The Sorrows of the Virgin Mary Explained

The Sorrows of the Virgin Mary Explained

The Sorrows of the Virgin Mary , become a series of prayers that correspond to the 7 pains that the Virgin Mary suffered during the life of our beloved Lord Jesus on this earth. In the following article we will know everything about what Los Dolores de la Virgen María were.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary Most Holy

“And you, Mother, a sword of pain will pierce your heart.”

These were the words that came from the mouth of the prophet Simeon to the Virgin Mary. On Saturday you get to commemorate the feast of La Señora de los Dolores. According to an ancient tradition, Catholic Christians are the ones who remember “the 7 pains of the Virgin”: the moments in which the Virgin is perfectly united with her Son Jesus, who was able to share in a unique way the depth from the pain and also from the love of his sacrifice. For this reason, a selection of texts by Saint Josemaría is offered regarding each one of the sorrows.

Devotion

At all times the so-called Catholic Christians have come to learn from the Virgin to come to love the Lord Jesus Christ much better. The devotion to The 7 Sorrows of the Virgin Mary which was developed by the different kinds of private revelations.

The Virgin communicated to Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373): “I look at all those who live in the world to see if there are people who feel sorry for the Virgin and come to meditate on her pains, but I find few who think in tribulation and in my sufferings. That is why you, my daughter, do not forget Me, who am a forgotten person and who has also been underestimated by many people.

Look at my pain on this day and imitate me in what you can really. Please consider each one of my anguishes and my tears and it hurts you that there are so few friends of God.

The Blessed Virgin came to promise that she would grant the 7 graces to all those souls who honor her and accompany her on a daily basis, always praying the 7 Hail Marys while meditating on her tears and her pains. Her promises were these:

  • I will Grant Peace to all your Families.
  • They will be enlightened as to the divine Mysteries.
  • I will comfort you in each of your sorrows and I will also accompany you in each of your jobs.
  • I am going to give you whatever you ask for, as long as you do not come to oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or even the salvation of your souls.
  • I am going to defend you in each of your spiritual battles against the infernal enemy and I am also going to defend and protect you at every moment of your lives.
  • I am going to visibly assist you at the moment of your death and at that very moment you will see the face of the Virgin.
  • I have obtained from the great Lord Jesus that all those who spread devotion to the tears and pains of the virgin, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all sins will be forgiven and the Lord Jesus will be the consolation and also the eternal joy.

According to Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori, Our Lord was the one who revealed to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary that He would come to grant some 4 additional special graces to all the devotees of the sorrows of His Most Holy Mother, which are the following:

  • All those who before their death come to invoke the Blessed Mother in the name of their sorrows, will obtain a kind of perfect contrition for all their sins committed.
  • The Lord Jesus will protect all those who come to remember this kind of devotion in their tribulations and will protect them especially at the time of their departure from this world.
  • He will impress on their minds what is the memory of His Passion and they will have their reward in heaven.
  • The Lord will commend these souls who are devout in the hands of the Virgin Mary, so that they come to give them all the graces that she wants to pour out on their lives.

Coming to meditate on the Sorrows of the Virgin Mary becomes a way of being able to share the deepest sufferings of the Virgin’s life on earth. The feast of the Lady of Sorrows is celebrated on September 15 of each year, the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

At the foot of the Cross, where a sword of pain came to pierce Mary’s heart, Jesus came to give His Mother as the mother of many in time before dying. In response to this kind of supreme demonstration of his love for each one of us, so we can say during each day of our lives: “ Yes, She is my Mother. Jesus, I receive her and I ask You to lend me Your Heart to love Mary as You love her” .

Rosary of the 7 Sorrows

In general, one Our Father should be prayed followed by seven Hail Marys, as a result of each pain suffered by the Blessed Virgin. It is necessary to ask this divinity to provide the wisdom to understand the evil committed and in this way receive a true genuine repentance. This sacred act allows to unite the pains of each one of the devotees together with those of the Virgin Mary, just as she suffered with her Son, in this way the redemption of sins is obtained both personally and for the whole world. .

act of contrition

Oh great and powerful Lord Jesus, I come to you with humility to ask you to forgive me, I completely repent of each of the sins I have committed. I beg you to hear my cry and allow me to receive your forgiveness, fill me every day with your love, Amen.

(It is recommended to do a reading of the Gospel, that is, each one of the quotes that are related to each pain).

First Sorrow: Simeon’s Prophecy

Upon completing each of the days of his purification, according to what corresponds to the Law of Moses, Jesus was taken to Jerusalem, as it was written in the Law of the Lord where it says: Every firstborn male will be consecrated to the Lord and to offer in sacrifice a pair of turtledoves or two pigeons, as ordered in the law of the Lord.

There was at that very time in the regions of Jerusalem a man named Simeon; this man was just and pious, who waited for the consolation of the people of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was with him. It had become revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he could see the Christ of the Lord.

One day, moved by the Holy Spirit, he came to the Temple; and when his parents introduced the child Jesus to fulfill what the Law prescribed for him, he took him in his arms and blessed God saying the following words: “Now, Lord, you can let your servant go in peace, according to your word, because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light for the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel . ”

His father and also his mother were amazed at the things that this prophet said to the child. Simeon blessed them and also told his mother Mary: “Look, this one has been destined to be the fall and resurrection of many in Israel, and as a sign of contradiction, a sword will pierce your soul, so that your thoughts may be discovered. of many hearts . ” (this is found written in the book of Luke 2:22-35)

The Lady is the one who listens with great attention to what God wants, who ponders what she does not understand, questions what she does not know. Later, she gives herself over to what is the fulfillment of the divine will that she says: here I am, the slave of the Lord, please be done to me according to your word.

Do you see the wonder? Holy Mary, the teacher of all human behavior, who teaches us now that obedience to God is not servility, does not subjugate the conscience: it is what moves us intimately to discover the freedom of the children of God.

She is the Mistress of Charity . Remember all that scene of the presentation of Jesus in the temple of God. The Man of God named Simeon “assured Mary, her Mother: See, this child is destined for the ruin and resurrection of many in Israel and to be the target of contradiction; what will be to yourself a sword that will pierce your soul, so that the hidden thoughts in the hearts of many may be discovered .

The immense charity that is found in mother Mary for humanity makes it possible to fulfill, in the same way in her, the affirmation of Christ who says: “no one has greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends” . With reason all the Romans of the Pontiffs have called Mary the Co-redemptrix:

“In such a way, together with his patient and dying Son, he suffered and almost died; and in such a way, for the salvation of all men, that she abdicated her maternal rights over her Son, and came to immolate him, insofar as it depended on her, in order to appease the justice of God, which can with great reason to say that She was the one who redeemed the human race together with the Lord Christ”.

In this way, it is that many understand much better that moment of the Passion of Our beloved Lord, which we will never get tired of meditating on because of what is said: “stabat autem iuxta cruzem Iesu mater eius”, which in its translation means: “I was next to the cross of Jesus his Mother”.

Second Sorrow: The Flight into Egypt

After leaving, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt; stay there until I tell you, because Herod is going to look for the boy to finish him off” . He at that time got up, took the child and his mother, at night and went to Egypt. In that place he was until the death of Herod, so that what the Lord announced through the prophet would be fulfilled when he said: “Out of Egypt I called my son” (this is found in the book of Matthew 2:13-15 ).

Mother Mary came to cooperate with her charity so that in this way the faithful were born in the Church, all the members of that Head of whom she effectively becomes mother according to the body. As Mother, she teaches them; and, also as a Mother, all her lessons are not noisy. It is necessary to get to have in the soul a kind of base of finesse, a kind of touch of delicacy, to be able to understand what it shows us, more than with promises, with works.

The Teacher of Faith. Blessed are you, who have come to believe! That is how her cousin Elizabeth greets her when Our Lady climbs the mountain to visit her. That type of act of faith of Holy Mary had become marvelous: here is the handmaid of the Lord, please do it to me according to your word.

In the Birth of your Son, contemplate the greatness of God on earth: there is a choir of angels, and both the shepherds and the powerful of the earth come to adore the Child. However, after the Holy Family he has to flee to Egypt, in order to escape the criminal attempts of King Herod. Later, silence: for about 30 long years of simple life, of an ordinary life, like that of one more home in a small town in Galilee.

The Holy Gospel, in a brief way, is the one that facilitates the way for us to be able to understand the example of the Virgin Mary: the mother the Lord kept all these things within herself, pondering them in her great heart. So let us all try to imitate her, dealing with the Lord, in a kind of dialogue in love, with everything that happens to us, even with the most general events.

We must not forget that we have to weigh them, value them, see them with eyes of faith, in order to discover the Will of God. If our faith becomes weak, they should go to Mary. The apostle Saint John recounts that, due to the miracle of the wedding at Cana, which the Lord Jesus performed at the request of his Mother, all his disciples came to believe in Him. The Mother comes to intercede at all times before her Son so that she comes to attend to us and shows herself to us, in such a way that we can come to confess: You are the Son of God.

Third Sorrow: Jesus Lost in the Temple

His parents went every year to the regions of Jerusalem for the Passover festival. And when the boy was 12 years old, they went up to the party as was his custom. Once all those days had passed, when he returned, the child Jesus stayed in the areas of Jerusalem, without his parents realizing it.

They thought that he was in the caravan, they came to walk a whole day looking for him among all his relatives and acquaintances; however, unable to find him, they returned to the regions of Jerusalem in search of him. Walking on the road for 3 days in a row they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of all the doctors and teachers of the law, listening to them and asking them some questions.

All who heard him were greatly amazed at his wisdom and also at his answers. Seeing him, his parents were amazed and his mother said to him: “Son, why have you done this to us? Look how your father and I, anguished, were looking for you “ . To which Jesus replied: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must attend to my Father’s business?” However, they did not understand the answer he gave them (you can see this in the book of Luke 2: 41-50).

The Gospel of the Holy Mass has come to remind us of all that moving scene of Jesus, who comes to stay in the areas of Jerusalem teaching in the temple. María and José, her parents, stayed for a whole day, always asking their relatives and everyone they knew.

However, since they did not find him, they returned to the regions of Jerusalem in search of him. The Mother of God, who searched so hard for her son, lost through no fault of hers, who came to experience the greatest joy in being able to find him, who will help us to be able to retrace our steps, to get to rectify what is necessary when for our lightness or sins let us not be able to distinguish the Lord Christ.

So that way we will achieve the joy of being able to embrace Him again, to get to tell Him that we will never lose Him again. Where is Jesus? Lady: The Child!… Where is he? Mary cries. For the rest, you and I have been traveling from group to group, from caravan to caravan: they haven’t seen him. Oh José, after making useless efforts not to cry, cry too… And you… And me.

I, since I’m a coarse little boy, cry at the top of my lungs at all times and also cry out to heaven and earth, for when I lost him through my own fault and didn’t cry out. Jesus: may I never lose you again… And then misfortune and also pain are what unite us, as sin united us, and groans of deep contrition and ardent phrases come out of our whole being, that the pen cannot, no must stamp.

And, when we get to console ourselves with the joy of getting to meet Jesus for about 3 days of absence! disputing with the Masters of the people of Israel, it will be deeply engraved in your soul and also in mine what is the obligation to leave those of our house to come to serve the Heavenly Father.

Fourth Sorrow: Mary Finds Her Son on the Way to Calvary

The Lord Jesus has barely gotten up from his first fall, when he comes to find his Most Holy Mother, next to the path where He passes. With immense love Mary looks at the Lord Jesus, and Jesus looks at his Mother; her eyes meet and meet, and each heart pours his own pain into the other. The soul of the mother of Jesus is completely drowned in bitterness, in the bitterness of Jesus Christ.

Oh, how many of you pass through that same path: look and see if there is pain that is comparable to my pain! (Lamentations 1:12). But nobody gets to realize, nobody pays attention; only the Lord Jesus. The prophecy of the Man of God named Simeon has come to pass: a sword will pierce your soul (Luke 2:35).

In the dark solitude of the Passion, the Lady comes to offer her Son a kind of balm of tenderness, as well as union, fidelity; a yes to the divine will. Hand in hand with Mary, you and I want in the same way to console Jesus, always accepting at all times and in everything the Will of his Father, of our Father. Only in this way will we taste the sweetness of the Cross of Christ, and we will also embrace it with the strength of love, always carrying it in triumph through all the paths of the earth.

Fifth Sorrow: Jesus Dies on the Cross

His mother and also his mother’s sister, called Mary of Cleopas, and in the same way Mary Magdalene were standing by the Cross of Jesus. Seeing the Lord Jesus her mother and next to her the disciple whom he loved, so he said to her mother: “Woman, there you have your son” . Then he said to the disciple: “There you have your mother . “

And from that very moment the disciple took her with him. After this, knowing the Lord Jesus that everything had been consummated, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, the Lord said: “I thirst” . So near there is a glass full of vinegar; and tying a sponge soaked in vinegar to a branch of hyssop, they brought it close to his mouth. When Jesus took the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” And having bowed his head, he gave up the spirit (I could see this in the book of John 19: 25-30).

In the scandal of the Sacrifice of the Cross, the Virgin Mary was present, listening with great sadness to those who passed by, and who blasphemed, shaking their heads and also shouting: You, who destroy the temple of God, and supposedly in 3 days you rebuild it, save yourself!; if you are truly the son of God, come down from the Cross.

So the Lady listened to the words of her Son, joining her own pain: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? What could she do? Merge with the redeeming love of her beloved Son, offer the Father immense pain like a kind of very sharp sword that pierced his pure Heart.

Again the Lord Jesus feels comforted, with that kind of discreet and loving presence of his Mother. The mother does not scream, she does not run from one side to another. She was standing next to the Son. It is then that the Lord Jesus looks at her, then turning his eyes to her beloved disciple who was John, and exclaims: Woman, there you have your son . Then he says to the disciple: there you have your Mother . In John, Christ comes to entrust all men to the Mother of him and especially to his disciples: those who were to believe in Him.

Sixth Sorrow: Jesus is taken down from the Cross and delivered to his Mother

When evening came, as was the parasceve, this comes to be, on the eve of the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, one of the illustrious members of the Sanhedrin, who also expected the kingdom of God; and with great courage he went to the Roman authority who was Pontius Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate was surprised that the lord was already dead and, calling the centurion, asked him if he had already died. Arriving to be assured by the centurion, he delivered the body to Joseph. This one bought him a sheet; He took it down and wrapped it in the sheet, put it in a tomb that was already excavated in the rock and rolled a stone to the door of the tomb, it was new, no one had used it before, you can see this in the book of Mark 15:42-46.

Now, located before that very moment of Calvary, when the Lord Jesus has already died and the glory of his triumph has not yet been manifested, it becomes a good occasion to be able to examine all our desires for Christian life, for holiness ; to be able to react with a type of act of faith in the face of our weaknesses, and always trusting in the great power of God, make the resolution to put love in the things of our day.

The experience of sin is what should eventually lead us to pain, to a much more mature and profound decision to be faithful, to be able to truly identify with Christ, to persevere, whatever the cost, in that same priestly mission that He has come to entrust all his disciples without any kind of exception, to push us to be salt and light of the world.

Seventh Sorrow: They Bury the Body of Jesus

After this, a man named Joseph of Arimathea, who was the disciple of Jesus, although in secret for great fear of the Jews, asked Pontius Pilate for permission to remove the Body of Jesus. So he gave it to him. So he went and removed the body of Jesus. A man named Nicodemus also arrived, who had previously come to him at night, bringing a kind of mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100 pounds.

They took the body of the Lord Jesus and bandaged it with good cloths and scents, as is customary to bury the Jews. There was a kind of garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden a sepulcher that was new, in which no one had yet been buried. As it was the Preparation of all the Jews, and because of the proximity of the tomb, they put the Lord Jesus in that place, you can read it in the book of John 19:38-42.

Closing Prayer

Oh great Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, which is the abode of purity and holiness, the one that covers my soul with your eternal maternal protection so that being at all times faithful to the voice of the year Jesus, please respond to his love and to obey his divine will.

So on this day I want, oh my beloved Mother, to live intimately linked to your Heart that is totally united to the Sacred Heart of your Divine Son. So many on this day ask you to tie them to your beloved Heart and also to the Heart of Jesus with your great virtues and your pains. Please protect me forever. Amen.

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