A reflection on Our Lady of Sorrows

By Gail Cooper

The Madonna della Pietà, informally known as La Pietà (1498–1499) means pity or compassion. It is a sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary cradling the mortal body of Jesus after the descent from the Cross.

The Pietà captures Mary as a grief-stricken mother in the aftermath of Jesus’ Crucifixion. It is Christian art by Michelangelo Buonarroti displayed in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City.

Seven deeply sorrowful experiences have been identified in Mary’s life, for which she has been given the title ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’. It is a memorial in the Church marked on September 15. Highlighted in this following prayer line to her is that suffering, on seeing her Son crucified:

“Your heart was pierced with a fresh sword of grief at all the stations of the most sorrowful journey”

(The Way of The Cross, Liturgical Commission Publication, 1996).

A call to mission

In the Annunciation, Mary accepted her call to be ‘The Handmaid of the Lord’. By giving birth to Jesus, she afforded us the salvation of the world. Hers is a sacrificial love for the other with a divine intent for the common good. This will be referred to as a form of divine charity.

She said, “Let what You have said be done unto me” (Lk 1:26–38). Mary won God’s favour to be the mother of the ‘Son of God,’ and, in faith, she consented.

It is through The Visitation that Mary moved from doubt to belief. Mary would have initially received reassurance about God’s call through Isaiah’s prophesy (Isa 7:14) in the words, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, whom she will call Emmanuel.” She would have only gotten full reassurance of her call to mission, on hearing her cousin Elizabeth’s words, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:42). Pope Benedict XVI refers to The Visitation as a demonstration of Mary’s selflessness through divine charity.

However, not long after the birth of her Son, Mary received Simeon’s prophesy in The Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple:

“You see this child: He is destined for the fall and for the rising of Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected—and a sword will pierce your soul too—so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.”

This is Mary’s First Sorrow: The Prophecy of Simeon (Lk 2:34-35).

It is therefore by Mary giving birth to Jesus and in His subsequent founding of the Church that their missions connected. She was ‘theotokos’ [God-bearer]  because “the Word was made flesh” (Jn 1:14) in and through her.

Mary’s unconditional ‘yes’, according to Benedict XVI, was joining her ‘yes’ to that of her Son, “even in making herself obedient with him; in His sacrifice” (Homily on the Angelus, November 6, 2006).

Mary’s Second Sorrow is The Flight into Egypt (Mt 2:13–21). By now, Simeon’s prophesy was becoming clearer to Mary as she glimpsed the danger with which her Son would be faced many years later in The Crucifixion. On this occasion, Herod had ordered the killing of all male babies. To protect Jesus, she took flight. Mary was shepherded by Joseph to Egypt.

Through this experience, Mary was indeed like a refugee. In this setting, her displacement generated images of human suffering. These images include: the foreigner who is disconnected from culture, alienated and isolated; the outcast with no food, shelter or clothing; the fugitive subject to the hardened hearts of oppressors seeking protection away from authorities.

The Third Sorrow: The Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days, (Lk 2:41–50) was a milestone in mission for both Son and mother. Mary’s anguish is heard in her questioning, “My Child, why have you done this to us?” She would have experienced a deep sorrow in her anxiety and guilt that The Saviour of the World entrusted to her had gone missing.

Jesus responded, “Did you not know I must be about my Father’s affairs?” This was the realisation in Jesus of being called to mission for His adult Ministry; while it was a realisation in Mary of her call to mission to now step back, to allow such fulfilment in Jesus of His Father’s will.

In the aftermath of The Crucifixion, Our Blessed Mother’s ultimate act of sacrificial love heightened to a sacred passion.

Mary in this setting was referred to as The Standing Mother grieving at the foot of the Cross. This is highlighted in the hymn ‘The Stabat Mater’. It is as if the single sword that pierced Her Son’s side, had pierced her heart seven times as her pain intensified.

This sequence of events as they unfolded was the Fourth Sorrow: The Ascent to Calvary (Jn 19:17); the Fifth Sorrow: Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (Jn 19:18–30); the Sixth Sorrow: Jesus Taken Down from the Cross; (Jn 19:39-40) the Seventh Sorrow: Jesus Laid in the Tomb (Jn 19:40–42).

Mary, not initially understanding the circumstances to which she was witness, stood in Faith, saw her Son killed, but then experienced the joy of the Resurrection.

Like her Son, Mary showed courage and fearlessness in what she was called to do, despite hearing Simeon’s prophecy of her “life of sorrow”. Like Jesus, she displayed a selflessness, a self denial for the other.

In her salvific duty, she employed obedience, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour which resembled her Son closely in mission.