Sometimes the history of a feast of our church helps us appreciate what the feast teaches us. That may be true for this feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, which we celebrate September 15th.
This feast developed from a number of older feasts that centered around one of the gospels recommended for today: John 19:25-27. “Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.”
The picture of Mary at the foot of the cross of Jesus captured the imagination of medieval Christians and western Christians afterwards. After being mostly absent from the gospel stories, Mary suddenly appears as Jesus is crucified and dies. She stands beneath his cross on Calvary and shares intimately in his suffering and death.
The medieval devotion to this mystery entered the church’s liturgy in masses on the Compassion of Mary at the Cross.
In the 17th century the Servites https://servite.org/about/history/ promoted devotion to Mary’s Seven Sorrows, extending her experience of suffering beyond Calvary. The devotion recalls Mary’s first three sorrows at the birth of Jesus as Simeon tells her a sword shall pierce her heart. (Luke 2: 33-35) )She carries the Child Jesus into Egypt in fear of Herod.( Matthew 3: 13-23 ) She loses him in the temple as a little boy. (Luke 2:41-52) ) Her last four sorrows take place on Calvary: she meets Jesus carrying his cross, she stands beneath his cross, she assists as Jesus is taken down from the cross and as he is buried.
Devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Mary entered the liturgy as the Mass of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. In 1727 Benedict XIII extended the mass to the entire church. In 1913 it was moved its present place, September 15, following the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.
Today’s mass in our calendar is similar to the older masses, but a number of options are offered in the latest reform of the liturgy. Luke’s account of Simeon’s prophecy is offered as an optional gospel reading. The Stabat Mater, a medieval poem honoring Mary standing at the cross has become optional. The feast is now called the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, instead of the feast of The Seven Sorrows of Mary. Slight changes, but what do they mean?
They extend reflection on Mary’s participation in the mystery of the Passion of Jesus as the Servites have done. Her experience of sorrow goes beyond Calvary. Her life changed dramatically after the angel invited her to be the mother of Jesus Christ. “How can this be?” Mary asks the angel. Years of reflection, questioning and uncertainty followed. Her faith was tested again and again. The sword Simeon promised struck her long before its final thrust on Calvary.
The gospels indicate the sorrows Mary experienced at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem along with the joy. The years that followed in Nazareth raising her Child were not without worry and concern. She was there when her Son returned to Nazareth after his ministry had begun. She saw Jesus rejected and threatened with death. On fleeting visits and through others she knew of his rejection by the Galilean towns, his disputes with the Jewish leaders, the death of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod. All dangerous signs.
On their way to Jerusalem before his death, James and John saw a kingdom ahead and asked Jesus for high places in it. Peter could not conceive of Jesus dying on a cross. What did Mary think as she joined the other women from Galilee who made their way with Jesus to Jerusalem?
Her faith was certainly better shaped by reality than that of his disciples. She stood by the cross of Jesus, while they “left him and fled.” Her faith was shaped by standing up to other sorrows in life, which made her stand bravely before this one. She believed in the promise God made to her. Her sorrows inspire us to be brave.
“Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.”
The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is a good example how devotions enter the liturgy and how the liturgy, as the center of our prayer, anchors devotions.