Our Lady of Sorrows
Friends in Christ, today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. It is a day to consider the sorrows that were part of the life of the Blessed Virgin.
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The Book of Genesis says that after the Fall, Eve and other women would have pain in childbirth, and so it has been. Nevertheless, when it comes to the case of the Blessed Virgin, the Fathers of the Church tell us that Mary did not have pain.
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St. Bonaventure says, ‘without travail she has brought Christ forth.’ St. Gregory of Nyssa says, ‘the birth was immaculate, the delivery without pain.’ And St. John Damascene says, regarding the birth of Christ, ‘As pleasure did not precede it, pain did not follow it.’ The Fathers are near-unanimous on this, along with St. Thomas Aquinas and others.
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But let us see that, despite what these venerable fathers say, Mary did have a painful childbirth.
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The belief of many saints, as well as private revelations tell us that along the way to Calvary Mary stopped to meet Jesus; In Jerusalem, there is a Church at that place, (Our Lady of the Spasm) and we meditate on this in the 4th station of the Cross: Jesus meets his sorrowful Mother.
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‘O Mother of Sorrow, exclaims St. Bonaventure, ‘all was braved by thee, because thy heart was filled with a mighty sorrow.’
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‘To what shall I compare thee; or to what shall I liken thee, O virgin daughter of Jerusalem? For great as the sea is thy distress. A sword of sorrow hath pierced thy soul, And hath filled thy heart with bitter pain.’
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This sorrow of Mary came to its height at the Cross. But at that point of her maximum suffering, what does her Son say to her? ‘When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, he said, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.”
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All scripture scholars will attest to the fact, that this Beloved Disciple in John’s Gospel represents us. We are Christ’s beloved disciple, and it was at the Cross, that she became our Mother; it was at the Cross, that she gave birth to us.
And so we are able to see, that although Mary had no pain in bringing Jesus into the world. It was only through many sorrows, by which we were born to Life.
