Our Lady Of Sorrows(15/9)

AS ON THE FRIDAY OF PASSION WEEK,SO AGAIN IN MID SEPTEMBER,CHURCH SPECIALLY COMMEMORATE OUR LADY'S GREAT SORROWS.

A.

7 Great Sorrows of Holy Mary:

(1) Propercy of aged Simon in temple- Mary was fore told that Jesus was born to be a victim for Sin. Mother has only 40 days of embracing her Infant Child when she sees the shadow of a contradiction thrown across His life!

(2) 2000miles(2yrs)flight into Egypt with infant Jesus- summoning of His mother to share sorrow with all the exiles and the displaced person of the world of whom He Himself was the first born. Now that Mary is crowned in Heaven,as she looks down on the earth, she sees millions of people still banishing the Creator, out of their lands, and driving Him out of their hearts!.

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(3)loss of Jesus(12 yrs) in Jerusalem- Mary is setting an example for us, when we Lose God, we must not wait Him to come back. We must go out in search for Him; and, to the joy of every sinner, she knows where He can be found

(4)Mary's encounter with Jesus on His way to Calvary- As the 4th station of the Cross has it:" Jesus carrying the Cross, meets His blessed Mother" simeon has foretold that He would be a sign of contradicted; Now Blessed Mother sees the sign of contradiction is the Cross. How often Jesus said" IF ANY MAN HAS A MIND TO COME MY WAY, LET HIM RENOUNCE SELF, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME"(mt 16:24). If carrying one's own Cross is the condition being Christ's follower, then the condition being the Christ mother is to carry the saviours Cross. The curious on the road way to Calvary could see what He was carrying, but He knew the load She bore.

(5)His crucifixion- The peculiarity of this dolour is that the 7 words Our lord spoke from the Cross were like 7 notes in the funeral dirge. Our Blessed Mother is recorded as speaking only 7 times in Sacred scripture. This does not mean that she spoke only that number of times, but only 7 of Her utterances were recorded.

Our Lord also spoke 7 times from the Cross. As He spoke each word, Her heart goes back to each of the words she herself has spoken, making the sorrow more intense as she saw the mystery of the "sign being contradicted"

WE MUST WILL TO FIND GOD OTHERWISE HE WILL ALWAYS SEEM TO BE THE HIDDEN GOD

(6)Taking down His body from the Cross

For Mary, this is not Bethlehem; this is calvary. He is not white as He came from the father, but red as He came from us. In the crib He was as a chalice of the offertory, full of the red wine of life. Now, at the foot of the Cross, His body is as a chalice drained of the drops of blood for the redemption of mankind. THERE WAS NO ROOM IN THE INN AT HIS BIRTH; THERE IS NO ROOM AT THE INN FOR HIS DEATH. "THE SON OF THE MAN HATH NOWHERE TO LAY HIS HEAD- EXCEPT IN THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER"

(7) His burial- all the fatherless, mother less, son less, husband less, wife less griefs, that ever tore in the hearts of human beings, were now bearing down on the soul of Mary. She prepares Her Divine Son for burial. Eden has come back again as MARY PLANTS IN THE EARTH THE TREE OF LIFE WHICH WILL BLOOM WITHIN 3 DAYS!.

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Finally

As Adam and Eve fell through the pleasure of eating one apple, so Jesus and Mary were united in the pleasure of eating of the fruit of the Fathers Will.

B. 7 vices of Humans!

​Holy Mary managed all 7 sorrows, without complaining to God. She set an ideal example of following God's Will!

In our life without our knowledge we pretend to be like God, without identifying that we have to depend with God all time.

B.1 INNER MISERY

As Fulton J sheen see(page 198. First love) "all inner miseries comes from 2 kind of sin:(1)the sin which take the gift and forgets the giver (2) the sin which rejects the giver with His gift. The first make God useless; the second drives God from the soul. Adam sinned in the first way by choosing something else before God, as does the man who sets up his EGO or FLESH, or POWER as goal of life. The crucifixion sinned in the 2 nd way, being anti God."

B.2 Our life River

With our birth (1)start breathing(2)subject to gravitation(2) develop our soul. These 3 consist our life river with 2 banks(heath& spiritual) and water flow(soul). Without our knowledge our spiritual bank will become weaker causing water to leak, if we are not aware about 7 vices!

B.3 Background of these vices!

The 7 vices for us is stemming from the original sin, it develops EGO, flesh(worldly desires) and worldly Power.

 We should be aware about these 7 vices and it should not allowed to be grown in our life!

FEAR AND SORROW IN OUR LIFE WILL BE INCREASED, if we allow these 7 deadly vices to grow in leading our life.  These vices if not surrendered to God thru' Mary in prayer will deprive Happiness of life.

B. 4. Details of  7 Vices

The 7 vices are having 2 Primary and 5 secondary drawbacks

Primary Vices

(1)Sloth(laziness or idleness).

Christianity clearly says that you should develop your born talents to be converted energy.(Ex: Multification of loaves and cursing pig tree)  If you are lazy you cannot convert your talents to energy!

(2)Anger(this is a strong feeling that comes when one is wronged or insulted either real or imaginary) all religions direct to have a peaceful mind. Christianity is equating Anger as committing suicide(Mt5:22) all following 5 will result in creating silence anger in your body, If you are attached too much!

for these drawbacks!

Secondary vices:

(3)Pride(boasting, love of publicity)

(4)Avarice(greedy,dishonesty)

(5)Envy(why shouldn't I have with everything that others have)

(6)Lust(disoriented love for personal pleasure)

(7) Gluttony(the disorderly animal appetite, obsession with food & drink to the point of living to eat, rather than eating to live

C. LESSONS FROM HOLY FAMILY:

St Francis de Sales says: We may say that Holy Family was a trinity on earth which in a certain way represented the BLESSED TRINITY itself" He further points out the counter part of the HOLY SPIRIT in  earthly TRINITY is HOLY MARY.

Joseph life work was to cooperate, at the next highest level below that of Mary, in the greatest of God's works- the Incarnation of the second person of the Trinity as Redeemer of fallen mankind. Indeed Joseph cooperation in becoming Mary's spouse was indispensable if the Son Of God was to enter our human world within the conventional frame work of marriege and family life.(Ref: saint Joseph by father Richard Foley, S.J)

Joseph too had 7 sorrows, which he overcame thru following God's Will

He had support of angels, dreams to overcome, but we cannot expect these supernatural Phenomena, after Holy Spirit!. Now no dreams or angels!

Only HOLY TRINITY with Jesus teachings and actions to be followed by Us!.

C. 1. Details of 7 sorrows of St Joseph

(1)Hearing about Mary's mysterious pregnancy

(2)travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem with expectant Mary & facing  last minute accommodation problem

(3)get to know that Infant Messiah would suffer at hands of sinful men

(4)Simeon propercies not only that child would encounter bitter opposition but His mothers heart would be pierced by a sword of sorrow.

(5)King Herod's threat on  new born saviour's life which enforced Him to exile to Egypt

(6)when they return,they were diverted to Nazareth,having being warned of a further potential threat on Child's life by Herod's son now reigning in Judea

(7) loss of child Jesus in the temple!

D.  Conclusion:

 All these 7 sorrows remind us, that if we follow God's will with faith and following Jesus teachings and actions in our life, we can over come sorrows and fears in our life!

Actions needed:

(1)Love

(2)with following 10 commandments: with no enemies

(3) have a peaceful mind(without anger)

(4) For disagreements, handover such to Holy Mary/St Joseph or saints, depending upon the type of the disagreement. Live happily!

(4)surrendering your' will to God's will!.