This feast originates in that Christian devotion which associates her with the ‘Passion of her Son’. St Pius X fixed the feast on this day, within the octave of the Nativity of our Blessed Mother who teaches us to live, with her, beside the Cross of her Son. In her suffering as co-redeemer, she reminds us of the dreadful malice of sin; shows us the way to true repentance. (Fr James Socias, et al [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1638)
The ‘Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary’ venerate the Blessed Virgin as Our Lady of Sorrows. (Ibid, op cit, 1483)
Our Lady of Turumba
Legend: This heavy image was taken out of Laguna de Bay. It could not be carried to Pakil, Laguna until the people sang and danced the ‘turumba’. (Nicanor G Tiongson, in “Filipino Heritage”, 1977, VII:1734)
Feast of the Dolours of Our Blessed Lady
Let us enter into the spirit of the Church this day, and fix our thoughts exclusively on Our Lady’s sufferings on our account and for us. To understand in some measure how much she suffers, we must conceive the idea of a mother, the tenderest of mothers, who loves nothing so much as her son, her only son.
She is forced to see this Son, the greatest of the children of men, die in his prime, by no natural death; but by the hand of the executioner. Surrounded by an angry mob, nailed living on a cross, after having been covered with wounds from head to foot, crowned with thorns. To behold him struggling for three long hours, unable to at least assuage his agony!
Did any mother ever suffer such a martyrdom? But what exceeds our comprehension is, she endured it for thirty-three years, knowing all its aspects from Simeon’s prophecy. Aptly does the Church style her ‘Queen of martyrs’, applying the Psalmist’s words: ‘My life is wasted with grief and my years in sighs.’
Let us think of this when looking at the picture of Our Lady by the foot of the cross, and we shall find our hearts filled with love, compassion, and childlike devotion. We shall account our sufferings but trifles, and gain courage to bear or surmount them.
How did Our Lady endure so many and so great sufferings? With -- 1) perfect resignation and no word of complaint;
2) admirable conformity to all the designs of Almighty God in the cruel and ignominious death of her Son;
3) generosity apparently impossible in a mother;
4) constancy beyond heroism, standing beneath the cross till Jesus breathed his last sigh; and
5) invincible sweetness and charity, joining her Divine Son in praying for his murderers.
Mary is here the Queen and pattern of martyrs. Have we conformed to her example in our slight sufferings? Why did God will that Our Lady’s whole life should be spent in suffering? She had nothing to atone for!
The Fathers of the Church reply: to merit the title, ‘Queen of all saints’, she was obliged to surpass them in resemblance to her Son, so pre-eminently the Man of Sorrows. In love of God, which is proved by suffering for him. In merit, which is gained also by suffering; and in sacrifice, for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls.
If God, wishing to bestow a mark of his peculiar love upon Our Lady, could not find anything more precious than the cross, must we consider ourselves miserable when he gives us a share in it also, even if he desire we carry it to the end? If so, he only treats us as he did her whom he loved best.
Let that thought console us, and let us carry our cross willingly after our dearest Mother.
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp166-8
Sanctifying our sufferings
Today’s feast is opportune for us to accept all our adversities as personal purification, and to co-redeem with Christ. Mary our Mother teaches us not to complain amidst trials as we know she never would. She encourages us to unite our sufferings to the sacrifice of her Son, and so offer them as spiritual gifts for the benefit of our family, the Church, and all humanity.
The suffering we must endure and sanctify often consists in small daily disappointments. Common examples are unexpected periods of waiting, sudden changes of plans, and projects that do not turn well. Or setbacks like reduced opportunities for a job to support our family. In these instances, the virtue of detachment is a great means to identify with Christ.
Mary was present when her Son was stripped of his tunic which she had sewn. With her as our model we will find consolation and the inspiration to strive forward with peace and serenity.
Sickness may come unexpectedly. In such an event we will ask for grace to welcome it as a ‘divine caress’ and we will give thanks for the gift of health we took for granted. We can grow in ‘faith’, because we learn to better perceive the provident hand of our Father God at work both in sickness and in health.
Our ‘hope’ can be strengthened since we entrust ourselves more into the Lord’s hands at a time of great need. ‘Charity’ can grow too, if we offer our situation with exemplary joy. We can realize that God permits it for our greater good.
A mother always understands her children and consoles them in their troubles. Mary is our spiritual Mother. We sanctify our sufferings through recourse to the Blessed Virgin, ‘Comforter of the afflicted’.
Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 7:150-52
Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, instituted on occasion of some disputes, which arose on the election of a successor to Celestin IV, by the intrigues of the Emperor Frederick II, which caused the cardinals to have recourse to Our Lady, obliging themselves, by vow, to add an octave to her Nativity, when she should have given them a pope. Innocent IV, having been elected, he instituted this octave in the year 1243, the first of his pontificate. — Amoldus Wionius, tib. v., Ligni vitae, c. 22. “Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
Our Lady of Sorrows. The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.(www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Feast: Seven Sorrows of Mary. (Presentation, Flight into Egypt, Loss in the Temple, Way of the Cross, Jesus dying on the Cross, Jesus laid in Her arms, Jesus laid in the Tomb). (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
Our Lady of Sorrows. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Our Lady ‘de las Angustias’ (Granada, Spain). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Our Lady of Aranzazu / ‘Nuestra Señora de las Angustias’. Granada, Spain.(www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
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