Word to the Wise
Friday, September 15, 2006 - OUR LADY OF SORROWS
[1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 23B-27 and John 19:25-27 or Luke 2:33-35]Standing by the cross were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
Stabat Mater dolorosa..... This picture is the subject of great art. At the cross was the mother of Jesus! The human heart can identify with this. A mother watching her only son die a terrible and undeserved death is quite a powerful image. That's what the feast of our Lady of Sorrows is about. It's about a mother grieving, and not just at the crucifixion. It's about any sorrow. But a mother suffering about her children is a universal image. The feast of the Exaltation of the Cross celebrated yesterday speaks to a universal symbol of Christianity. The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows also speaks to a universal image, but a more personal one. It can raise the issue of how each of us caused suffering in a parent or someone else. Who has suffered because of us? It's worth thinking about. AMEN