar as a symbol and a wooden image of herself. James was also instructed to build a chapel on the spot where she left the pillar.

It is generally believed that Mary would have appeared to James through bilocation, as she was still living either in Ephesus or Jerusalem at the time of this event. She is believed to have died three to fifteen years after Jesus' death. After establishing the church, James returned to Jerusalem with some of his disciples where he became a martyr, beheaded in 44 AD under Herod Agrippa. His disciples allegedly returned his body to Spain.

The apparition of Our Lady of the Pillar is a widely accepted sacred tradition. Popes from earliest times issued Papal Bulls attesting to the authenticity of the shrine and the appearance of the Virgin Mary. Pope Calixtus III issued a bull in 1456 encouraging pilgrimage to the Lady of the Pillar. It acknowledged the miracle of its foundation and the miracles that had taken place in the Spanish shrine. It was also through this bull that the name Lady of the Pillar was confirmed.

So many contradictions had arisen concerning the miraculous origin of the church that during the reign of Pope Innocent XIII Spain appealed to the Holy See to settle the controversy. After careful investigation, the twelve cardinals, in whose hands the affair rested, adopted the following account, which was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites on August 7, 1723, and has since been inserted in the lessons of the office of the feast of our Lady of the Pillar, celebrated on October 12:

"Of all the places that Spain offers for the veneration of the devout, the most illustrious is doubtless the sanctuary consecrated to God under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, under the title of our Lady of the Pillar, at Saragossa."

"According to ancient and pious tradition, St. James the Greater, led by Providence into Spain, spent some time at Saragossa. He there received a signal favor from the Blessed Virgin. As he was praying with his disciples one night, upon the banks of the Ebro, as the same tradition informs us, the Mother of God, who still lived, appeared to him, and commanded him to erect an oratory in that place. The apostle delayed not to obey this injunction, and with the assistance of his disciples soon constructed a small chapel. In the course of time a larger church was built and dedicated, which, with the dedication of Saint Saviour's, is kept as a festival in the city and Diocese of Saragossa on the 4th of October."

Pope Clement XII allowed the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar all over the Spanish Empire in 1730. As the date coincides with the discovery of the Americas, the lady was later named as Patroness of the Hispanic World.

Our Lady of the Pillar with the pillar draped with a special manto (mantle) made with paper origami
A closer look at the manto made of 1,536 paper origami pieces by a group of origami enthusiasts from Zaragoza

The pillar left by the Virgin Mary is presently enshrined in the same but larger Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar. It is believed to be the same pillar given and promised by Mary, in spite of numerous disasters that beset the church. A fire in 1434 burned down the church that preceded the present basilica.

The image of the Blessed Virgin Mary may or may not be the original. Some reports state that the original wooden image was destroyed when the church burned down in 1434, contradicting other reports that it is still the original statue. The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is made of wood and stands 39 centimetres (15 in) tall while the 6 feet (1.8 m) pillar is made of jasper. The statue depicts Mary with the Child Jesus on her left arm, who has a dove sitting on his left palm. Since the 16th century, the pillar is usually draped in a skirt-like cover called manto (in English: mantle). As a whole, it is protected by a bronze case and then another case of silver.[12] The image was canonically crowned in 1905 during the reign of Pope Pius X.

The feast of Our Lady of the Pillar is celebrated on 12 October and she is the Patroness of the Hispanic peoples and the Spanish Civil Guard. A grand nine-day festival known as Fiestas del Pilar is celebrated in Zaragoza every year in her honor. The feast of the Lady of the Pillar is also a national holiday in Spain as it coincides with the Fiesta Nacional de España, which commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492. - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Published:

October 20, 2024, 4:13 AM

October 12, 2015, 6:09 AM

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary

The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October in the General Roman Calendar. 7 October is the anniversary of the decisive victory of the combined fleet of the Holy League of 1571 over the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto. In the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the feast is celebrated on 7 October, under the title The Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

According to Dominican tradition, in 1206, Dominic de Guzmán was at the Monastery of Our Lady of Prouille, in France, attempting to convert the Albigensians back to the Catholic faith. The young priest had little success until one day he received a vision of the Blessed Virgin, who gave him the rosary as a tool against heretics. The story of Dominic's vision was recorded by Alanus de Rupe. This traditional origin for the Rosary was generally accepted until the 15th century, when the Bollandists concluded that the account originated with the account recorded by Alanus, two hundred years after Dominic's death.

Mary had been honored in the West under the title "Our Lady of Victory" from at least the thirteenth century. Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester built the first shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Victory in thanks for the Catholic victory over the Albigensians at the Battle of Muret on September 12, 1213. In thanksgiving for victory at the Battle of Bouvines in July 1214, Philip Augustus of France founded the Abbey of Notre Dame de la Victoire, between Senlis and Mont l'Evêque.

In the East, the title "Our Lady of Victory" is even older. The feast of Our Lady of Victory, on February 25, commemorates the deliverance of the city of Constantinople "from the siege of the Saracens by the aid of the Blessed Virgin, A.D. 621."

In 1571, Pope Pius V organized a coalition of forces from Spain and smaller Christian kingdoms, republics and military orders, to rescue Christian outposts in Cyprus, particularly the Venetian outpost at Famagusta which, however, surrendered after a long siege on 1 August before the Christian forces set sail. On 7 October 1571, the Holy League, a coalition of southern European Catholic maritime states, sailed from Messina, Sicily, and met a powerful Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Lepanto. Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory, and led a rosary procession in Rome. Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory in order to commemorate the victory at Lepanto, which he attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

After about five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece, the combined navies of the Papal States, Venice and Spain managed to stop the Ottoman navy, slowing the Ottoman advance to the west and denying them access to the Atlantic Ocean and the Americas. If the Ottomans had won, there was a real possibility that an invasion of Italy could have followed so that the Ottoman sultan, already claiming to be emperor of the Romans, would have been in possession of both New and Old Rome. Combined with the Great Siege of Malta (1565) and the unfolding events in Morocco where the Sa'adids successfully spurned the Ottoman advances, it confined Turkish naval power to the eastern Mediterranean. Although the Ottoman Empire was able to build more ships, it never fully recovered from the loss of trained sailors and marines, and was never again the Mediterranean naval power it had become the century before when Constantinople fell.

In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast to Feast of the Holy Rosary, to be celebrated on the first Sunday of October. The Dominican friar Juan Lopez in his 1584 book on the rosary states that the feast of the rosary was offered "in memory and in perpetual gratitude of the miraculous victory that the Lord gave to his Christian people that day against the Turkish armada".

In 1671 the observance of this festival was extended by Clement X to the whole of Spain, and somewhat later Clement XI, after the victory over the Turks gained by Prince Eugene in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716 (the feast of Our Lady of the Snows), commanded the feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal church.

Leo XIII raised the feast to the rank of a double of the second class and added to the Litany of Loreto the invocation "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary". On this feast, in every church in which the Rosary confraternity has been duly erected, a plenary indulgence toties quoties is granted upon certain conditions to all who visit therein the Rosary chapel or statue of Our Lady. This has been called the "Portiuncula" of the Rosary.

Pius X in 1913 changed the date to 7 October, as part of his effort to restore celebration of the liturgy of the Sundays. In 1960 under Pope John XXIII it is listed under the title Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary; and under the 1969 liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI Our Lady of the Rosary is mentioned as a mandatory memorial. Wikipedia

Published:

October 07, 2024, 3:44 AM

Our Lady of Sorrows (Memorial)

Our Lady of Sorrows

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life. As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular Roman Catholic devotion. In common religious Catholic imagery, the Blessed Virgin Mary is portrayed in a sorrowful and lacrimating affect, with seven daggers piercing her heart, often bleeding. Devotional prayers which consist of meditation began to elaborate on her Seven Sorrows based on the prophecy of the Rabbi Simeon. Common examples of piety under this title are Servite rosary, or the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady and the Seven Joys of Mary and more recently, "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary".

Within the Santero culture prevalent among Gay Catholics in Spain and the Philippines, the Blessed Virgin Mary under this title is widely popular. Many homosexual patrons often petition the Blessed Virgin Mary under this title often associated with grief and sorrow. Under the same Marian title, Mary is also popularly invoked as a cultural patroness among abused wives and heartbroken individuals.

The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is liturgically celebrated each 15 of September, while a feast of Friday of Sorrows was also commemorated before the changes of the Second Vatican Council.

Seven Sorrows
Mary, surrounded by the Seven Sorrows

The Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art. It is a common devotion for Catholics to say daily one Our Father and seven Hail Marys for each. These Seven Sorrows should not be confused with the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.

1    The Prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2:34–35) or the Circumcision of Christ
2   The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13)
3    The loss of the child Jesus in the Temple. (Luke 2:43–45)
4    Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary.
5    Jesus dies on the cross. (John 19:25)
6    The piercing of the side of Jesus, and Mary's receiving the body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57–59)
7    The body of Jesus is placed in the tomb. (John 19:40–42)

The feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows was originated by a provincial synod of Cologne in 1423 as a response to the iconoclast Hussites. It was designated for the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter. It had the title: Commemoratio angustiae et doloris B. Mariae V.. Before the 16th century, the feast was celebrated only in parts of northern Europe. Earlier, in 1233, seven youths in Tuscany founded the Servite Order (also known as the "Servite Friars", or the "Order of the Servants of Mary"). Five years later, they took up the sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross, as the principal devotion of their order. Over the centuries several devotions, and even orders, arose around meditation on Mary's Sorrows in particular. The Servites developed the two most common devotions to Our Lady's Sorrows, namely the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows and the Black Scapular of the Seven Dolours of Mary. The Black Scapular is a symbol of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is associated with the Servite Order. Most devotional scapulars have requirements regarding ornamentation or design. The devotion of the Black Scapular requires only that it be made of black woollen cloth.

On February 2, the same day as the Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics commemorate a wonder-working icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God) known as "the Softening of Evil Hearts" or "Simeon's Prophecy". It depicts the Virgin Mary at the moment that Simeon the Righteous says, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also...." (Luke 2:35). She stands with her hands upraised in prayer, and seven swords pierce her heart, indicative of the seven sorrows. This is one of the few Orthodox icons of the Theotokos which do not depict the infant Jesus. The refrain "Rejoice, much-sorrowing Mother of God, turn our sorrows into joy and soften the hearts of evil men!" is also used.

By inserting the feast into the General Roman Calendar in 1814, Pope Pius VII extended the celebration to the whole of the Latin Church. It was assigned to the third Sunday in September. In 1913, Pope Pius X moved the feast to September 15, the day after the Feast of the Cross. It is still observed on that date. Another feast, originating in Germany in the 15th century, spread to several other countries, and was extended to the whole of the Latin Church in 1727 by Pope Benedict XIII, who assigned it the Friday in Passion Week, one week before Good Friday. In 1954, it still held the rank of major double (slightly lower than the rank of the September feast) in the General Roman Calendar. Pope John XXIII's 1960 Code of Rubrics reduced it to the level of a commemoration. In 1969 the celebration was removed from the General Roman Calendar as a duplicate of the feast on 15 September. Each of the two celebrations had been called a feast of "The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (Latin: Septem Dolorum Beatae Mariae Virginis) and included recitation of the Stabat Mater as a sequence. Since then, the 15 September feast that combines and continues both is known as the Feast of "Our Lady of Sorrows" (Latin: Beatae Mariae Virginis Perdolentis), and recitation of the Stabat Mater is optional.

Observance of the calendar as it stood in 1962 is still permitted as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, and even where the calendar as revised in 1969 is in use, some countries, such as Malta, have kept it in their national calendars. In every country, the 2002 edition of the Roman Missal provides an alternative collect for this Friday.

Today we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. This is not meant to lead us into despair because of the suffering caused by our sin, but to remind us that when we embrace suffering in our lives it can become redemptive. Let us never allow despair to enter our hearts. It is imperative that we remain positive in our suffering as Mary does. (Kerygma 2014)
 
Mary is a model of contemplation, pondering the truths of her life in her heart and standing beneath the cross of her Son as He dies for our sins. Let us take a cue from Mary’s life in this regard and never forget to reflect on the meaning of the various experiences of faith we have had and so grow in our faith and trust in God.  (Kerygma 2012)

I sometimes wonder what went through the heart and mind of Mary as she stood at the foot of the cross and gazed upon her Son. We know she did not despair. Did she realize that the cross of her Son was the means of redemption for the world? (Kerygma 2014)

think:

The memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows reminds us that when we embrace suffering in our lives, it can become redemptive.  Let us reflect on the meaning of the various experiences of faith we have had and so grow in our faith and trust in God just like Mary. (Kerygma)

Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary; without dying you won the martyr’s crown beneath the Cross of the Lord.


A SORROWFUL — BUT NOT DEPRESSED — MOTHER
Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

Parents suffer from anything that could harm or hurt their children. Since Mary surely was a perfect mother, she must have suffered much in bringing up her beloved Son. We can assume that her suffering was even more intense than that of any parent because of her spiritual closeness to her Son. That God had entrusted to her His Son might have even intensified her suffering because of the profound responsibility she had for this great treasure. Mary also might have suffered much from what her Son went through because of her sinless nature, which made her more compassionate and sensitive to other people’s sufferings.

Christian pious tradition identified and reflected on the seven great sorrows in Mary’s life — such as the flight to Egypt, the loss of her 12-yearold boy in Jerusalem, and meeting Jesus carrying the crossbeam towards the place of His execution, among others.

One spiritual writer noticed that today’s feast celebrates the sorrowful Mother of Jesus, not the depressed Mother of Jesus. An interesting thought! John tells us in his Gospel that Mary was standing near the Cross of her Son. Although her suffering must have been close to unbearable, her faith gave her the courage and strength to bear this suffering without breaking down. Here, Mary becomes a great model to look up to when God allows crosses to burden and weigh us down.

And so this feast is not just another memorial of Mary but it invites us to look up to her when sorrows and sufferings become too much to bear.

With her example and her motherly intercession, we can and will be able to follow her footsteps and not break down but remain “standing” even in the darkest moments that may come. These moments then will not crush us but, with Mary’s help, become moments of passage into the light that waits beyond every cross.


OUR LADY OF SORROWS
Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

Today’s Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows follows the Feast of the Triumph (or Exaltation) of the Cross. I do not believe that this is an accident or coincidence. The Church has deliberately chosen to illustrate one of the aspects in which we are all, not just Our Lady, called to meditate upon and embrace the Cross of Jesus in our lives.

None of us can avoid suffering in life. If Jesus suffered, and He was without sin and not in need of redemption, then how do we think we could avoid suffering? The prosperity gospel — every possible version of it — is a lie. In fact, it is more than lie — it is disrespectful to the passion of Jesus. There is nothing wrong with legitimate avoidance of suffering by making wise and prudent choices, but I am sure that it is obvious to us that a lot of suffering that people endure has nothing to do with the personal choices of the sufferer but a result of the unjust and sinful choices of others. This is the reality of sin and while we may be able to minimize the sin in our own lives, we have very little power to do so in the lives of others. That is their responsibility.

Mary is presented to us as Our Lady of Sorrows because she has embraced the truth that living involves suffering. This is not necessarily an evil thing as long as we approach it with faith in God. The suffering of Jesus on the cross gives God the right to be able to say to us, “Everything will be all right in the end if we place our trust in Him.” Jesus underwent suffering to show us the way to faith in God and to make sense of the cross by giving it redemptive value.

Suffering would be totally evil if there is no redemptive value to it. It adds nothing to human character and experience apart from the Cross of Jesus. This may be a matter of faith, or at least a truth that is strongly enlightened by faith. We must pray for the grace to understand it as such and to act upon it.

Published:

September 15, 2023, 7:27 AM

September 15, 2014, 10:30 AM

Behold, Your Mother

Our Lady of Sorrows

Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” 

And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. 

(John 19:27)

How has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? (Lk 1:43)

Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? Beneath the apple tree I awakened you; There your mother was in labor with you, there she was in labor and gave you birth (Sg 8:5). Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the waters; it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant waters (Ez 19:10). 

Listen to me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb; from the body of my mother, He named me.(Isa 49:1).

The Lord said, "Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the LORD your God" (Lev 19:3).

Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the LORD your God gives you (Ex 20:12, Dt 5:16).

A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother (Prv 10:1). Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her rejoice who gave birth to you (Prv 23:25). Observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother (Prv 6:20). Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old (Prv 23:22).

He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. (Nu 6:7)

My trust is in You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God”. In your hands is my destiny. (Ps 31:15-16) Into Your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, O Lord, O faithful God. (Ps 31:6)

Published:

September 15, 2024, 6:43 AM

May 20, 2024, 7:41 AM

September 15, 2023, 7:29 AM