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Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - SAguide - 03-26-2021
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The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin
Friday in Passion Week
Friday in Passion Week
Today, the Friday of Passion Week is consecrated, in a special manner, to the sufferings which the Holy Mother of God endured at the foot of the Cross. The whole of next week is fully taken up with the celebration of the mysteries of Jesus' Passion; and, although the remembrance of Mary's share in those sufferings is often brought before the Faithful during Holy Week, yet, the thought of what her Son, our Divine Redeemer, goes through for our salvation, so absorbs our attention and love, that it is not then possible to honor, as it deserves, the sublime mystery of the Mother's Compassion.
It was but fitting, therefore, that one day in the year should be set apart for this sacred duty; and what day could be more appropriate, than the Friday of this Week, which, though sacred to the Passion, admits the celebration of Saints' Feasts, as we have already noticed? As far back as the 15th century, (that is, in the year 1423,) we find the pious Archbishop of Cologne, Theodoric, prescribing this Feast to be kept by his people (Labb, Concil. t. xiiu p. 365). It was gradually introduced, and with the connivance of the Holy See, into several other countries; and at length, in the last century, Pope Benedict the Thirteenth, by a decree dated August 22nd, 1727, ordered it to be kept in the whole Church, under the name of the Feast of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for, up to that time, it had gone under various names. We will explain the title thus given to it, as also the first origin of the devotion of the Seven Dolors, when our Liturgical Year brings us to the Third Sunday of September, the second Feast of Mary's Dolors. What the Church proposes to her children's devotion for this Friday of Passion Week, is that one special Dolour of Mary, her standing at the Foot of the Cross. Among the various titles given to this Feast, before it was extended, by the Holy See to the whole Church, we may mention, Our Lady of Pity, The Compassion of our Lady, and the one that was so popular throughout France, Notre Dame de la Pamoison. These few historical observations prove that this Feast was dear to the devotion of the people, even before it received the solemn sanction of the Church.
That we may clearly understand the object of this Feast, and spend it, as the Church would have us do, in paying due honor to the Mother of God and of men, we must recall to our minds this great truth: that God, in the designs of his infinite wisdom, has willed that Mary should have a share in the work of the world's Redemption. The mystery of the present Feast is one of the applications of this Divine law, a law which reveals to us the whole magnificence of God's Plan; it is also, one of the many realizations of the prophecy, that Satan's pride was to be crushed by a Woman. In the work of our Redemption, there are three interventions of Mary, that is, she is thrice called upon to take part in what God Himself did. The first of these was in the Incarnation of the Word, Who takes not Flesh in her virginal womb until she has given her consent to become His Mother; and this she gave by that solemn Fiat which blessed the world with a Saviour. The second was in the sacrifice which Jesus consummated on Calvary, where she was present, that she might take part in the expiatory offering. The third was on the day of Pentecost, when she received the Holy Ghost, as did the Apostles, in order that she might effectively labor in the establishment of the Church. We have already explained on the Feast of the Annunciation, the share Mary had in that wonderful mystery of the Incarnation, which God wrought for His own glory and for man's redemption and sanctification. On the Feast of Pentecost we shall speak of the Church commencing and progressing under the active influence of the Mother of God. Today we must show what part she took in the mystery of her Son's Passion; we must tell the sufferings, the Dolors, she endured at the foot of the Cross, and the claims she thereby won to our filial gratitude.
On the fortieth day after the Birth of our Emmanuel, we followed, to the Temple, the happy Mother carrying her Divine Babe in her arms. A venerable old man was there, waiting to receive her Child; and, when he had Him in his arms, he proclaimed Him to be the Light of the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel. But, turning to the Mother, he spoke to her these heart-rending words: Behold! this Child is set to be a sign that shall be contradicted, and a sword shall pierce thine own soul. This prophecy of sorrow for the Mother told us that the holy joys of Christmas were over, and that the season of trial, for both Jesus and Mary, had begun. It had, indeed, begun; for, from the night of the Flight into Egypt, up to this present day, when the malice of the Jews is plotting the great crime, what else has the life of our Jesus been, but the bearing humiliation, insult, persecution, and ingratitude? And if so, what has the Mother gone through? what ceaseless anxiety? what endless anguish of heart? But, let us pass by all her other sufferings, and come to the morning of the great Friday.
Mary knows, that on the previous night, her Son has been betrayed by one of his Disciples, that is, by one that Jesus had numbered among his intimate friends; she herself had often given him proofs of her maternal affection. After a cruel Agony, her Son has been manacled as a malefactor, and led by armed men to Caiphas, His worst enemy. Thence, they have dragged Him before the Roman Governor, whose sanction the Chief Priests and the Scribes must have before they can put Jesus to death. Mary is in Jerusalem; Magdalene, and the other holy women, the friends of Jesus, are with her; but they cannot prevent her from hearing the loud shouts of the people, and if they could, how is such a heart as hers to be slow in its forebodings? The report spreads rapidly through the City that the Roman Governor is being urged to sentence Jesus to be crucified. Whilst the entire populace is on the move towards Calvary, shouting out their blasphemous insults at her Jesus, will His Mother keep away, she that bore Him in her womb, and fed Him at her breast? Shall His enemies be eager to glut their eyes with the cruel sight, and His own Mother be afraid to be near Him?
The air resounded with the yells of the mob. Joseph of Arimathia, the noble counselor, was not there, neither was the learned Nicodemus; they kept at home, grieving over what was done. The crowd that went before and after the Divine Victim was made up of wretches without hearts, saving only a few who were seen to weep as they went along; they were women; Jesus saw them, and spoke to them. And if these women, from mere sentiments of veneration, or, at most, of gratitude, thus testified their compassion, would Mary do less? could she bear to be elsewhere than close to her Jesus? Our motive for insisting so much upon this point, is that we may show our detestation of that school of modern rationalism, which, regardless of the instincts of a mother's heart and of all tradition, has dared to call in question the Meeting of Jesus and Mary on the way to Calvary. These systematic contradictors are too prudent to deny that Mary was present when Jesus was crucified; the Gospel is too explicit, Mary stood near the Cross (St. John, xix. 25.): but, they would persuade us, that whilst the Daughters of Jerusalem courageously walked after Jesus, Mary went up to Calvary by some secret path! What a heartless insult to the love of the incomparable Mother.
No, Mary, who is, by excellence, the Valiant Woman, (Prov. xxxi. 10.)" was with Jesus as He carried his Cross. And who could describe her anguish and her love, as her eye met that of her Son tottering under his heavy load? Who could tell the affection, and the resignation, of the look He gave her in return? Who could depict the eager and respectful tenderness wherewith Magdalene and the other holy women grouped around this Mother, as she followed her Jesus up Calvary, there to see Him crucified and die? The distance between the Fourth and Tenth Station of the Dolorous Way is long: it is marked with Jesus' Blood, and the Mother's tears.
Jesus and Mary have reached the summit of the hill, that is to be the Altar of the holiest and cruelest Sacrifice: but the divine decree permits not the Mother as yet to approach her Son. When the Victim is ready, then She that is to offer him shall come forward. Meanwhile, they nail her Jesus to the Cross; and each blow of the hammer was a wound to Mary's heart. When, at last, she is permitted to approach, accompanied by the Beloved Disciple, (who has made amends for his cowardly flight,) and the disconsolate Magdalene and the other holy women, what unutterable anguish must have filled the soul of this Mother, when, raising up her eyes, she sees the mangled Body of her Son, stretched upon the Cross, with his face all covered with blood, and his head wreathed with a crown of thorns!
Here, then, is this King of Israel, of whom the Angel had told her such glorious things in his prophecy! Here is that Son of hers, whom she has loved both as her God and as the fruit of her own womb! And who are they that have reduced Him to this pitiable state? Men, for whose sake, rather than for her own, she conceived him, gave him birth, and nourished him! Oh! if, by one of those miracles, which his Heavenly Father could so easily work, He might be again restored to her! If that Divine Justice, which He has taken upon Himself to appease, would be satisfied with what He has already suffered!--but no; He must die; He must breathe forth His blessed Soul after a long and cruel agony.
Mary, then, is at the foot of the Cross, there to witness the death of her Son. He is soon to be separated from her. In three hours' time, all that will be left of her beloved Jesus will be a lifeless Body, wounded from head to foot. Our words are too cold for such a scene as this: let us listen to those of St. Bernard, which the Church has inserted in her Matins of this Feast. "O Blessed Mother! a sword of sorrow pierced thy soul, and we may well call thee more than Martyr, for the intensity of thy compassion surpassed all that a bodily passion could produce. Could any sword have made thee smart so much as that word which pierced thy heart, reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit: 'Woman! behold thy son!' What an exchange! John, for Jesus! the servant, for the Lord! the disciple, for the Master! the son of Zebedee, for the Son of God! a mere man, for the very God! How must not thy most loving heart have been pierced with the sound of these words, when even ours, that are hard as stone and steel, break down as we think of them! Ah! my Brethren, be not surprised when you are told that Mary was a Martyr in her soul. Let him alone be surprised, who has forgotten that St. Paul counts it as one of the greatest sins of the Gentiles, that they were without affection. Who could say that of Mary? God forbid it be said of us, the servants of Mary! (Sermon On the Twelve Stars.)"
Amidst the shouts and insults vociferated by the enemies of Jesus, Mary's quick ear has heard these words, which tell her, that the only son she is henceforth to have on earth is one of adoption. Her maternal joys of Bethlehem and Nazareth are all gone; they make her present sorrow the bitterer: she was the Mother of a God, and men have taken Him from her! Her last and fondest look at her Jesus, her own dearest Jesus, tells her that He is suffering a burning thirst, and she cannot give Him to drink! His eyes grow dim; His head droops; all is consummated!
It was but fitting, therefore, that one day in the year should be set apart for this sacred duty; and what day could be more appropriate, than the Friday of this Week, which, though sacred to the Passion, admits the celebration of Saints' Feasts, as we have already noticed? As far back as the 15th century, (that is, in the year 1423,) we find the pious Archbishop of Cologne, Theodoric, prescribing this Feast to be kept by his people (Labb, Concil. t. xiiu p. 365). It was gradually introduced, and with the connivance of the Holy See, into several other countries; and at length, in the last century, Pope Benedict the Thirteenth, by a decree dated August 22nd, 1727, ordered it to be kept in the whole Church, under the name of the Feast of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for, up to that time, it had gone under various names. We will explain the title thus given to it, as also the first origin of the devotion of the Seven Dolors, when our Liturgical Year brings us to the Third Sunday of September, the second Feast of Mary's Dolors. What the Church proposes to her children's devotion for this Friday of Passion Week, is that one special Dolour of Mary, her standing at the Foot of the Cross. Among the various titles given to this Feast, before it was extended, by the Holy See to the whole Church, we may mention, Our Lady of Pity, The Compassion of our Lady, and the one that was so popular throughout France, Notre Dame de la Pamoison. These few historical observations prove that this Feast was dear to the devotion of the people, even before it received the solemn sanction of the Church.
That we may clearly understand the object of this Feast, and spend it, as the Church would have us do, in paying due honor to the Mother of God and of men, we must recall to our minds this great truth: that God, in the designs of his infinite wisdom, has willed that Mary should have a share in the work of the world's Redemption. The mystery of the present Feast is one of the applications of this Divine law, a law which reveals to us the whole magnificence of God's Plan; it is also, one of the many realizations of the prophecy, that Satan's pride was to be crushed by a Woman. In the work of our Redemption, there are three interventions of Mary, that is, she is thrice called upon to take part in what God Himself did. The first of these was in the Incarnation of the Word, Who takes not Flesh in her virginal womb until she has given her consent to become His Mother; and this she gave by that solemn Fiat which blessed the world with a Saviour. The second was in the sacrifice which Jesus consummated on Calvary, where she was present, that she might take part in the expiatory offering. The third was on the day of Pentecost, when she received the Holy Ghost, as did the Apostles, in order that she might effectively labor in the establishment of the Church. We have already explained on the Feast of the Annunciation, the share Mary had in that wonderful mystery of the Incarnation, which God wrought for His own glory and for man's redemption and sanctification. On the Feast of Pentecost we shall speak of the Church commencing and progressing under the active influence of the Mother of God. Today we must show what part she took in the mystery of her Son's Passion; we must tell the sufferings, the Dolors, she endured at the foot of the Cross, and the claims she thereby won to our filial gratitude.
On the fortieth day after the Birth of our Emmanuel, we followed, to the Temple, the happy Mother carrying her Divine Babe in her arms. A venerable old man was there, waiting to receive her Child; and, when he had Him in his arms, he proclaimed Him to be the Light of the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel. But, turning to the Mother, he spoke to her these heart-rending words: Behold! this Child is set to be a sign that shall be contradicted, and a sword shall pierce thine own soul. This prophecy of sorrow for the Mother told us that the holy joys of Christmas were over, and that the season of trial, for both Jesus and Mary, had begun. It had, indeed, begun; for, from the night of the Flight into Egypt, up to this present day, when the malice of the Jews is plotting the great crime, what else has the life of our Jesus been, but the bearing humiliation, insult, persecution, and ingratitude? And if so, what has the Mother gone through? what ceaseless anxiety? what endless anguish of heart? But, let us pass by all her other sufferings, and come to the morning of the great Friday.
Mary knows, that on the previous night, her Son has been betrayed by one of his Disciples, that is, by one that Jesus had numbered among his intimate friends; she herself had often given him proofs of her maternal affection. After a cruel Agony, her Son has been manacled as a malefactor, and led by armed men to Caiphas, His worst enemy. Thence, they have dragged Him before the Roman Governor, whose sanction the Chief Priests and the Scribes must have before they can put Jesus to death. Mary is in Jerusalem; Magdalene, and the other holy women, the friends of Jesus, are with her; but they cannot prevent her from hearing the loud shouts of the people, and if they could, how is such a heart as hers to be slow in its forebodings? The report spreads rapidly through the City that the Roman Governor is being urged to sentence Jesus to be crucified. Whilst the entire populace is on the move towards Calvary, shouting out their blasphemous insults at her Jesus, will His Mother keep away, she that bore Him in her womb, and fed Him at her breast? Shall His enemies be eager to glut their eyes with the cruel sight, and His own Mother be afraid to be near Him?
The air resounded with the yells of the mob. Joseph of Arimathia, the noble counselor, was not there, neither was the learned Nicodemus; they kept at home, grieving over what was done. The crowd that went before and after the Divine Victim was made up of wretches without hearts, saving only a few who were seen to weep as they went along; they were women; Jesus saw them, and spoke to them. And if these women, from mere sentiments of veneration, or, at most, of gratitude, thus testified their compassion, would Mary do less? could she bear to be elsewhere than close to her Jesus? Our motive for insisting so much upon this point, is that we may show our detestation of that school of modern rationalism, which, regardless of the instincts of a mother's heart and of all tradition, has dared to call in question the Meeting of Jesus and Mary on the way to Calvary. These systematic contradictors are too prudent to deny that Mary was present when Jesus was crucified; the Gospel is too explicit, Mary stood near the Cross (St. John, xix. 25.): but, they would persuade us, that whilst the Daughters of Jerusalem courageously walked after Jesus, Mary went up to Calvary by some secret path! What a heartless insult to the love of the incomparable Mother.
No, Mary, who is, by excellence, the Valiant Woman, (Prov. xxxi. 10.)" was with Jesus as He carried his Cross. And who could describe her anguish and her love, as her eye met that of her Son tottering under his heavy load? Who could tell the affection, and the resignation, of the look He gave her in return? Who could depict the eager and respectful tenderness wherewith Magdalene and the other holy women grouped around this Mother, as she followed her Jesus up Calvary, there to see Him crucified and die? The distance between the Fourth and Tenth Station of the Dolorous Way is long: it is marked with Jesus' Blood, and the Mother's tears.
Jesus and Mary have reached the summit of the hill, that is to be the Altar of the holiest and cruelest Sacrifice: but the divine decree permits not the Mother as yet to approach her Son. When the Victim is ready, then She that is to offer him shall come forward. Meanwhile, they nail her Jesus to the Cross; and each blow of the hammer was a wound to Mary's heart. When, at last, she is permitted to approach, accompanied by the Beloved Disciple, (who has made amends for his cowardly flight,) and the disconsolate Magdalene and the other holy women, what unutterable anguish must have filled the soul of this Mother, when, raising up her eyes, she sees the mangled Body of her Son, stretched upon the Cross, with his face all covered with blood, and his head wreathed with a crown of thorns!
Here, then, is this King of Israel, of whom the Angel had told her such glorious things in his prophecy! Here is that Son of hers, whom she has loved both as her God and as the fruit of her own womb! And who are they that have reduced Him to this pitiable state? Men, for whose sake, rather than for her own, she conceived him, gave him birth, and nourished him! Oh! if, by one of those miracles, which his Heavenly Father could so easily work, He might be again restored to her! If that Divine Justice, which He has taken upon Himself to appease, would be satisfied with what He has already suffered!--but no; He must die; He must breathe forth His blessed Soul after a long and cruel agony.
Mary, then, is at the foot of the Cross, there to witness the death of her Son. He is soon to be separated from her. In three hours' time, all that will be left of her beloved Jesus will be a lifeless Body, wounded from head to foot. Our words are too cold for such a scene as this: let us listen to those of St. Bernard, which the Church has inserted in her Matins of this Feast. "O Blessed Mother! a sword of sorrow pierced thy soul, and we may well call thee more than Martyr, for the intensity of thy compassion surpassed all that a bodily passion could produce. Could any sword have made thee smart so much as that word which pierced thy heart, reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit: 'Woman! behold thy son!' What an exchange! John, for Jesus! the servant, for the Lord! the disciple, for the Master! the son of Zebedee, for the Son of God! a mere man, for the very God! How must not thy most loving heart have been pierced with the sound of these words, when even ours, that are hard as stone and steel, break down as we think of them! Ah! my Brethren, be not surprised when you are told that Mary was a Martyr in her soul. Let him alone be surprised, who has forgotten that St. Paul counts it as one of the greatest sins of the Gentiles, that they were without affection. Who could say that of Mary? God forbid it be said of us, the servants of Mary! (Sermon On the Twelve Stars.)"
Amidst the shouts and insults vociferated by the enemies of Jesus, Mary's quick ear has heard these words, which tell her, that the only son she is henceforth to have on earth is one of adoption. Her maternal joys of Bethlehem and Nazareth are all gone; they make her present sorrow the bitterer: she was the Mother of a God, and men have taken Him from her! Her last and fondest look at her Jesus, her own dearest Jesus, tells her that He is suffering a burning thirst, and she cannot give Him to drink! His eyes grow dim; His head droops; all is consummated!
![[Image: d8ba20e0-1726-49b5-a2c7-d55f1dea6243.jpg]](https://gallery.mailchimp.com/357fd2f68d70dee08663782ab/images/d8ba20e0-1726-49b5-a2c7-d55f1dea6243.jpg)
Mary cannot leave the Cross; love brought her thither; love keeps her there, whatever may happen! A soldier advances near that hallowed spot; she sees him lift up his spear, and thrust it through the breast of the sacred Corpse. "Ah,"cries out St. Bernard, "that thrust is through thy soul, O Blessed Mother! It could but open His side, but it pierced thy very soul. His Soul was not there; thine was, and could not but be so (Sermon On the Twelve Stars.)." No, the undaunted Mother keeps close to the Body of her Son. She watches them as they take it down from the Cross; and when, at last, the friends of Jesus, with all the respect due to both Mother and Son, enable her to embrace it, she raises it upon her lap, and He that once lay upon her knees receiving the homage of the Eastern Kings, now lays there cold, mangled, bleeding, dead! And as she looks upon the wounds of this divine Victim, she gives them the highest honor in the power of creatures, she kisses them, she bathes them with her tears, she adores them, but oh! with what intensity of loving grief!
The hour is far advanced; and before sunset, He, Jesus, the author of life, must be buried. The Mother puts the whole vehemence of her love into a last kiss, and oppressed with a bitterness great as is the sea (Lament, i. 4, ii, 13), she makes over this adorable Body to them that have to embalm and then lay it on the sepulchral slab. The sepulchre is closed; and Mary, accompanied by John, her adopted son, and Magdalene, and the holy women, and the two disciples that have presided over the Burial, returns sorrowing to the deicide City.
Now, in all this, there is another mystery besides that of Mary's sufferings. Her Dolors at the Foot of the Cross include and imply a truth, which we must not pass by, or we shall not understand the full beauty of today's Feast. Why would God have her assist in person at such a scene as this of Calvary? Why was not she, as well as Joseph, taken out of this world before this terrible day of Jesus' Death? Because God had assigned her a great office for that day, and it was to be under the Tree of the Cross that she, the second Eve, was to discharge her office. As the heavenly Father had waited for her consent before He sent His Son into the world; so, likewise, He called for her obedience and devotedness, when the hour came for that Son to be offered up in sacrifice for the world's Redemption. Was not Jesus hers? her Child? her own and dearest treasure? And yet, God gave Him not to her, until she had assented to become His Mother; in like manner, He would not take Him from her, unless she gave Him back.
But, see what this involved, see what a struggle it entailed upon this most loving Heart! It is the injustice, the cruelty, of men that rob her of her Son; how can she, His Mother, ratify, by her consent, the Death of Him, Whom she loved with a twofold love, as her Son, and as her God? But, on the other hand, if Jesus be not put to death, the human race is left a prey to Satan, sin is not atoned for, and all the honors and joys of her being Mother of God are of no use or blessing to us. This Virgin of Nazareth, this noblest heart, this purest creature, whose affections were never blunted with the selfishness which so easily makes its way into souls that have been wounded by original sin, what shall she do? Her devotedness to mankind, her conformity with the will of her Son Who so vehemently desires the world's salvation, lead her, a second time, to pronounce the solemn Fiat: she consents to the immolation of her Son. It is not God's justice that takes Him from her; it is she herself that gives Him up; but, in return, she is raised to a degree of greatness, which her humility could never have suspected was to be hers: an ineffable union is made to exist between the two offerings, that of the Incarnate Word and that of Mary; the Blood of the Divine Victim, and the Tears of the Mother, flow together for the redemption of mankind.
We can now understand the conduct and the courage of this Mother of Sorrows. Unlike that other mother, of whom the Scripture speaks, the unhappy Agar, who, after having sought in vain how she might quench the thirst of her Ismael in the desert, withdrew from him that she might not see him die; Mary no sooner hears that Jesus is condemned to death, than she rises, hastens to Him, and follows Him to the place where He is to die. And what is her attitude at the foot of His cross? Does her matchless grief overpower her? Does she swoon? or fall? No: the Evangelist says: "There " stood by the Cross of Jesus, his Mother.(St. John, six. 25.)" The sacrificing Priest stands, when offering at the altar; Mary stood for such a sacrifice as hers was to be. St Ambrose, whose affectionate heart and profound appreciation of the mysteries of religion have revealed to us so many precious traits of Mary's character, thus speaks of her position at the foot of the Cross: "She stood opposite the Cross, gazing, with maternal love, on the wounds of her Son; and thus she stood, not waiting for her Jesus to die, but for the world to be saved (In Lucam, cap. xxiii.)."
Thus, this Mother of Sorrows, when standing on Calvary, blessed us who deserved but maledictions; she loved us; she sacrificed her Son for our salvation. In spite of all the feelings of her maternal heart, she gave back to the Eternal Father the divine treasure He had entrusted to her keeping. The sword pierced through and through her soul, but we were saved; and she, though a mere creature, cooperated with her Son in the work of our salvation. Can we wonder, after this, that Jesus chose this moment for the making her the Mother of men, in the person of John the Evangelist, who represented us? Never had Mary's Heart loved us as she did then; from that time forward, therefore, let this second Eve be the true Mother of the living (Gen., iii. 20)! The Sword, by piercing her Immaculate Heart, has given us admission there. For time and eternity, Mary will extend to us the love she has borne for her Son, for she has just heard Him saying to her that we are her children. He is our Lord, for He has redeemed us; She is our Lady, for she generously cooperated in our redemption.
Animated by this confidence, O Mother of Sorrows! we come before thee, on this Feast of thy Dolors, to offer thee our filial love. Jesus, the Blessed Fruit of thy Womb, filled thee with joy as thou gavest Him birth; we, thy adopted children, entered into thy Heart by the cruel piercing of the Sword of Suffering. And yet, O Mary! love us, for thou didst cooperate with our Divine Redeemer in saving us. How can we not trust in the love of thy generous Heart, when we know, that, for our salvation, thou didst unite thyself to the Sacrifice of thy Jesus? What proofs hast thou not unceasingly given us of thy maternal tenderness, O Queen of Mercy! O Refuge of Sinners! O untiring Advocate for us in all our miseries! Deign, sweet Mother, to watch over us, during these days of grace. Give us to feel and relish the Passion of thy Son. It was consummated in thy presence; thine own share in it was magnificent! Oh! make us enter into all its mysteries, that so our souls, redeemed by the Blood of thy Son, and helped by thy Tears, may be thoroughly converted to the Lord, and persevere, henceforward, faithful in His service.
- From The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B.The hour is far advanced; and before sunset, He, Jesus, the author of life, must be buried. The Mother puts the whole vehemence of her love into a last kiss, and oppressed with a bitterness great as is the sea (Lament, i. 4, ii, 13), she makes over this adorable Body to them that have to embalm and then lay it on the sepulchral slab. The sepulchre is closed; and Mary, accompanied by John, her adopted son, and Magdalene, and the holy women, and the two disciples that have presided over the Burial, returns sorrowing to the deicide City.
Now, in all this, there is another mystery besides that of Mary's sufferings. Her Dolors at the Foot of the Cross include and imply a truth, which we must not pass by, or we shall not understand the full beauty of today's Feast. Why would God have her assist in person at such a scene as this of Calvary? Why was not she, as well as Joseph, taken out of this world before this terrible day of Jesus' Death? Because God had assigned her a great office for that day, and it was to be under the Tree of the Cross that she, the second Eve, was to discharge her office. As the heavenly Father had waited for her consent before He sent His Son into the world; so, likewise, He called for her obedience and devotedness, when the hour came for that Son to be offered up in sacrifice for the world's Redemption. Was not Jesus hers? her Child? her own and dearest treasure? And yet, God gave Him not to her, until she had assented to become His Mother; in like manner, He would not take Him from her, unless she gave Him back.
But, see what this involved, see what a struggle it entailed upon this most loving Heart! It is the injustice, the cruelty, of men that rob her of her Son; how can she, His Mother, ratify, by her consent, the Death of Him, Whom she loved with a twofold love, as her Son, and as her God? But, on the other hand, if Jesus be not put to death, the human race is left a prey to Satan, sin is not atoned for, and all the honors and joys of her being Mother of God are of no use or blessing to us. This Virgin of Nazareth, this noblest heart, this purest creature, whose affections were never blunted with the selfishness which so easily makes its way into souls that have been wounded by original sin, what shall she do? Her devotedness to mankind, her conformity with the will of her Son Who so vehemently desires the world's salvation, lead her, a second time, to pronounce the solemn Fiat: she consents to the immolation of her Son. It is not God's justice that takes Him from her; it is she herself that gives Him up; but, in return, she is raised to a degree of greatness, which her humility could never have suspected was to be hers: an ineffable union is made to exist between the two offerings, that of the Incarnate Word and that of Mary; the Blood of the Divine Victim, and the Tears of the Mother, flow together for the redemption of mankind.
We can now understand the conduct and the courage of this Mother of Sorrows. Unlike that other mother, of whom the Scripture speaks, the unhappy Agar, who, after having sought in vain how she might quench the thirst of her Ismael in the desert, withdrew from him that she might not see him die; Mary no sooner hears that Jesus is condemned to death, than she rises, hastens to Him, and follows Him to the place where He is to die. And what is her attitude at the foot of His cross? Does her matchless grief overpower her? Does she swoon? or fall? No: the Evangelist says: "There " stood by the Cross of Jesus, his Mother.(St. John, six. 25.)" The sacrificing Priest stands, when offering at the altar; Mary stood for such a sacrifice as hers was to be. St Ambrose, whose affectionate heart and profound appreciation of the mysteries of religion have revealed to us so many precious traits of Mary's character, thus speaks of her position at the foot of the Cross: "She stood opposite the Cross, gazing, with maternal love, on the wounds of her Son; and thus she stood, not waiting for her Jesus to die, but for the world to be saved (In Lucam, cap. xxiii.)."
Thus, this Mother of Sorrows, when standing on Calvary, blessed us who deserved but maledictions; she loved us; she sacrificed her Son for our salvation. In spite of all the feelings of her maternal heart, she gave back to the Eternal Father the divine treasure He had entrusted to her keeping. The sword pierced through and through her soul, but we were saved; and she, though a mere creature, cooperated with her Son in the work of our salvation. Can we wonder, after this, that Jesus chose this moment for the making her the Mother of men, in the person of John the Evangelist, who represented us? Never had Mary's Heart loved us as she did then; from that time forward, therefore, let this second Eve be the true Mother of the living (Gen., iii. 20)! The Sword, by piercing her Immaculate Heart, has given us admission there. For time and eternity, Mary will extend to us the love she has borne for her Son, for she has just heard Him saying to her that we are her children. He is our Lord, for He has redeemed us; She is our Lady, for she generously cooperated in our redemption.
Animated by this confidence, O Mother of Sorrows! we come before thee, on this Feast of thy Dolors, to offer thee our filial love. Jesus, the Blessed Fruit of thy Womb, filled thee with joy as thou gavest Him birth; we, thy adopted children, entered into thy Heart by the cruel piercing of the Sword of Suffering. And yet, O Mary! love us, for thou didst cooperate with our Divine Redeemer in saving us. How can we not trust in the love of thy generous Heart, when we know, that, for our salvation, thou didst unite thyself to the Sacrifice of thy Jesus? What proofs hast thou not unceasingly given us of thy maternal tenderness, O Queen of Mercy! O Refuge of Sinners! O untiring Advocate for us in all our miseries! Deign, sweet Mother, to watch over us, during these days of grace. Give us to feel and relish the Passion of thy Son. It was consummated in thy presence; thine own share in it was magnificent! Oh! make us enter into all its mysteries, that so our souls, redeemed by the Blood of thy Son, and helped by thy Tears, may be thoroughly converted to the Lord, and persevere, henceforward, faithful in His service.
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Regina Martyrum, ora pro nobis
RE: Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - Stone - 03-27-2021
Taken from St. Thomas Aquinas' Lenten Meditations:
Passion Friday
Our Lady's Suffering in the Passion
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Thy own soul a sword shall pierce-- Luke ii. 35.
In these words there is noted for us the close association of Our Lady with the Passion of Christ. Four things especially made the Passion most bitter for her.
Firstly, the goodness of her Son, Who did no sin (i Pet. ii. 22).
Secondly, the cruelty of those who crucified Him, shown, for example, in this that as He lay dying they refused Him even water, nor would they allow His mother, who would most lovingly have given it, to help Him.
Thirdly, the disgrace of the punishment, Let us condemn him to a most shameful death (Wis. ii. 20).
Fourthly, the cruelty of the torment. O ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow (Lam. i. 12).
The words of Simeon, Thy own soul a sword shall pierce, Origen, and other doctors with him, explain with reference to the pain felt by Our Lady in the Passion of Christ. St. Ambrose, however, says that by the sword is signified Our Lady's prudence, thanks to which she was not without knowledge of the heavenly mystery. For the word of God is a living thing, strong and keener than the keenest sword (cf. Heb. iv. 12).
Other writers again, St. Augustine for example, understand by the sword the stupefaction that overcame Our Lady at the death of her Son, not the doubt that goes with lack of faith but a certain fluctuation of bewilderment, a staggering of the mind. St. Basil, too, says that as Our Lady stood by the cross with all the detail of the Passion before her, and in her mind the testimony of Gabriel, the message that words cannot tell of her divine conception, and all the vast array of miracles, her mind swayed, for she saw Him the victim of such vileness, and yet knew Him for the author of such wonders.
Although Our Lady knew by faith that it was God's will that Christ should suffer, and although she brought her will into unity with God's will in this matter, as the saints do, nevertheless, sadness filled her soul at the death of Christ. This was because her lower will revolted at the particular thing she had willed and this is not contrary to perfection.
RE: Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - Stone - 03-27-2021
Friday in Passion Week – Feast of the Seven Dolours
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
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The Station, at Rome, is in the church of Saint Stephen, on Monte Celio. By a sort of prophetic presentiment, this church of the great proto-martyr was chosen as the place where the faithful were to assemble on the Friday of Passion Week, which was to be, at a future time, the feast consecrated to the Queen of Martyrs.
Collect
Cordibus nostris, quæsumus, Domine, gratiam tuam benignus infunde: ut peccata nostra castigatione voluntaria cohibentes, temporaliter potius maceremur, quam suppliciis deputemur æternis. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Mercifully, O Lord, we beseech thee, pour forth thy grace into our hearts; that repressing our sins by voluntary mortifications, we may rather suffer for them in this life, than be condemned to eternal torments for them in the next. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lesson from Jeremias the Prophet. Ch. XVII.
In those days, Jeremias said: O Lord, all that forsake thee shall be confounded: they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth (as on sand, from which their names shall soon be effaced), because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed, save me and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. Behold they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? let it come. And I am not troubled, following thee for my pastor, and I have not desired the day of man, thou knowest it. That which went out of my lips, hath been right in thy sight. Be not thou a terror unto me; thou art my hope in the day of affliction. Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let me not be confounded: let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring upon them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction destroy them, O Lord our God.
Quote:Jeremias is one of the most striking figures of the Messias persecuted by the Jews. It is on this account, that the Church selects from this prophet so many of her lessons, during these two weeks that are sacred to the Passion. In the passage chosen for today’s Epistle, we have the complaint addressed to God, by this just man, against those that persecute him; and it is in the name of Christ that he speaks. He says: They have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters. How forcibly do these words describe the malice, both of the Jews that crucified, and of sinners that still crucify, Jesus our Lord! As to the Jews; they had forgotten the Rock, whence came to them the living water, which quenched their thirst in the desert: or, if they have not forgotten the history of this mysterious Rock, they refuse to take it as the type of the Messias.
And yet, they hear this Jesus crying out to them in the streets of Jerusalem, and saying: If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink. His virtues, his teachings, his miracles, the prophecies that are fulfilled in his person, all claim their confidence in him; they should believe every word he says. But they are deaf to his invitation; and how many Christians imitate them in their obduracy? How many there are who once drank at the vein of living waters and afterwards turned away, to seek to quench their thirst in the muddy waters of the world, which can only make them thirst the more! Let them tremble at the punishment that came upon the Jews; for unless they return to the Lord their God, they must fall into those devouring and eternal flames, where even a drop of water is refused. Jesus, by the mouth of his Prophet, tells the Jews that the day of affliction shall overtake them; and when, later on, he comes to them himself, he forewarns them that the tribulation which is to fall on Jerusalem, in punishment for her deicide, shall be so great that such hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. But if God so rigorously avenged the Blood of his Son against a City that was, so long a time, the place of the habitation of his glory, and against a people that he had preferred to all others—will he spare the sinner who, in spite of the Church’s entreaties, continues obstinate in his evil ways? Jerusalem had filled up the measure of her iniquities; we also have a measure of sin, beyond which the Justice of God will not permit us to go. Let us sin no more; let us fill up that other measure, the measure of good works. Let us pray for those sinners who are to pass these days of grace without being converted; let us pray that this Divine Blood, which is to be so generously given to them, but which they are about again to trample upon, let us pray that it may again spare them.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem. Ch. XI.
At that time: the chief priests and Pharisees assembled in council against Jesus, and said: What do we, for this man doth many miracles? If we let him alone so, all men will believe in him; and the Romans will come, and take away our place and nation. But one of them, named Caiphas, being the high-priest that year, said to them: You know nothing, neither do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this he spoke not of himself; but being the high-priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but to gather in one the children of God, that were dispersed. From that day therefore they devised to put him to death. Wherefore Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews, but he went unto a country near the desert, unto a city that is called Ephrem, and there he abode with his disciples.
Quote:Jesus is more than ever in danger of losing his life! The council of the nation assembles to devise a plan for His destruction. Listen to these men, slaves of that vilest of passions, jealousy. They do not deny the miracles of Jesus; therefore, they are in a condition to pass judgment upon Him, and the judgment ought to be favourable. But they have not assembled to examine if He be or be not the Messias; it is to discuss the best plan for putting Him to death. And what argument will they bring forward to palliate the evident murder they contemplate? Political interests — their country’s good. They argue thus: “If Jesus be longer allowed to appear in public and work miracles, Judea will rise up in rebellion against the Romans, who now govern us, and will proclaim Jesus to be their King ; Rome will never allow us, the weakest of her tributaries, to insult her with impunity, and, in order to avenge the outrage offered to the Capitol, her armies will come and exterminate us.” Senseless Councillors! If Jesus had come that He might be King after this world’s fashion, all the powers of the earth could not have prevented it. Again — how is it that these chief priests and pharisees, who know the Scriptures by heart, never once think of that prophecy of Daniel, which fortells, that in seventy weeks of years, after the going forth of the decree for the rebuilding of the Temple, the Christ shall be slain, and the people that shall deny Him, shall cease to be His: moreover, that, after this crime, a people, led on by a commander, shall come and destroy Jerusalem; the abomination of desolation shall enter the Holy Place, the temple shall be destroyed, and the desolation shall last even to the end. How comes it, that this prophecy is lost sight of? Surely, if they thought of it, they would not put Christ to death, for by putting Him to death, they ruin their country!
But to return to the Council. The High-Priest, who governed the Synagogue during the last days of the Mosaic Law, is a worthless man, by name Caiphas; he presides over the Council. He puts on the sacred Ephos, and he prophecies; his prophecy is from God, and is true. Let us not be astonished: the veil of the temple is not yet rent asunder; the covenant between God and Juda is not yet broken. Caiphas is a blood-thirsty man, a coward, a sacrilegious wretch; still, he is High-Priest, and God speaks by his mouth. Let us hearken to this Balaam: Jesus shall die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but to gather in one the children of God, that were dispersed. Thus, the Synagogue is near her end, and is compelled to prophecy the birth of the Church, and that this birth is to be by the shedding of Jesus’ Blood. Here and there, throughout the world, there are Children of God who serve him, among the Gentiles, as did the Centurion, Cornelius; but there was no visible bond of union among them. The time is at hand, when the great and only City of God is to appear on the mountain, and all nations shall flow unto it. As soon as the Blood of the New Testament shall have been shed, and the Conqueror of death shall have risen from the grave, the day of Pentecost will convoke, not the Jews to the Temple of Jerusalem, but all nations to the Church of Jesus Christ. By that time, Caiphas will have forgotten the prophecy he uttered; he will have ordered his servants to piece together the Veil of the Holy of Holies, which was torn in two at the moment of Jesus’ death; but this Veil will serve no purpose, for the Holy of Holies will be no longer there; a clean oblation will be offered up in every place, the Sacrifice of the New Law; and scarcely shall the avengers of Jesus’ death have appeared on Mount Olivet, than a voice will be heard in the Sanctuary of the repudiated Temple, saying: “Let us go out from this place!”
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Bow down your heads to God.
Concede, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut qui protectionis tuæ gratiam quærimus, liberati a malis omnibus, secura tibi mente serviamus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who seek the honor of thy protection, may be delivered from all evil, and serve thee with a secure mind. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
RE: Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - Stone - 03-27-2021
Feasts of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Taken from the 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia
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There are two such days:
- Friday before Palm Sunday, major double;
- third Sunday in September double of the second class.
(1) The seven founders of the Servite Order, in 1239, five years after they established themselves on Monte Senario, took up the sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross, as the principal devotion of their order. The corresponding feast, however, did not originate with them; its celebration was enacted by a provincial synod of Cologne (1413) to expiate the crimes of the iconoclast Hussites; it was to be kept on the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter under the title: "Commemoratio augustix et doloris B. Marix V.". Its object was exclusively the sorrow of Mary during the Crucifixion and Death of Christ. Before the sixteenth century this feast was limited to the dioceses of North Germany, Scandinavia, and Scotland. Being termed "Compassio" or "Transfixio", "Commendatio, Lamentatio B.M.V.", it was kept at a great variety of dates, mostly during Eastertide or shortly after Pentecost, or on some fixed day of a month (18 July, Merseburg; 19 July, Halberstadt, Lxbeck, Meissen; 20 July, Naumberg; cf. Grotefend, "Zeitrechnung", II, 2, 166). Dreves and Blume (Analecta hymnica) have published a large number of rhythmical offices, sequences and hymns for the feast of the Compassion, which show that from the end of the fifteenth century in several dioceses the scope of this feast was widened to commemorate either five dolours, from the imprisonment to the burial of Christ, or seven dolours, extending over the entire life of Mary (cf. XXIV, 122-53; VIII, 51 sq.; X, 79 sq., etc.).
Towards the end of the end of the sixteenth century the feast spread over part of the south of Europe; in 1506 it was granted to the nuns of the Annunciation under the title "Spasmi B.M.V.", Monday after Passion Sunday; in 1600 to the Servite nuns of Valencia, "B.M.V. sub pede Crucis", Friday before Palm Sunday. After 1600 it became popular in France and was termed "Dominx N. de Pietate", Friday before Palm Sunday. To this latter date the feast was assigned for the whole German Empire (1674). By a Decree of 22 April 1727, Benedict XIII extended it to the entire Latin Church, under the title "Septem dolorum B.M.V.", although the Office and Mass retain the original character of the feast, the Compassion of Mary at the foot of the Cross. At both Mass and Office the "Stabat Mater" of Giacopone da Todi (1306) is sung.
(2) The second feast was granted to the Servites, 9 June and 15 September, 1668, double with an octave for the third Sunday in September. Its object of the seven dolours of Mary (according to the responsories of Matins: the sorrow
- at the prophecy of Simeon;
- at the flight into Egypt;
- having lost the Holy Child at Jerusalem;
- meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary;
- standing at the foot of the Cross;
- Jesus being taken from the Cross;
- at the burial of Christ.
To the oriental churches these feasts are unknown; the Catholic Ruthenians keep a feast of the sorrowful Mother on Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi.
RE: Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - Stone - 03-27-2021
FRIDAY OF SORROWS
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The Virgin of Charity, a Marian title of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrated in Cartagena, Spain during the Friday of Sorrows.
The Friday of Sorrows is a solemn pious remembrance of the sorrowful Blessed Virgin Mary on the Friday before Palm Sunday held in the fifth week of Lent (formerly called "Passion Week"). ...sometimes it is traditionally known as Our Lady in Passiontide.
In certain Catholic countries, especially in Mexico, Guatemala, Italy, Peru, Brazil, Spain, Malta, Nicaragua and the Philippines, it is seen as the beginning of the Holy Week celebrations and termed as Viernes de Dolores (Friday of Sorrows). It takes place exactly one week before Good Friday, and concentrates on the emotional pain that the Passion of Jesus Christ caused to his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is venerated under the title Our Lady of Sorrows.
In certain Spanish-speaking countries, the day is also referred to as Council Friday, because of the choice of John 11:47-54 as the Gospel passage read in the Tridentine Mass on that day, which recounts the concilliar meeting of the Sanhedrin priests to discuss what to do with Jesus.
Like all Fridays in Lent, this Friday is a day of abstinence from meat, unless the national episcopal conference has indicated alternative forms of penance.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the practice of religious veneration towards the Blessed Virgin Mary was designated on any given Friday, which was initiated by the Friday before Holy Week as well as Good Friday itself, after Palm Sunday.
In 1727, Pope Benedict XIII extended a feast commemorating the sorrowful Virgin Mary to the whole of the Latin Church, assigning to its celebration the Friday in Passion Week, one week before Good Friday.
In 1954, the feast still held the rank of major double (slightly lower than the rank of the 15 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.
Celebration of Friday of Sorrows in Malta, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala and the Philippines, includes processions, public penance, mournful singing and the mortification of the flesh.
In Mexico and Nicaragua, the faithful make small shrines of the Virgen de Dolor and decorate them with Christmas lights and perform street plays.
In Guatemala, the people make oversized flowerbeds on the road where the religious float will pass while being incensed by the crowd.
In the Philippines, candle-lit religious floats carry a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows in procession through the streets. This is followed by the recitation of the life of Christ using the pious Filipino book Pasiong Mahal; a localised version of the Passion of Christ. In some regions, penitents whip themselves in the streets.
In Malta, beginning on this day, penitents place multiple chains on their feet and walk barefoot on the public streets hiding their identity via a conical hat.
In Spain, the Catholic faithful shout ejaculatory praises to the float of the Sorrowful Virgin passing by; often accompanied an exclamatory response Viva!. The floats are also preceded by a military parade and a musical band.
In Italy, the practice is called La Festa dell'Addolorata and uses famous Baroque images made in the area of Naples.
Commonly held rituals are religious parades or processions, accompanied by the local singing of Stabat Mater and candle-light vigils.
Some of the most commonly used associated Marian titles are:
- Our Lady of Sorrows
- Our Lady of Pain
- Our Lady of Dolours
- Our Lady of Solitude
- Our Lady of Patience
- Our Lady of Charity (Charity to Jesus and Mary)
- Our Lady of Anguish
- Our Lady of Bitterness
RE: Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - Stone - 03-27-2021
Bernard of Clairvaux on the martyrdom of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross – her heart is pierced by a sword as Simeon predicted.
Adapted from this excerpt from a sermon by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Sermo in dom. infra oct. Assumptionis, 14-15: Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 5 [1968}, 273-274) is used in the Roman Office of Readings for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on September 15. It speaks of the martyrdom of the Virgin at the foot of the cross (John 19:25). Mary’ s heart is pierced by a sword as Simeon predicted when her Son’s body is pierced by nails and spear.
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For the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows...
The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord’s passion. The holy old man said of the infant Jesus: He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted. He went on to say to Mary:And your own heart will be pierced by a sword.
Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart. For only by passing through your heart could the sword enter the flesh of your Son. Indeed, after your Jesus – who belongs to everyone, but is especially yours – gave up his life, the cruel spear, which was not withheld from his lifeless body, tore open his side. Clearly it did not touch his soul and could not harm him, but it did pierce your heart. For surely his soul was no longer there, but yours could not be torn away. Thus the violence of sorrow has cut through your heart, and we rightly call you more than martyr, since the effect of compassion in you has gone beyond the endurance of physical suffering.
Or were those words, Woman, behold your Son, not more than a word to you, truly piercing your heart, cutting through to the division between soul and spirit? What an exchange! John is given to you in place of Jesus, the servant in place of the Lord, the disciple in place of the master; the son of Zebedee replaces the Son of God, a mere man replaces God himself. How could these words not pierce your most loving heart, when the mere remembrance of them breaks ours, hearts of iron and stone though they are!
Do not be surprised, brothers, that Mary is said to be a martyr in spirit. Let him be surprised who does not remember the words of Paul, that one of the greatest crimes of the Gentiles was that they were without love. That was far from the heart of Mary; let it be far from her servants.
Perhaps someone will say: “Had she not known before that he would not die?” Undoubtedly. “Did she not expect him to rise again at once?” Surely. “And still she grieved over her crucified Son?” Intensely.
Who are you and what is the source of your wisdom that you are more surprised at the compassion of Mary than at the passion of Mary’s Son? For if he could die in body, could she not die with him in spirit? He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his.
RE: Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - Stone - 03-27-2021
FROM "VICTORIES OF THE MARTYRS" By St. Alphonsus Liguori
MARY IS THE QUEEN OF MARTYRS, FOR HER MARTYRDOM WAS LONGER AND GREATER
THAN THAT OF ALL THE MARTYRS
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Who can ever have a heart so hard that it will not melt on hearing the most lamentable event that once occurred in the world? There was a noble and holy mother who had an only son. This son was the most amiable that can be imagined - innocent, virtuous, beautiful, who loved his mother most tenderly; so much so that he had never caused her the least displeasure, but had ever shown her all respect, obedience, and affection; hence this mother had placed her affections on earth in this son. Hear, then, what happened. This son, through envy, was falsely accused by his enemies; and though the judge knew, and himself confessed, that he was innocent, yet, that he might not offend his enemies, he condemned him to the ignominious death that they demanded. This poor mother had to suffer the grief of seeing that amiable and beloved son unjustly snatched from her in the flower of his age by a barbarous death; for, by dint of torments and drained of all his blood, he was made to die on! an infamous gibbet in a public place of execution, and this before her own eyes.
Devout souls, what say you? Is not this event, and is not this unhappy mother, worthy of compassion? You already understand of whom I speak. This son, so cruelly executed, was our loving Redeemer Jesus; and this mother was the Blessed Virgin Mary; who, for the love she bore us, was willing to see him sacrificed to divine justice by the barbarity of men. This great torment which Mary endured for us - a torment that was more than a thousand deaths - deserves both our compassion and our gratitude. If we can make no other return for so much love, at least let us give a few moments this day to consider the greatness of the sufferings by which Mary became the Queen of martyrs; for the sufferings of her great martyrdom exceeded those of all the martyrs; being, in the first place, the longest in point of duration; and in the second place, the greatest in point of intensity.
RE: Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - Stone - 04-08-2022
Friday in Passion Week ~ Feast of Our Lady of Dolours
by St. Alphonsus Liguori
Morning Meditation
THE MOTHER OF DOLOURS
by St. Alphonsus Liguori
Morning Meditation
THE MOTHER OF DOLOURS
In order to show us what the Martyrs suffered, they are represented with the instruments of their Martyrdom: St. Andrew with a cross; St. Paul with a sword. Mary is represented with her dead Son in her arms, for He alone was the cause of her Martyrdom; compassion for Him made her Queen of Martyrs.
I. St. Laurence Justinian considers Jesus on the road to Calvary with His Cross on His shoulders, turning to His Mother and saying: "Alas, My own dear Mother, whither goest thou? What a scene thou art going to witness! Thou wilt be agonised by My sufferings, and I by thine." But the loving Mother would follow Him all the same, though she knew that by being present at His death she should have to endure tortures greater than any death. She saw that her Son carried the Cross to be crucified on it, and she also took up the cross of her Dolours and followed her Son to be crucified with Him.
Blessed Amadeus writes that "Mary suffered much more in the Passion of her Son than she would have done had she herself endured it; for she loved her Jesus much more than she loved herself." Hence St. Ildephonsus did not hesitate to assert that "the sufferings of Mary exceeded those of all Martyrs united." St. Anselm, addressing the Blessed Virgin, says: "The most cruel torments inflicted on the holy Martyrs were trifling or as nothing in comparison with thy Martyrdom, O Mary." The same Saint adds: "Indeed, O Lady, in each moment of thy life thy sufferings were such, that thou couldst not have endured them, and wouldst have expired under them, had not thy Son, the source of life, preserved thee." St. Bernardine of Sienna even says, that the sufferings of Mary were such, that had they been divided among all creatures capable of suffering, they would have caused their immediate death. Who, then, can ever doubt that the Martyrdom of Mary was without its equal, and that it exceeded the sufferings of all the Martyrs; since, as St. Antoninus says, "they suffered in the sacrifice of their own lives; but the Blessed Virgin suffered by offering the life of her Son to God, a life which she loved far more than her own."
By this Martyrdom of thy beautiful soul, do thou obtain for me, O Mother of fair love, the forgiveness of the offences I have committed against my beloved Lord and God, and of which I repent with my whole heart. Do thou defend me in temptations, and assist me at the hour of my death, that, saving my soul through the merits of Jesus and thy merits, I may, after this miserable exile, go to Paradise to sing the praises of Jesus and thee for all eternity. Amen.
II. The Martyrs suffered under the torments inflicted on them by tyrants, but Our Lord, Who never abandons His servants, always comforted them in the midst of their sufferings. The love of God burning in their hearts rendered all their pains sweet and pleasing to them. So that the greater their love for Jesus Christ, the less did they feel their pains; and, in the midst of them all, the remembrance alone of the Passion of Christ sufficed to console them.
With Mary it was precisely the reverse; for the torments of Jesus were her Martyrdom, and love for Jesus was her only executioner. Here we must repeat the words of Jeremias: Great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee? As the sea is all bitterness, and has not within its bosom a single drop of water which is sweet, so also was the heart of Mary all bitterness, and without the least consolation: Who shall heal thee? Her Son alone could console her and heal her wounds; but how could Mary receive comfort in her grief from her crucified Son, since the love she bore Him was the whole cause of her Martyrdom?
"To understand, then, how great was the grief of Mary, we must understand," says Cornelius a Lapide, "how great was the love she bore her Son." But who can ever measure this love? Blessed Amadeus says that "natural love towards Him as her Son, and supernatural love towards Him as her God, were united in the heart of Mary." These two loves were blended into one, and this so great a love, that William of Paris does not hesitate to assert that Mary loved Jesus "as much as it was possible for a pure creature to love Him." So that, as Richard of St. Victor says, "as no other creature ever loved God as much as Mary loved Him, so there never was any sorrow like Mary's sorrow."
My sorrowful Mother, by the merit of that grief which thou didst feel in seeing thy beloved Jesus led to death, obtain me the grace, that I also may bear with patience the crosses God sends me. Happy indeed shall I be, if I only know how to accompany thee with my cross until death. Thou with thy Jesus--and You were both innocent--hast carried a far heavier cross; and shall I, a sinner, who have deserved hell, refuse to carry mine? Ah, Immaculate Virgin, from thee do I hope for help to bear all crosses with patience. Amen.
Spiritual Reading
MARY, BY HER HUMILITY BECOMES THE MOTHER OF GOD.
The Blessed Virgin already understood the Sacred Scriptures; she well knew that the time foretold by the Prophets for the coming of the Messias had arrived; she knew that the Seventy Weeks of Daniel were completed, and that the sceptre of Juda had passed into the hands of Herod, a stranger, according to the prophecy of Jacob; she also knew that the Mother of the Messiah was to be a Virgin. She then heard the Angel give her praises, which it was evident could apply to no other than the Mother of God. May not a thought or doubt have entered her mind, that she was perhaps this chosen Mother? No; her profound humility did not even allow her to have a doubt. Those praises only caused her so great fear, that the Angel himself was obliged to encourage her not to fear, as St. Peter Chrysologus writes: "As Christ was pleased to be comforted by an Angel, so had the Blessed Virgin to be encouraged by one." St. Gabriel said, Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found grace with God. (Luke i. 30). As if he had said, Why fearest thou, O Mary? Knowest thou not that God exalts the humble? Thou in thine own eyes art lowly and of no account, and therefore He in His goodness exalts thee to the dignity of being His Mother. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. (Luke i. 31).
In the meantime the Angel waits to know whether she is willing to be the Mother of God. St. Bernard addresses her, saying: "The Angel awaits thy reply; and we also, O Lady, on whom the sentence of condemnation weighs so heavily, await the word of mercy." "Behold, O holy Virgin, the price of our salvation, which will be the Blood of that Son now to be formed in thy womb. This price is offered to thee to pay for our sins, and deliver us from death; we shall be instantly delivered, if thou consentest." "Thy Lord Himself desires thy consent; for by it He has determined to save the world. He desires it with an ardour equal to the love with which He has loved thy beauty." "Answer, O sacred Virgin," says St. Augustine, "why delayest thou the salvation of the world, which depends on thy consent?"
But see, Mary already replies to the Angel. Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done unto me according to thy word. (Luke i. 38). O admirable answer, which rejoiced Heaven, and brought an immense treasure of good things to the world. An answer which drew the only-begotten Son from the bosom of His eternal Father into this world to become Man; for these words had hardly fallen from the lips of Mary before the Word was made flesh: the Son of God became also the Son of Mary. "O powerful fiat!" exclaims St. Thomas of Villanova; "O efficacious fiat! O fiat to be venerated above every other fiat!" for with that fiat Heaven came down to earth, and earth was raised to Heaven.
Let us now examine Mary's answer more closely: Behold the handmaid of the Lord. By this answer the humble Virgin meant: Behold the servant of the Lord, obliged to that which her Lord commands; since He well sees my nothingness, and since all that I have is His, who can say that He has chosen me for any merit of my own? Behold the handmaid of the Lord. What merits can a servant have, for which she should be chosen to be the Mother of her Lord? Let not the servant, then, be praised, but the goodness alone of that Lord, Who is graciously pleased to regard so lowly a creature, and make her so great.
"O humility," exclaims the Abbot Guerric, "as nothing in its own eyes, yet sufficiently great for the Divinity! Insufficient for itself, sufficient in the eyes of God to contain Him in her womb, Whom the Heavens cannot contain!" Let us also hear the exclamations of St. Bernard on this subject. He says: "And how, O Lady, couldst thou unite in thy heart so humble an opinion of thyself with so great purity, with such innocence, and the so great a plenitude of grace as thou didst possess?" "Whence this humility," continues the Saint, "and so great humility, O blessed one?" Lucifer, seeing himself enriched by God with extraordinary beauty, aspired to exalt his throne above the stars, and to make himself like God: I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will be like the Most High. (Is. xiv. 13) O, what would that proud spirit have said had he ever been adorned with the gifts of Mary! He, being exalted by God, became proud, and was sent to hell; but the more the humble Mary saw herself enriched, so much the more did she concentrate herself in her own nothingness; and therefore God raised her to the dignity of being His Mother, having made her so incomparably greater than all other creatures, that, as St. Andrew of Crete says "there is no one who is not God who can be compared with Mary." Hence St. Anselm also says, "there is no one who is thy equal, O Lady; for all are either above or beneath thee: God alone is above thee, and all that is not God is inferior to thee."
To what greater dignity could a creature be raised than that of the Mother of her Creator? "To be the Mother of God," St. Bonaventure writes, "is the greatest grace which can be conferred on a creature. It is such that God could make a greater world, a greater Heaven, but He could not exalt a creature more than to make her His Mother." This the Blessed Virgin was pleased herself to express when she said, He that is mighty hath done great things to me. (Luke i. 49). But here the Abbot of Celles reminds her: "God did not create thee for Himself only; He gave thee to the Angels as their restorer, and to men as their repairer." So that God did not create Mary for Himself only, but He created her for man also; that is to say, to repair the ruin entailed upon him by sin.
Evening Meditation
PILATE EXHIBITS JESUS: "BEHOLD THE MAN!"
PILATE EXHIBITS JESUS: "BEHOLD THE MAN!"
I. Jesus having again been brought and set before Pilate, he beheld Him so wounded and disfigured by the scourges and the thorns, that he thought, by showing Him to them, to move the people to compassion. He therefore went out into the portico, bringing with him the afflicted Lord, and said: Behold the man! As though he would have said: Go now, and rest content with what this poor innocent One has already suffered. Behold Him brought to so low a state that He cannot long survive. Go your way, and leave Him, for He can but have a short time to live. Do thou, too, my soul, behold thy Lord in that portico, bound and half naked, covered only with Wounds and Blood; and consider to what thy Shepherd has reduced Himself, in order to save thee, a sheep that was lost.
At the same time that Pilate is exhibiting the wounded Jesus to the Jews, the Eternal Father is from Heaven inviting us to turn our eyes to behold Jesus Christ in such a condition, and in like manner says to us: Behold the man! O men, this Man whom you behold thus wounded and set at naught--He is My beloved Son, Who is suffering all this in order to pay the penalty of your sins; behold Him, and love Him. O my God and my Father, I do behold Thy Son, and I thank Him, and love Him, and hope to love Him always; but do Thou, I pray Thee, behold Him also, and for love of this Thy Son have mercy upon me; pardon me, and give me the grace never to love anything apart from Thee.
II. But what is it that the Jews reply, on their beholding that King of sorrows? They raise a shout and say: Crucify him! Crucify him! And seeing that Pilate, notwithstanding their clamour, was seeking a means to release Him, they worked upon his fears by telling him: If thou release this man, thou art not Caesar's friend. (Jo. xix. 12). Pilate still makes resistance, and replies: Shall I crucify your King? And their answer is; We have no king but Caesar. (Jo. xix. 15). Ah, my adorable Jesus, these men will not recognise Thee for their King, and tell Thee that they wish for no other king but Caesar. I acknowledge Thee to be my King and God; and I protest that I wish for no other King of my heart but Thee, my Love, and my one and only Good. Wretch that I am, I at one time refused Thee for my King, and declared that I did not wish to serve Thee; but now I wish Thee alone to have dominion over my will. Do Thou make it obey Thee in all that Thou dost ordain. O Will of God, Thou art my love. Do thou, O Mary, pray for me. Thy prayers are not rejected.
RE: Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - Stone - 03-22-2024
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A reminder ...
RE: Mater Dolorosa, Friday of Passion Week - Stone - 03-24-2024