OUR LADY OF SORROWS - FRIDAY OF WEEK 23 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Happy is the Virgin Mary,
who, without dying,
won the palm of martyrdom
beneath the cross of the Lord.

HEBREWS 5:7-9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Too often we wail aloud and lament with tears and groanings when we are invited to sip from Your Chalice of Suffering. We baulk at the weight of the cross that is given to us. We grumble, and whine, we ask to be spared suffering, we beg constantly to be relieved from the weight of the particular cross that will purify us, strengthen us, and prepare us for eternal life. Peace, true peace is possible in this life only if we abandon ourselves completely to Your will and unite our fiat to Mary's when she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And to Your fiat in Your agony in the Garden of Gethsemane “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

Beloved, Jesus we can only strive to be holy and perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, as You have asked us to, if we submit patiently to any suffering and trial that God wills for us in humility and obedience.

Jesus, meek and humble of heart make my heart like unto Yours. Amen.

During his life on earth, Christ offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard. Although he was Son, he learnt to obey through suffering; but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.

PSALM 30(31):2-6,15-16,20 ©

In you, O Lord, I take refuge.

Let me never be put to shame.
In your justice, set me free,
hear me and speedily rescue me.

Be a rock of refuge for me,

a mighty stronghold to save me,
for you are my rock, my stronghold.
For your name’s sake, lead me and guide me.

Release me from the snares they have hidden

for you are my refuge, Lord.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
It is you who will redeem me, Lord.

But as for me, I trust in you, Lord;

I say: ‘You are my God.
My life is in your hands, deliver me
from the hands of those who hate me.’

How great is the goodness, Lord,

that you keep for those who fear you,
that you show to those who trust you
in the sight of men.

Save me, O Lord, in your love.

JOHN19:25-27 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

As we contemplate the scene at the foot of the Cross with You immolated on it for the salvation of the world, we understand that unless we accept Your generous gift of Mary Your Mother, the Theotokos, as our Mother and we take her home with us we cannot truly or fully embrace the fullness of the work of salvation and redemption. This plan of salvation was revealed when the old Eve, beguiled by the Devil, desired to be like God, rejected His love, and instead tempted her husband, Adam leading him to sin and death as well.  

Today, once again, as we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, the Church invites all her children, to receive Mary as our Mother from Your hands, according to the will of the Father who desires that we have not just Him for our Father but in order to have You for our Brother we need to open our hearts, our lives, to Your Mother and accept her our Mother too.  We are the family of God - and the love of the Holy Spirit binds us one to the other and draws us into the love of the Triune God with bonds that cannot be broken except by our willful rejection of God's love.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.