Our Lady of Sorrows, Blessed Mary, is marked on September 15.
Devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady has its roots in Sacred Scripture and in Christian piety, which always associates the Blessed Mother with her suffering Son, Lord Jesus Christ.
The title, Our Lady of Sorrows, given to our Blessed Mother focuses on Her intense suffering and grief during the passion and death of Lord Jesus Christ.
In all, the prophesy of Simeon that a sword would pierce our Blessed Mother's heart was fulfilled in these events. For this reason, Mary is sometimes depicted with Her heart exposed and with seven swords piercing it. More importantly, each new suffering was received with the courage, love, and trust that echoed Her fiat, let it be done unto me according to Thy word, first uttered at the Annunciation.
These seven sorrows of Blessed Mother Mary include the following:
1. At the prophecy of Simeon: "You yourself shall be pierced with a sword - so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare." (Luke 2:35).
2. At the flight into Egypt; "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt." (Mt 2:13).
3. Having lost the Holy Child at Jerusalem; "You see that your father and I have been searching for you in sorrow." (Luke 2:48).
4. Meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary;
5. Standing at the foot of the Cross; "Near the cross of Jesus there stood His mother." (John 19:25).
6. Jesus being taken from the Cross;
7. At the burial of Christ.
As we mark Our Lady of Sorrows, we pray saying:
Most holy Virgin and Queen of Martyrs,
Mary, would that I could be in Heaven,
there to contemplate the honours rendered to thee
by the Most Holy Trinity
and by the whole Heavenly Court!
But since I am still a pilgrim in this vale of tears,
receive from me, thy unworthy servant and a poor sinner,
the most sincere homage
and the most perfect act of vassalage
a human creature can offer thee.
In thy Immaculate Heart,
pierced with so many swords of sorrow,
I place today my poor soul forever;
receive me as a partaker in thy dolors,
and never suffer that I should depart from that Cross
on which thy only begotten Son expired for me.
With thee, O Mary,
I will endure all the sufferings,
contradictions, infirmities,
with which it will please thy Divine Son
to visit me in this life.
All of them I offer to thee,
in memory of the Dolors
which thou didst suffer during thy life,
that every thought of my mind,
every beating of my heart
may henceforward be an act of compassion to thy Sorrows,
and of complacency for the glory
thou now enjoyest in Heaven.
Since then, O Dear Mother,
I now compassionate thy Dolors,
and rejoice in seeing thee glorified,
do thou also have compassion on me,
and reconcile me to thy Son Jesus,
that I may become thy true and loyal son;
come on my last day and assist me in my last agony,
even as thou wert present at the Agony of thy Divine Son Jesus,
that from this painful exile I may go to Heaven,
there to be made partaker of thy glory.
Amen
