26 March 2010

Dolorosa et lacrimabilis es, Virgo Maria

A Carthusian writer wrote: ‘Mary is rich enough to repay us a thousand-fold for our patience in persevering in. . . devotions that have been arranged in her honour’.

Today is the Commemoration of the Compassion of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In ‘The Liturgical Year’ by Abbot Guéranger are these words:

On the mountain of the Sacrifice, as Mother she gave her Son, as Bride she offered herself together with Him; by her sufferings both as Bride and as Mother, she was the co-redemptress of the human race. This teaching and these recollections were deeply engraved on our hearts on that. . . feast of our Lady’s dolours which immediately preceded Holy Week.

Christ dieth now no more: and our Lady’s sufferings are over. Nevertheless the Passion of Christ is continued in His elect, in His Church. . . To this Passion of Christ’s Mystical Body, of which she is also Mother, Mary still contributes her compassion; how often her venerated images attested the fact, by miraculously shedding tears!