But after that moment of surrender, something changed. My prayer life became something new, something deeper and more meaningful. In the past, when I heard people say they had a devotion to Our Lady, I secretly wished I also did. … More The Dance of Surrender: Finding Christ in Eucharistic Prayer After Loss
God appreciates our tearful prayers, because they mean we’re being honest with Him and with ourselves. Such prayers come from a passion deep within. Not only are they offerings of grief, like precious diamonds for God, but they are also an act of surrender. … More Your Tears Are Precious to God: Weeping and the Comfort of Community
Sorrow is not a punishment, nor is it a state of being (as I used to believe) but sorrow allows the soul to remove or eradicate that which has kept us prisoner. When Jesus carried his cross, He fell three times, but each time he got back up. When he was nailed to the cross, He could not escape. His sorrow was great. But without being crucified He would never have had the resurrection, and the greatest story on earth could have never been told. “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son.” (John 3:16) … More Lessons I’ve Learned in Grief
Mary was not only Queen of Martyrs because her martyrdom was longer than that of all others, but also because it was the greatest of all martyrdoms. Who, however, can measure its greatness? Jeremiah seems unable to find any one with whom he can compare this Mother of Sorrows, when he considers her great sufferings at the death of her Son. “To what shall I compare you or to what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem … for great as the sea is your destruction: who shall heal you?” … More Introduction of St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s Meditation on the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
After learning all of this, I reflected on the Seven Sorrows. I realized that Mary understands the grief of losing a child. She had to surrender her own child to God. Mary accepted this heavy cross for the glory of God’s kingdom. She understands the depths of our sorrow, and I was indeed experiencing much sorrow that I carried for many years. … More The Comfort of Mary: Coping with Grief
She knows what it’s like to ache for someone you love. She’s held a suffering child in her arms. She’s waited in uncertainty. She’s stood by while people she loved were misunderstood, mistreated, crucified—literally. She has stood in the space between hope and heartbreak—and not run from it. … More Our Lady of Sorrows: A Ministry of Presence
The vigil is one place no one wants be. There is a deep primal part of you that wants to get up, leave, and close the door tight behind you and just walk as fast and as far in the opposite direction as possible. Stronger still, is the need to stay and be present. No doubt, this is how Mary felt at the foot of the cross. … More Keeping Vigil
“Let us bind ourselves tightly to the Sorrowful Heart of our Heavenly Mother and reflect on its boundless grief and how precious is our soul.”
St. Padre Pio … More Stabat Mater
O God, in whose Passion, according to the prophecy of Simeon, a sword of grief pierced through the most sweet soul of Thy glorious Blessed Virgin Mother Mary: grant that we, who celebrate the memory of her Seven Sorrows, may obtain the happy effect of Thy Passion, who lives and reigns world without end. … More Litany of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows