Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

Today’s memorial, Our Lady of Sorrows, was originally titled Our Lady of Compassion.1 Mary suffered on Calvary with Jesus, but she also suffers for us, in her compassion for the whole world. 

Remember the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson about the princess who slept on top of twenty mattresses under which there was a single pea.  When she woke next morning, she was black and blue with bruises. Mary is the only real princess, whose sufferings are caused not by one little pea, but by her compassion for all sinners. St. Bernard writes, “Truly, O Blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart….  [Jesus] died in body through a love greater than anyone has ever known.  [Mary] died in spirit through a love unlike any other since His.” 2 

When they asked the princess, “Did you sleep well?”  She replied, “No. I scarcely slept at all. Heaven knows what’s in that bed. I lay on something so hard that I’m black and blue all over. It was simply terrible.” 3 So also, we will never be able to comprehend what it’s really like for Mary in her compassion.  

Over the centuries Christians developed a devotion to the seven sorrows of Mary. First the prophecy of Simeon foretelling the sword that would pierce her own heart; then the flight into Egypt to save the Child Jesus from King Herod; then the loss of Jesus in the Temple. There were no Amber Alerts in those days.  Next, meeting her Son carrying the cross on the road to Golgatha, and worst of all, witnessing the crucifixion and death of her Son. Finally, holding his lifeless body and placing it in the tomb. 

But these seven sorrows happened in the past, about two thousand years ago. In her compassion Mary weeps for us today. At La Salette she appeared before two children, Maximin and Melanie, weeping for sinful humanity. At Akita in Japan a wooden statue of Mary wept 101 times over the course of eight years, a sign of Mary’s tears. During the apparitions at Fatima the three children witnessed Our Lady growing very sad and saying, “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore”.  Then she showed them a vision of hell, “a great sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like burning embers, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair.” Mary said, “Pray, pray much, and sacrifice for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.” The Cure of Ars warned his people: “See, they fall into hell as leaves fall from the trees before winter.”

I asked Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, how many people die each day worldwide. It’s about a hundred and seventy thousand. If only 1% fall into hell, even that would still be 1,700 people every day. It could be much more. Mary has compassion for every person. She wants us to be like “last responders” snatching souls at the last minute from falling into hell by our compassion, by our prayers and sacrifices for sinners. That’s what lessens Mary’s sorrows and pleases her.      

  1. http://catholicstraightanswers.com/why-do-we-call-mary-our-lady-of-sorrows/
  2. De duodecim praerogatativs BVM, & Liturgy of the Hours reading for Sept. 15.
  3. Hans Christian Anderson: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/ThePrincessOnThePea_e.html