SORROWS BECOME JOYS

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

Jn 19:25-27
I am my mother’s joy. Or, at least, I want to believe I really am. But I am certain that I am the cause of my mother’s sorrows too. If I have the power I would give her only joys, no sorrows. But whether I cause her joys or sorrows, her love for me remains unconditional. Her maternal love gives her the capacity to accept sufferings as well as welcome consolations on my account.
The Blessed Virgin Mary had her sorrows too on account of her Son. Jesus did not cause her affliction though. Her inexhaustible love for her Son, Jesus, made her participate in His sufferings. Our sins crucified the Lord; thus, piercing her heart. The Gospel today tells us where the Blessed Mother was when her Son accomplished the final act of our redemption: at the foot of the cross. She who was saved even before being conceived (Immaculate Conception) participates in our salvation (Co-Redemptrix) by suffering with our Savior. At the Annunciation she became the mother of the Redeemer while on Good Friday she became the mother of the redeemed.
It almost sounds sacrilegious to say that we celebrate today the sorrows of the Blessed Mother. But there are three reasons why we celebrate.
First, we celebrate the sorrows of the Blessed Mother to thank the Lord for giving her to us. Despite His foreknowledge that we would cause His mother even more sorrows because of our sins, Jesus still entrusted her to us by through St. John the Beloved.
Second, we celebrate the sorrows of the Blessed Mother to thank her for loving Jesus so much so that her love for Him overflows to us. Because she inexhaustibly loves Jesus, she has the capacity to love each of us unconditionally. Her love for Jesus became a treasury of grace for us.
Third, we celebrate the sorrows of the Blessed Mother to remember that we are always called to unite our selves with the Lord. There are many reasons for our sorrows but only those that we suffer on account of our love for Jesus are worth enduring. Only those, when united with the sufferings of the Lord, are truly redemptive. Those sorrows likewise give us the capacity to suffer for the others whom the Lord loves. This is an essential element of Christian discipleship
We not called to suffer only. We are called to suffer ONLY WITH Jesus. Through Him, with Him and in Him, even sorrows become joys.