+ Today we celebrate the “white martyrdom” – the spiritual martyrdom of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By the fourteenth century her “Sorrows” were fixed at seven:
- The Prophecy of
Simeon over the Infant Jesus
(Luke 2:34)
- The Flight into Egypt
of the Holy Family (Matthew
2:13)
- The Loss of the Child
Jesus for Three Days
(Luke 2:43)
- The Meeting of Jesus
and Mary along the Way of the Cross (Luke 23:26)
- The Crucifixion,
where Mary stands at the foot of the cross (John 19:25)
- The Descent from the
Cross, where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms (Matthew 27:57)
- The Burial of Jesus (John 19:40)
Just as we said yesterday that
Jesus looked forward to and embraced the Cross of our salvation; so too, Mary
must have looked forward in a sense to hers. It was her lot to have God do unto her always as he would – she
trusted Him and all his ways: she also knew the entire history of her people,
and she knew that associating with God always involved risk and self-sacrifice
– and so being part of this great drama in the redemption of the world – she
knew that as the Mother of the Savior, she would have to suffer greatly too:
but she did it willingly and lovingly, like only the Mother of God could. And
she always felt the comfort of the Holy Spirit in her trials! Mary is not only
our intercessor when we must suffer, but she is also our model!
May
the revealed thoughts of our hearts find us willing to embrace
and endure what we must in order to ensure our salvation and our place in
heaven with you, dear holy Mother and Blessed Virgin Mary!
Blessed
are you, O Virgin Mary; without dying you won the martyr’s crown beneath the
Cross of the Lord.
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