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Today, the Church recalls this sobering truth: the life of Mary of Nazareth, although filled with many joys, was underscored with sorrows beyond our imagining. Traditionally, the list of the Sorrows of Our Lady is comprised of seven.

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September 15, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

Our Lord and Our Lady

They warned Our Lady for the Child

That was Our Blessed Lord,

And She took Him into the desert wild,

Over the camel’s ford.

 

And a long song She sang to Him

And a short story told:

And She wrapped Him in a woolen cloak

To keep Him from the cold.

 

But when Our Lord was grown a man

The Rich they dragged Him down,

And they crucified Him in Golgotha,

Out and beyond the Town.

 

They crucified Him on Calvary,

Upon an April day;

And because He had been her little Son

She followed Him all the way.

 

Our Lady stood beside the Cross,

A little space apart,

And when She heard Our Lord cry out

A sword went through Her Heart.

 

They laid Our Lord in a marble tomb,

Dead, in a winding sheet.

But Our Lady stands above the world

With the white Moon at Her feet.

                                                                                    -Hilaire Belloc

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This week we’ll celebrate two important feasts: the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, on September 14, and the following day, September 15, we’ll remember Our Lady of Sorrows. Two days linked forever in meaning, inseparable, poignant.

September 15 also happens to be my birthday. And for a long time, as long as I was old enough to realize who I shared the day with, I felt a little – cheated. I mean, it’s a bit of a downer to liturgically “celebrate” all the bitterness in Mary’s life on a day for celebrating your own. Not that I ever thought it should be all about me, but as a child, it just didn’t seem quite fair. To enter the world as Mary grieved at the Cross.

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