From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   September 15th -  The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady   
      
   As the octave of the Nativity of Our Lady ends, the consideration of her   
   suffering would not normally come to the mind of the faithful. But if   
   someone   
   would ask about the future of this child, we would recall that before being   
   proclaimed blessed by all nations, Mary would suffer with her Son for the   
   salvation of the world.   
      
   The voice of the liturgy invites us to consider her sorrow: "Ó all ye who   
   pass   
   by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow." This   
   applies to her.   
      
   The sorrow of Our Lady is a work of God. He was the One who destined her to   
   be   
   the Mother of His Son. Therefore, He indissolubly united her to the Person,   
   life, mysteries and sufferings of Jesus in order to make her His faithful   
   companion in the work of Redemption. Suffering has to be a great gift,   
   because   
   God gave it to His Son and to the creature He loves more than any other   
   after   
   Him, Our Lady. He gave it as a most precious gift.   
      
   For Mary the suffering did not start at Calvary, but with Jesus, "that   
   incommodious child," as Bossuet called Him, because wherever He went, he   
   entered   
   with His Cross and with His thorns which He distributes to those He loves.   
      
   The prophecy of the aged Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the   
   Divine   
   Child in Jerusalem, the carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, the taking   
   down   
   from the Cross, and the burial of Jesus: these are the seven mysteries into   
   which are grouped the well-nigh infinite sufferings which made Our Lady the   
   Queen of Martyrs, the first and loveliest rose in the garden of the Spouse.   
      
   Above all, this solemn day shows us Mary on Calvary, and reminds us of that   
   supreme sorrow among all the sorrows that ran through the life of Our Lady.   
   The   
   Church gave this feast the title of Seven Sorrows because this number   
   expresses   
   the idea of totality and universality.   
      
   To understand the extent and intensity of the suffering of Our Lady, we need   
   to   
   understand the extent and intensity of her love for Jesus, because her love   
   increased her suffering. Nature and grace concurred to produce in Mary's   
   heart   
   profound impressions. Nothing is stronger by nature than the love a mother   
   has   
   for her son, and by grace the love one has for God.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   There are so many excellent thoughts in this selection by D. Guéranger that   
   I   
   could be tempted to prolong these comments. I will not do so, but will just   
   select some ideas that he offers us.   
      
   The first is that since God loved His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, with an   
   infinite love and loved Our Lady with a lesser love, but still greater than   
   His   
   love for any other creature, He reserved for them His highest love. For this   
   reason He gave them that vastness of crosses represented by the number   
   seven.   
   Seven sorrows is understood as all sorrows. Our Lady could be called the   
   Lady of   
   all sorrows because she suffered everything.   
      
   All generations call her blessed, but all generations also could call her   
   sorrowful.   
      
   If this is so, we should understand better that when sorrow enters our lives   
   it   
   is a proof of the love God has for us. We should also realize that if sorrow   
   does not enter our lives, we do not have this proof of His love for us.   
   Therefore, we should not complain when sufferings come to us - nervous   
   problems,   
   difficulties in our apostolate, misunderstandings with our friends, problems   
   at   
   home, poor health, business troubles. We should accept these things as   
   normal,   
   as a proof of the love of Divine Providence for us.   
      
   When I see a person without maturity, stability, rationality, elevation of   
   spirit, I think that what he is lacking is suffering. These qualities only   
   come   
   with suffering - much suffering.   
      
   If we receive such trials, certainly we should pray for them to end. But to   
   the   
   measure that they remain, we should thank God and Our Lady.   
      
   I would also like to stress those extraordinary words of Bossuet who called   
   Our   
   Lord: "that incommodious child." All those who follow Our Lord are   
   incommodious.   
   When you give a good counsel, offer a good example, ask for a sacrifice, the   
   face of the person you are addressing will let you know that he considers   
   you   
   bothersome. It would be easier and more pleasant to tell a joke, to tease a   
   bit,   
   and close the matter with a pat on the back, dispensing the person from his   
   duties.   
      
   Sometimes we have to command. How easy it would be to command if we did not   
   have   
   to ask a subordinate to take things seriously, to see reality at its most   
   profound depths and in its most elevated aspect. How simple it would be if   
   we   
   did not have to ask him to face his own spiritual life without cowardice and   
   keep careful watch over his defects. All this causes bother. The burden of   
   being   
   incommodious is one of the heaviest weights we have to carry.   
      
   Maintaining joyful resignation in face of the annoyance we cause because we   
   represent Catholic duty, and having the courage to be incommodious in every   
   circumstance is the path we are called to take in order to follow Our Lord.   
      
   These are the virtues that on the day of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady we   
   should   
   ask her to give us.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "There would be no need for sermons, if our lives were shining; there would   
   be   
   no need for words, if we bore witness with our deeds. There would be no   
   pagans,   
   if we were true Christians."   
   -Saint John Chrysostom   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom. 12:21)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   YOUR CROSS   
      
   The everlasting God has in His   
   Wisdom foreseen from eternity,   
   the cross He now presents to   
   you as a gift from His   
   innermost heart. This cross He   
   now sends you He has   
   considered with his all-knowing   
   eyes, understood with His   
   divine mind, tested with His   
   wise justice, warmed with   
   loving arms and weighted with   
   His own hands to see that it   
   not be one ounce too heavy for   
   you. He has blessed it with His   
   Holy Name, anointed it with His   
   grace, perfumed it with his   
   consolation, and taken one last   
   glance at you and your courage   
   -has sent it to you from   
   heaven, a special greeting   
   from God to you, an alms of   
   the all merciful love of God.   
         St. Frances de Sales   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)