The Virgin Mary, our Lady of Sorrows, shared in the anguish of her son’s passion in a way that no other mother could. The Feast Day of Our Lady of Sorrows falls in September, making the Lenten season and that month particularly significant for this devotion.
Around the 14th century, devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows became widespread across the Church. The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), are the focus of a unique form of devotion. In this exploration, we delve into the Seven Sorrows and their significance.
What are the Seven Sorrows of Mary?
Because of their focus on individual tragedies in the life of the Virgin Mary, the Seven Sorrows are distinct from the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. These seven sorrows of mary are:
- The Holy Simeon’s Prophecy, in which holy Simeon foretold the sweet Jesus’s sad Passion and death (Luke 2:34-35)
- Leaving for Egypt (Matthew 2:13-21)
- Lost for Three Days: Jesus (Luke 2:41-50)
- The Cross Bearing (John 19:17)
- Jesus’ death on the cross (John 19:18-30)
- The Disciples Request That Jesus Be Taken Down From the Cross (John 19:39-40)
- The Burial of Jesus (John 19:39-42)
1. Simeon’s Prophecies (Luke 2:22-35)
“They took Him to Jerusalem to give to the Lord when the time for their ritual cleansing under Moses’ law arrived (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”). The newborn Jesus was in the hands of the elderly priest Simeon, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him at that moment. Simeon acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah and lifted him up to the heavens, praising God for granted his yearning to see the Savior.
Saying, “My Lord, it is the time for Your servant to leave this world in peace,” Mary’s mother, Simeon, received a blessing from him and said, “So it is written: “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul as well), so thoughts out of many hearts may be disclosed.”
The Blessed Virgin quickly comprehended and embraced Simeon’s prophecy because she realized she had given birth to the Savior of the world. Her heart was deeply moved by the privilege of carrying the infant Jesus, but it was also heavy and saddened since she had read about the trials and death of the Savior. Her Son’s anguish became her own as she was continually reminded of it whenever she saw Him.
Our Dearest Mother Mary, whose Heart was broken beyond repair for our sins, please teach us to share your pain, to bear it with you in love, and to accept whatever pain God sees fit to bring our way. Let us suffer, and may our pain, like yours and Jesus’, be hidden from all but God. Don’t make our pain public so that it can be exploited to pay for everyone else’s wrongdoing. Mother, we offer you our suffering and the suffering of the world because you suffered with the Savior of the world. Add your own suffering to that of the Lord Jesus Christ and present it as an offering to the Father. You surpass every other mother in the world.
(One Our Father and seven Hail Mary’s)
Please, Holy Mother of Mercy, keep the sufferings of your Son, Jesus, in our minds and hearts always.
2. The Exodus to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15)
When Joseph told Mary about the angel’s warning that they needed to get up and go to Egypt immediately because Herod planned to kill Jesus, Mary’s heart broke and her mind was profoundly tormented. The Holy Mother hardly had time to gather her belongings before her and Joseph hurried out the door, with the Infant Jesus in her arms, to leave as quickly as God had commanded. Later, she remarked, “Though He has control over everything, God nevertheless wants us to run away with His Son, Jesus. God will direct our steps, and we won’t be ambushed along the road.”
Because she was His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary had an unrivaled devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. To see her infant son shivering in the cold caused her much anguish, and her heart was tormented. Mary’s entire concern on this lengthy journey was for the well-being of her Child, even though she and Joseph were both exhausted and hungry. Since she knew the enemy was still in Bethlehem, she was terrified of running into the soldiers who had been commanded to kill Jesus. Throughout the flight, her heart continued to hurt. She was also aware that there wouldn’t be any welcoming faces waiting for them at their destination.
Dear Mother, you have endured so much pain; please share some of your strength with us. If you pray for us, God will give us the fortitude to be brave like you, to accept the suffering He brings us with love. Aside from the misery we impose on ourselves, let us accept the suffering others inflict on us as well. We ask you, Holy Mother of God, to join Jesus in redeeming our pain and suffering for the greater glory of God and the salvation of our souls.
(One Our Father and seven Hail Marys)
Please, Holy Mother of Mercy, keep the sufferings of your Son, Jesus, in our minds and hearts always.
3. Jesus’ Departure from The Temple (Luke 2:41-52)
Jesus was the divinely conceived and born Son of God, yet He was also Mary’s son. Since Jesus was her Savior and God, she adored Him above everything else. He was unlike any other kid since He was already functioning as God at such a young age. On the journey back from Jerusalem, Mary lost sight of Jesus, and the world seemed so vast and empty that she thought she couldn’t continue on living without Him. (Her heart broke for her Son in the same way that it broke for Him when His apostles forsook Him during His crucifixion.)
Holy Mother’s heart ached with agony as she searched fruitlessly for her lost Boy. She questioned her own caregiving abilities and wondered why she hadn’t done more to protect Him. Jesus no longer required her shielding, but that wasn’t her fault. Mary was deeply distressed by her son’s unexpected decision to remain behind. Jesus’ behavior up to this point had been entirely to her satisfaction; neither He nor His parents would do anything to cause them annoyance. However, she never suspected Him of disobedience since she knew He always performed what was required.
Dearest Mother, please show us how to use the pain we’re experiencing as penance for our own sins and the world’s.
(One Our Father and seven Hail Marys)
Please, Holy Mother of Mercy, keep the sufferings of your Son, Jesus, in our minds and hearts always.
4. Mary Visits Jesus on The Way to Calvary (Luke 23:27-31)
Mary watched as Jesus walked to the place where He would be crucified, carrying the heavy cross by Himself. Since she had been forewarned of the impending death of her Son, the Blessed Virgin was not surprised. She saw how the soldiers were battering her son with clubs, and her heart broke for Him. The soldiers insisted on pushing Him along, despite the fact that He could do nothing but stand there. Fatigued beyond His ability to stand, He collapsed.
Mary’s eyes, full of great love and compassion, met her Son’s eyes, which were bloodshot and hurt. It was as if their hearts were linked, allowing her to share in His suffering. They had no choice but to put their faith in God and offer up their hardships to Him. Since they had no control over the situation, they decided to give it to God.
For the sake of your Sorrowful Heart and the Heart of Jesus, O Blessed Mother, aid us to endure our own suffering with bravery and compassion. May God, who gave you and Jesus to humanity, receive all the praise and honor for this. Show us how to take pain stoically by suffering first. Give us the ability to love God no matter what. Have compassion on the sinners of the world, O Mother of Sorrows, the most tormented of all mothers.
(One Our Father and seven Hail Marys)
Please, Holy Mother of Mercy, keep the sufferings of your Son, Jesus, in our minds and hearts always.
5. Mary Stands at The Foot of The Cross (John 19:25-27)
Following Jesus’ hard and mournful but silent ascent to Calvary, the Blessed Virgin Mary proceeded onward. She saw her Son wobble and fall again under the weight of the cross, and she saw the soldiers whip Him and pull His hair to make Him stand. When Jesus got to the top of Calvary, He was commanded to confess in front of the multitude so they might mock Him, even though He was completely innocent.
When her captors stripped Him of what little clothing he had left, Mary felt her Son’s agony and humiliation acutely. The sight of her Son being crucified naked before a sneering mob must have sickened the Blessed Virgin deeply. (Being sinless and holy, Jesus and Mary experienced greater shame than the average person.)
When Jesus was nailed to the cross, the grief was unbearable for the Blessed Virgin Mary. His assassins cheerfully sang as they came for Him with hammers and nails. When they spiked Him to the wood, they sat hard on top of Him to keep him from getting up. Mary felt the strikes in her heart as they hammered the nails through her Son’s wrists and feet. The nails pierced her flesh as they tore through her Son’s body. Her life was slowly ebbing away from her.
The soldiers yanked the Cross as they lifted it to lower it into the grave they dug, causing the weight of Jesus to tear through His flesh and reveal the underlying bone. He felt liquid fire rip through his body as the anguish pierced him.
Three hours of being nailed on the cross was nothing compared to the emotional torment Jesus felt as He watched His mother suffer underneath Him. The end came quickly and mercifully.
Our Lady, Queen of the Martyrs, we ask for the strength you showed through your ordeals so that we, too, may count our afflictions as Christ’s and offer them to God in praise. Please help us to obey God and the Church so that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross will not be in vain and all sinners around the world will be saved.
(One Our Father and seven Hail Marys)
Please, Holy Mother of Mercy, keep the sufferings of your Son, Jesus, in our minds and hearts always.
6. Mary Is Given the Lifeless Body of Jesus Into Her Care (John 19:38-40)
Joseph and Nicodemus, two of Jesus’ closest friends, came to take His body down from the cross and deposit it in the arms of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Then, as His mother, Mary bathed It with reverence and affection. She understood more than anybody else that He was the incarnate God, the Savior of the world.
Mary witnessed the horrifying wounds Jesus sustained from the beating he got at Pilate’s. Large pieces of His flesh had been pulled off of His back, and the rest of His body was covered in blood and shreds. All over His body, from head to toe, he had gaping wounds. Mary’s injuries from the nailing were less serious than those she sustained from the whipping and from bearing the Cross. She couldn’t believe her Son had made it to Calvary while bearing the burden of the heavy, shattered Cross. When she looked at the circle of blood on His forehead, she understood with horror that many of the thorny thorns had actually penetrated His skull and reached his brain. When the Holy Mother saw her Son in such a state, she understood that the pain He would go through in death would surpass even the worst forms of torture reserved for the most evil of offenders.
As she carefully washed His lifeless Body, she thought back to the first time she saw His lovely newborn face as they lay in the manger and every day since then. She endured unending pain as she laid her Son and Lord to rest, but she persevered and earned the title of “Queen of Martyrs.” While washing her Son, she prayed that all people would be able to experience the wonders of Heaven and enter the gates of Paradise. She hoped that everyone would accept God’s love and make her son’s gruesome death count for something good in the world. Mary interceded on behalf of everyone in the globe.
Our prayer: Holy Mother, we honor your bravery as you held your dying Son at the foot of the Cross. At the moment our Lord breathed His last, you became a loving mother to all of us; you became the Blessed Mother of the world. We have no doubt that your devotion for us surpasses that of our biological parents. To be adopted as true children of yours, we beg you to intercede on our behalf before the Throne of Mercy and Grace. We praise you for sending Jesus to be our Redeemer and Lord, and we praise Jesus for sending us to you. Mother, we ask that you pray for us.
(One Our Father and seven Hail Marys)
Please, Holy Mother of Mercy, keep the sufferings of your Son, Jesus, in our minds and hearts always.
7. Jesus’ Body Burial (John 19:41-42)
Mary, the Mother of God, felt there was no use in living because of how intertwined her existence was with that of Jesus. That His unimaginable pain would finally be over was the only consolation she had. Our Blessed Mother, aided by John and the Holy Women, laid Jesus’s body in the tomb and then left. She returned home filled with anguish and sorrow; she had never been apart from Him before, and the sting of isolation had been a new and excruciating experience for her. Her spirit had been fading ever since her Son’s heart stopped pumping, but she knew that Christ, our Redeemer, would be raised from the dead.
We are your children, and in you, we put all our faith. We pray to the Most Beloved Mother, whose beauty transcends that of other mothers, the Mother of Mercy, the Mother of Jesus, and the Mother to us all. Help us learn to find God in everything, including the bad things that happen to us. May God grant us the wisdom to appreciate the value of suffering and the insight to comprehend the meaning of our suffering as He intended.
You were born without sin, you were protected from falling into sin, and yet you endured more pain than anyone else. You loved deeply by accepting pain and suffering, and you showed unparalleled bravery in doing so. From the moment your son was taken into custody until the moment he died, you never abandoned him. When He was in pain, you were in pain; you shared His anguish. You have become our Mother because you have completed the Will of God the Father.
Please, Mother, show us how to follow Jesus’s example. Show us how to boldly take up our cross and follow you. Most Merciful Mother, we put our faith in you; please instruct us to make sacrifices for the world’s sinners. Give us the courage to serve others as your Son did, even at the cost of our own lives.
(One Our Father and seven Hail Marys)
Please, Holy Mother of Mercy, keep the sufferings of your Son, Jesus, in our minds and hearts always.
Queen of Martyrs, your heart endured so much pain. Help me and all the sinners of the world by granting us the grace of complete sincerity and repentance via the merits of the tears you shed in these awful and tragic times. Amen.
Pray for us, O Virgin Mary, you who were conceived without sin and who suffered for us. Repeat this three times
Seven Graces for Those Who Meditate on Our Lady Seven Sorrows
Our Lady of Seven Sorrows provides seven favors to the faithful who worship her every day with her devotion.
These are the seven promises to ponder on:
- “I will provide peace to their family.”
- “They shall be enlightened about the Divine Mysteries.”
- “I will console them in their pains and I will assist them in their work.”
- “I will grant them as much as they ask for as long as it does not impede the adorable will of my Divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.”
- “I will defend them in their spiritual struggles with the wicked enemy and I will safeguard them at every minute of their existence.”
- “I shall visibly help them at the moment of their death. They shall behold the face of their Mother.”
- “I have acquired this favor from my holy Son, that those who disseminate this devotion to my tears and dolors, will be brought directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and delight.
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Conclusion
In praying and meditating on the Seven Sorrows, may we find solace in the shared pain of Mary and Jesus. Through this Rosary, we seek grace, repentance, and the strength to endure suffering for the greater glory of God.
Seven Graces for Those Who Meditate on Our Lady Seven Sorrows: Our Lady of Seven Sorrows provides seven favors to the faithful who worship her every day with her devotion. [List of promises]
Closing Prayer: Queen of Martyrs, your heart endured so much pain. Help me and all the sinners of the world by granting us the grace of complete sincerity and repentance via the merits of the tears you shed in these awful and tragic times. Amen.