Word to the Wise
Monday, September 15, 2025 - Sept. 15 - Our Lady of Sorrows
[1 Timothy 2:1-8; [opt. Sequence: Stabat Mater]; John 19:25-27 or Luke 2:33-35]Jesus' father and mother were amazed at what was said about him and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." [Luke]
SEPTEMBER 15 OUR LADY OF SORROWS
The feast of the Sorrowful Mother has its roots in the 13th century but was developed by the Servite friars in 1668 and later extended to the whole Church by Pope Pius VII in 1814. The devotion is popularly referred to as the Seven Sorrows of Mary: Simeon's prophecy, the flight into Egypt, Jesus' disappearance in Jerusalem, the road to Calvary, the crucifixion, the removal from the cross (depicted by MIchelangelo in the Pieta'), and the entombment.
The Gospel According to Luke presents Mary as a true disciple. The fate of a disciple includes suffering, as Jesus warns any number of times in the gospels. But the feast has a broader appeal to all mothers who experience the joys and sorrows of motherhood. My years as a campus minister and itinerant preacher have given me many memories of moms concerned about their children attending college or moms who experienced miscarriages or loss of children. In this sense, Mary becomes the prototype of all Christian mothers in their trials and sufferings. The celebration of this feast in the shadow of the feast of the Holy Cross is a reminder that the cross is part of the lives of all believers. AMEN