💔The commemoration of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady delves into Mary's profound union with the redemptive sacrifice of her Son. This devotion, rooted in Simeon's prophecy that a sword would pierce her soul (Lk 2:35), contemplates the most intense moments of sorrow in the Virgin's life, culminating in her presence at the foot of the Cross. There, she was not a passive spectator but an active participant in the mystery of Redemption, offering her suffering in union with Christ's. For her compassion and fortitude, the Church venerates her with the title of Co-Redemptrix. As St. Bernard of Clairvaux taught, "The force of sorrow pierced your soul, so that not without reason do we call you more than a martyr, for your compassion far exceeded the physical pains of the passion."
🕯️Introit (Jn 19:25 | ibid., 26-27)Stabant juxta Crucem Jesu Mater ejus, et soror Matris ejus, María Cléophæ, et Salóme et María Magdaléne... There stood by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother, and His Mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, Salome, and Mary Magdalene. Ps. Woman, behold thy son; and to the disciple Jesus said: Behold thy Mother. ℣. Glory be to the Father...
📖Reading (Jdt 13:22, 23-25)
The Lord has blessed you by His power, because by you He has brought our enemies to nothing. Blessed are you, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who created heaven and earth, who has so magnified your name this day, that your praise shall not depart from the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord forever. For you have not spared your life, for the distresses and troubles of your people, but have prevented our ruin in the presence of our God.
✝️Gospel (Jn 19:25-27)
At that time, there stood by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother and His Mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus, therefore, had seen His Mother and the disciple standing whom He loved, He says to His Mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, He says to the disciple: Behold thy Mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.
🤔Reflections
🙏The reading from the Book of Judith prefigures the Virgin Mary as the strong woman who, through her courage and sacrifice, achieves victory for her people. Just as Judith risked her life to defeat Holofernes, Mary risked her soul in sorrow at the foot of the Cross to crush the serpent's head. Her motherhood, sealed on Calvary, is not merely biological but extends to all members of the Body of Christ. “Mary was a martyr not by the sword of the executioner, but by the bitter sorrow of her soul” (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon on the Sunday in the Octave of the Assumption). This sorrow was not of despair but of cooperative love, for, as St. Augustine teaches, “by charity she cooperated in the birth of the faithful in the Church, the members of that Head” (St. Augustine, On Holy Virginity). In Christ's testament on the Cross, she became the Mother of the Church, giving birth in sorrow to the children her Son redeemed with blood.
↔️The Gospel of St. John is unique in detailing Mary's presence at the foot of the Cross and the dialogue that establishes her spiritual motherhood over the disciples. In contrast, the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:49) mention a group of women, including Mary Magdalene and others, who observed the crucifixion "from a distance." None of them record the presence of Jesus' Mother so close to the cross, nor the words of Christ to her and the beloved disciple. John's narrative, therefore, focuses not only on the historical event but on its profound theological consequence: the entrustment of Mary as the mother of redeemed humanity, a central role that the other evangelists do not make explicit.
📜The writings of St. Paul, while not narrating the Passion, provide the theological framework for understanding Mary's compassion. In Galatians 4:4, Paul states that God sent His Son "born of a woman," underlining Mary's indispensable role in the Incarnation, which makes the sacrifice possible. More profoundly, in Colossians 1:24, Paul writes: "I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church." Our Lady's sorrow at the foot of the Cross is the most perfect fulfillment of this truth. She unites her suffering to Christ's in a unique way, completing in her mother's heart what was necessary for the application of Redemption to the Mystical Body.
🏛️The documents of the Church corroborate the doctrine of Mary's participation in the Redemption. Pope St. Pius X, in the encyclical Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum, teaches that Mary, standing by the Cross, "merited to be in a most worthy manner the Reparatrix of the lost world." Pope Benedict XV, in the apostolic letter Inter Sodalicia, states that it can be said that she redeemed the human race together with Christ, for "she renounced her mother's rights over her Son for the salvation of men, and, as far as she could, immolated Him to placate divine justice." Pope Pius XII, in the encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, reaffirms that it was she who, "on Calvary, offered Him to the Eternal Father together with the holocaust of her maternal rights and love," receiving all of us as her children in His testament.
🧐See English version of the critical articles here.