THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary 15 September 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

"Meanwhile there stands the Virgin, grander far / Than martyrs all; by a new prodigy, /Thou, Mother dying in so many ways /Pierced by such dreadful sorrows, didst not die" (Hymn from Second Vespers) 

On this earth love is inseparable from suffering and sorrow. It seems only those who love or have loved can have the slightest understanding of Mary's sorrows as she stood beneath the cross of our dying Redeemer. Those who have not loved, do know the physical pains and sufferings of this life, but this is nothing compared to the sufferings of the soul.

As the soul is superior to the body, so it follows that the suffering of the soul is greater than all the sufferings of the body. It is through love that that our hearts and souls are exposed and must endure the greatest pain. It is said that: "little children step on their parents' feet, but when they grow up they step on their parents' hearts." It is love that makes this possible. The greater the love, so much greater is the suffering that must follow. True love is a crucified love. 

True love inspires us to sacrifice our bodies for our souls. True love for one another inspires us to offer our own bodies in sacrifice of reparation for those whom we love. (Parents sacrifice comfort, rest, leisure, etc. for their children even at the cost of their own health and well being.) This is the love that God has, as He sacrifices Himself for us. True love for God demands that we likewise be willing to suffer the greatest pain and loss rather than ever risk the misfortune of losing Him. This is the love of all the martyrs.

Mary is queen of all the martyrs. As queen, she has suffered more than all - she has loved more than all. With the other martyrs their agony ended with death and then they were welcomed and consoled in Heaven. With Mary, we see that death did not come for her in the greatest agony of soul. (Thy own soul a sword shall pierce.) Mary was forced to continue in this life and to constantly remember and frequently suffer these lacerations of her own soul. 

We gain a glimpse of this love and agony when we meditate upon the forth Station of the Cross. Jesus meets His sorrowful mother. Their eyes became as so many arrows to wound those hearts which loved each other so tenderly. Mary was forced to see her Son suffer this bitter death, and it obviously pained her motherly heart. Jesus looked into the eyes of His mother seeing the pain that His suffering was causing her, thus increasing His own spiritual torment. Mary looked deep into His eyes and saw the suffering that her suffering was adding to Christ's own agony. This agony keeps intensifying in magnitude as the glances of the two loving hearts beheld each other. In all this, love would not permit them to look away from each other. As much as the sight of one another increased each one's agony, they could not look away, but looked even more intently into each other's eyes. Love demanded this willing sacrifice of suffering. This suffering would be enough to kill the strongest of men, but God sustained Himself and her for even more. 

It would have been a relief to die right there, but with this perfect love, it seems God demands everything and even a bit more. Mary was asked to remain here on earth and continue her sufferings and guide the infant Church through the Apostle St. John. In this moment she became our mother - the mother of the Church; and we became her children. 

As her dear children we are called upon to behold our mother. We are to look into her eyes to see the sorrow in them; this is but a mere reflection of the sorrow in her heart and soul. Our love for her and her love for us demands this. Just as Christ could not turn away His glance from her and she could not turn her glance away from Him; so we must look into her eyes and she into ours. As we contemplate this sorrow we begin to understand; we begin to love. Our sins made Jesus suffer; Jesus' suffering caused Mary to suffer. If we look into our mother Mary's eyes with love, it pains us to see the agony we have caused her, but love will not allow us to look away. Love demands that we keep looking; and that we look ever more deeply. 

Our hearts are then filled with an appreciation of Mary's suffering, and she as our loving mother sees and appreciates our suffering in this valley of tears. She knows love more than we ever will, and she knows our suffering better than we do ourselves. She is therefore ever so ready to come to our aid. We do not suggest that she will aid us in removing the sufferings of this life from us; but rather, that we embrace our sufferings more eagerly and willingly for the love of God. She is our role model in love and suffering. It is through Mary that we will find the grace, courage and strength to answer Our Lord's invitation to take up our daily cross in love and follow Him.