We celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on September 15th. It commemorates the profound union of heart that existed between the Mother of the Redeemer and the Savior, through which she experienced many interior sorrows as a consequence of His Mission, but particularly during His Passion and Death. From the early days of Jesus’ life, Mary suffered through these maternal pains and anxieties. With Simeon’s prophecy, Mary knew that a sword would pierce her own soul.
Soon thereafter, the Holy Family was forced to flee to Egypt in order to save Jesus from King Herod (Matthew 2:13-23). Also, the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph suffered the pain of Jesus remaining behind in the Temple for three days. With her Son entering upon His Mission the opposition of so many to Him, as recounted in the Gospels, must have been a tremendous sorrow for her. All of this culminated at the Cross.
The title “Our Lady of Sorrows,” therefore, honors the trials that the Mother of the “Suffering Servant” (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) faced, and, therefore, this feast follows immediately after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Like all feast days, this feast gives glory to God for the salvific work that He accomplished in one of His creatures, in this case His greatest creaturely work, Mary.
For Mary herself, her earthly maternal union of heart and soul with Her Son, in which she experienced both joys and sorrows, is now perfectly consummated in Heaven. However, her maternal love and union extends to us still here on Earth! As the Mother of Christ she is also the Mother of the Mystical Christ, the Church, and of we, the members of Her Son as individuals (see Revelation 12:17).
St. Louis de Montfort said, “If you put all the love of all the mothers into one heart, it still would not equal the love of the heart of Mary for her children.” This means that she suffers for us as well, and we can turn to her as we would turn to our biological mothers, in both joys and sorrows.
Other Saints of the Day
St. Valerian
St. Aichardus
St. Aprus
St. Emilas & Jeremiah
St. Eutropia