Our Lady of Sorrows, part I: "Her Martyrdom was longer and greater than that of all the martyrs"

Catholic Womanhood/CNA ^ | St. Alphonsus Liguori

[GonzoII]

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During the month of September, the Catholic Church honors the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title "Our Lady of Sorrows." In this excerpt from his monumental work "The Glories of Mary," St. Alphonsus Liguori considers the depths of sorrow experienced by the Blessed Virgin Mary during her earthly life, and the ways in which they reveal her role in salvation history:


Mary was the Queen of Martyrs, for her martyrdom was longer and greater than that of all the Martyrs.

Who can ever have a heart so hard that it will not melt on hearing the most lamentable event which once occurred in the world? There was a noble and holy Mother Who had an only Son. This Son was the most amiable that can be imagined—innocent, virtuous, beautiful, Who loved His Mother most tenderly; so much so that He had never caused her the least displeasure, but had ever shown her all respect, obedience, and affection: hence this Mother had placed all her affections on earth in this Son. Hear, then, what happened. This Son, through envy, was falsely accused by His enemies; and though the judge knew, and himself confessed, that He was innocent, yet, that he might not offend His enemies, he condemned Him to the ignominious death that they had demanded. This poor Mother had to suffer the grief of seeing that amiable and beloved Son unjustly snatched from her in the flower of His age by a barbarous death; for, by dint of torments and drained of all His blood, He was made to die on an infamous gibbet in a public place of execution, and this before her own eyes.

Devout souls, what say you? Is not this event, and is not this unhappy Mother worthy of compassion. You already understand of whom I speak. This Son, so cruelly executed, was our loving Redeemer Jesus; and this Mother was the Blessed Virgin Mary; Who, for the love she bore us, was willing to see Him sacrificed to Divine Justice by the barbarity of men. This great torment, then, which Mary endured for us—a torment which was more than a thousand deaths deserves both our compassion and our gratitude. If we can make no other return for so much love, at least let us give a few moments this day to consider the greatness of the sufferings by which Mary became the Queen of martyrs; for the sufferings of her great martyrdom exceeded those of all the martyrs; being, in the first place, the longest in point of duration; and, in the second place, the greatest in point of intensity.

"The passion of Jesus," as Saint Bernard says, "commenced with His birth". So also did Mary, in all things like unto her Son, endure her martyrdom throughout her life. Amongst other significations of the name of Mary, as Blessed Albert the Great asserts, is that of "a bitter sea." Hence to her is applicable the text of Jeremias : "great as the sea is thy destruction." For as the sea is all bitter and salt, so also was the life of Mary always full of bitterness at the sight of the passion of the Redeemer, which was ever present to her mind. "There can be no doubt, that, enlightened by the Holy Ghost in a far higher degree than all the prophets, she, far better than they, understood the predictions recorded by them in the sacred Scriptures concerning the Messias." This is precisely what the angel revealed to St. Bridget; and he also added, `that the Blessed Virgin, even before she became His Mother, knowing how much the Incarnate Word was to suffer for the salvation of men, and compassionating this innocent Saviour, who was to be so cruelly put to death for crimes not His own, even then began her great martyrdom."

Her grief was immeasurably increased when she became the Mother of this Saviour; so that at the sad sight of the many torments which were to be endured by her poor Son, she indeed suffered a long martyrdom, a martyrdom which lasted her whole life. This was signified with great exactitude to Saint Bridget in a vision which she had in Rome, in the church of Saint Mary Major, where the Blessed Virgin with Saint Simeon, and an angel bearing a very long sword, reddened with blood, appeared to her, denoting thereby the long, and bitter grief which transpierced the heart of Mary during her whole life. When the above named Rupert supposes Mary thus speaking: "Redeemed souls, and my beloved children, do not pity me only for the hour in which I beheld my dear Jesus expiring before my eyes; for the sword of sorrow predicted by Simeon pierced my soul during the whole of my life: when I was giving suck to my Son, when I was warming Him in my arms, I already foresaw the bitter death that awaited Him. Consider, then, what long and bitter sorrows I must have endured."

Moreover, says Saint Antoninus, "while other martyrs suffered by sacrificing their own lives, the Blessed Virgin suffered by sacrificing her Son's life, a life that she loved far more than her own; so that she not only suffered in her soul all that her Son endured in His body, but moreover the sight of her Son's torments brought more grief to her heart than if she had endured them all in her own person. No one can doubt that Mary suffered in her heart all the outrages which she saw inflicted on her beloved Jesus. Any one can understand that the sufferings of children are also those of their mothers who witness them. Saint Augustine, considering the anguish endured by the mother of the Maccabees in witnessing the tortures of her sons, says, "she, seeing their sufferings, suffered in each one; because she loved them all, she endured in her soul what they endured in their flesh." Thus also did Mary suffer all those torments, scourges, thorns, nails, and the cross, which tortured the innocent flesh of Jesus, all entered at the same time into the heart of this Blessed Virgin, to complete her martyrdom. "He suffered in the flesh, and she in her heart," writes that Blessed Amadeus. "So much so," says Saint Lawrence Justinian, "that the heart of Mary became, as it were, a mirror of the Passion of the Son, in which might be seen, faithfully reflected, the spitting, the blows and wounds, and all that Jesus suffered." Saint Bonaventure also remarks that "those wounds—which were scattered over the body of our Lord were all united in the single heart of Mary."


Image: Michelangelo's Pieta, St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican. Photograph by Stanislav Traykov - Wikimedia Commons

Topics: Faith , Liturgical Year , Motherhood , Suffering

View all articles by St. Alphonsus Liguori

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[GonzoII]

[kitkat]

Beautifully said. BUMP

[astratt7]

Mary was merely a chosen woman, a sinner, saved by grace.
Jesus is the only one who suffered, why would you share His Glory with any mortal?

[GonzoII]

"Mary was merely a chosen woman, a sinner, saved by grace."

She was saved by grace alright, but she never sinned.

"Jesus is the only one who suffered, why would you share His Glory with any mortal?"

As far as Jesus being the only one who suffered you may want to read St. Paul and how he rejoices in his sufferings.

Col 1: 24 "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:"

So clearly, Jesus isn't the only one who suffers.

[markomalley]

Luke 2:34-35 (KJV) And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this [child] is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

[LetMarch]

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 5:29-31)

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.....” (Philippians 2:5-10a)

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

[Stegall Tx]

This Son was the most amiable that can be imagined—innocent, virtuous, beautiful, Who loved His Mother most tenderly; so much so that He had never caused her the least displeasure, but had ever shown her all respect, obedience, and affection: hence this Mother had placed all her affections on earth in this Son.

Luke 2:48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."

[GonzoII]

"This Son was the most amiable that can be imagined—innocent, virtuous, beautiful, Who loved His Mother most tenderly; so much so that He had never caused her the least displeasure,"

Note the context: "virtuous", "innocent". It's about deeds or moral acts, i.e., He did no evil to cause her displeasure.

"Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."

Easy to be misinterpreted.

He did not deliberately cause her to be searching for Him "anxiously", but He did allow the anxious search as He allowed her to stand beneath the cross.

Christ can do no evil.

[RnMomof7]

She was saved by grace alright, but she never sinned

And you know that how? Even your church teaches ONLY Jesus could live a sinless life ..so a bit contradiction in the doctrine it seems

As far as Jesus being the only one who suffered you may want to read St. Paul and how he rejoices in his sufferings...
Col 1: 24 "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:"

Jesus is the only one that suffered and paid the price for all the sins of the ones that come to Him

You mis-read Paul's words .Do you really believe the cross was insufficient and we must make up the difference?

Paul here spoke of His afflictions suffered to bring the gospel, to grow the church. His afflictions saved no one, and had no effect salvation, even his.

"Christ is "afflicted in all His people's afflictions" (Isa 63:9). "The Church is His body in which He is, dwells, lives, and therefore also suffers" [Vitringa]. Christ was destined to endure certain afflictions in this figurative body, as well as in His literal; these were "that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ," which Paul "filled up." His own meritorious sufferings in expiation for sin were once for all completely filled up on the Cross. But His Church (His second Self) has her whole measure of afflictions fixed. ....Believers should regard their sufferings less in relation to themselves as individuals, and more as parts of a grand whole, carrying out God's perfect plan."
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Jesus is the only one that suffered and paid the price for all the sins of the ones that come to Him

AMEN!

Rome glorifies the creature when all glory belongs to the Triune God alone.

Sorcery and superstition do not strengthen the church of Christ on earth. They debilitate it and lead men astray.

"Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.

The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low" -- Isaiah 2:8-12

[Salvation]

How do you know otherwise?

[Salvation]

Our Lady of Sorrows, part I: "Her Martyrdom was longer and greater than that of all the martyrs"
The Seven Dolors (Sorrows) of Mary [Catholic/Orthodox Devotional]
Apparition in Africa: Our Lady of Sorrows [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary [Catholic Caucus Devotional]
Feast of Our Lady/Mother of Sorrows

Homilies on Our Lady of Sorrows
Starkenburg:Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Sorrows Shrine
Our Mother of Sorrows
ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI, OF THE DOLOURS OF MARY, The Glories [Sorrows] of Mary
Our Lady of Sorrows - Sep 15

[Sir_Ed]

Mary suffered for our salvation? Shoot, why don’t you go full bore and just declare yourselves Goddess worshippers and be done with it???

Ed

[Salvation]

The 7 Sorrows (Dolours) and 7 Joys of Our Lady

The 7 Sorrows (Dolours) and 7 Joys of Our Lady

Sorrows (Dolours):	Joys:
The Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:33-35)	The Annunciation (Luke 1:27-38)
The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 3: 13-15)	The Visitation (Luke 1:39-58)
The Loss of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52)	The Birth of Jesus (Luke 2:7)
The Meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross (John 19:17)	The Adoration of the Magi (Matthew 2:7-11)
The Crucifixion (John 19:25-30)	The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:46)
The Taking Down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross (John 19: 31-37)	The Resurrection of Our Lord (John 20:1-9)
Jesus laid in the Tomb (John 19:38-42)	The Assumption and Coronation of the Blessed Virgin (Apocalypse 12)

---

[Campion]

Even your church teaches ONLY Jesus could live a sinless life

False.

so a bit contradiction in the doctrine it seems

There is no contradiction. Jesus lived a sinless life because He is God. Mary lived a sinless life through God's grace.

Had the Fall not occurred, Adam and Eve and their children would have led sinless lives as well.

Protestantism errs when it equates sinlessness with divinity. The classic example of this error is the response a Protestant on the Internet once gave to the Catholic dogma of Mary's sinlessness, "Of course she sinned! She's only human" ... thus making sin the measure of what makes someone human! Sin never made anyone human; humans weren't made to sin. Sin only makes us less human and more animal.

[Campion]

Shoot, why don’t you go full bore and just declare yourselves Goddess worshippers

Because lying is a sin.

[GonzoII]

"Even your church teaches ONLY Jesus could live a sinless life ..so a bit contradiction in the doctrine it seems"

Can you give me a source?

[RnMomof7]

Even your church teaches ONLY Jesus could live a sinless life False.

578 Jesus, Israel's Messiah and therefore the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, was to fulfill the Law by keeping it in its all embracing detail - according to his own words, down to "the least of these commandments".330 He is in fact the only one who could keep it perfectly.331

Protestantism errs when it equates sinlessness with divinity. The classic example of this error is the response a Protestant on the Internet once gave to the Catholic dogma of Mary's sinlessness, "Of course she sinned! She's only human" ... thus making sin the measure of what makes someone human! Sin never made anyone human; humans weren't made to sin. Sin only makes us less human and more animal.

Mary gave Jesus His HUMAN nature, not His divine nature.. One is not a sinner because He sins, he sins because he is a sinner by nature, that was Adams legacy to his seed. Jesus did not need a perfect,sinless mother, He came into this world to live the life of man, with all its sins and hardships..and that would include a mom that needed a savior . Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

1Jo 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

1Jo 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

At no time did scripture make an exception for Mary

[GonzoII]

"578 Jesus, Israel's Messiah and therefore the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, was to fulfill the Law by keeping it in its all embracing detail - according to his own words, down to "the least of these commandments".330 He is in fact the only one who could keep it perfectly.331"

Indeed He is the only one who could keep keep it perfectly on His own, i.e., strength, He being God. That does not preclude Him granting a special grace to someone else in order that he or she may not sin as the Catechism teaches about the Blessed Virgin Mary:

493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God "the All-Holy" (Panagia), and celebrate her as "free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature". By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.

"Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"

That is a general term, infants who die have committed no sin.

"At no time did scripture make an exception for Mary"

Nor does it need to, since the Church is the pillar and ground of truth, which says Mary never sinned.