The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.

"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."  (John 19 : 25 - 27).

Wednesday 15th September 2021, 24th Week in Ordinary Time is the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.

"At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping, Close to Jesus to the last." (Stabat Mater). Thus was the prophecy of Simeon at the Presentation of the Child Jesus fulfilled. "Your own soul a sword will pierce."

By the Cross of Jesus, the Mother of Sorrows received her everlasting vocation:
“Behold, your mother.”  Mary may have murmured silently: "Be it done to me according to Your word." And she became our Mother too from that instance.

What do you make of the Seven Sorrows of Mary? Was it necessary? Superfluous? An overkill? The Church teaches: "Our Mother Mary teaches us to live, together with her, beside the cross of her Son. In her suffering, she reminds us of the malice of sin and shows us the way of true repentance." (Roman Missal).

The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows follows the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Back to back we celebrate the mystery of suffering in the economy of salvation.  In the first Reading of today, St Paul writes to Timothy :
"Undeniably great is the mystery of devotion, Who was manifested in the flesh."

How do we summarize the dynamics of Cross and Crown, Test and Testimony, Trial and Triumph? The Apostle Peter says it best in the Communion Antiphon:

"Rejoice when you share in the sufferings of Christ, that you may also rejoice exultantly when his glory is revealed." (1 Peter 4: 13).

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