The WORD in other words (2009) by Fr Louie Punzalan SVD – University of San Carlos, Cebu
Memorial of the Sorrows of Mary – September 15
“At the cross her station keeping,
Stabat Mater
Stood the mournful mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed.”
Yesterday, September 14, the Church commemorated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of Christ. Today, September 15, the Church honors the woman who stood at the foot of the Cross—the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, or Mater Dolorosa.
The memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows was introduced by Pope Pius VII in 1817 as a fitting reminder of Mary’s participation in the sacrifice of Jesus in Calvary. The Vatican II Missal said that on the day following the ancient feast of the Holy Cross, we commemorate the compassion of Mary as we meditate on the reactions in the soul of a mother who is witness to the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross. Simeon predicted that Mary’s heart would be pierced with sorrow. (Luke 2, 35) And so it was, as Mary stood at the foot of the Cross of Jesus. (John 19, 25)
By the 14th century, the Seven Sorrows of Mary have been identified. They include: the presentation of Jesus in the temple, the flight into Egypt, the loss of Jesus in Jerusalem, the meeting of Jesus and Mary on the way to Calvary, the crucifixion, the taking down of Jesus’s body from the cross, and the burial of Jesus.
