A Mother's Tears: Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

 Happy feast of Our Lady of Sorrows! I am delighted to finally say that earlier today I finished my Marian consecration using St. Louis de Montfort's formula, so I am now consecrated to Our Lady of Sorrows. *cue the hoorays and confetti in my mind* This was my first Marian consecration, and being consecrated to the Mater Dolorosa couldn't be anymore aligned with Divine Providence. Deo gratias! 

 For the remainder of this day, I strongly urge you to remember Our Lady's pains, sympathize with her and thank her. When she gave her fiat, not only did she say yes to joy, but also to sorrow. How selfless and loving is she to have said yes to suffering the most agonizing martyrdom of all.  
While most of us will naturally be inclined to shy away from suffering pains, our loving mother embraced them, just as her Divine Son embraced His own sorrowful Passion. One meditation that can be made on the Mater Dolorosa, is on her most pure tears, shed for her Divine Son. Bl. Catherine Anne Emmerich, who was granted visions of Our Lord's Passion, recounts in the Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, about Our Blessed Mother that during the Scourging at the Pillar: "She groaned feebly, and her eyes were red with weeping."

 Yes, her dolors were great; so great that if she had not been preserved by God, her soul would have departed her immaculate body. Yet, even though her sorrows are incomprehensible for us to fully understand, "Her one consolation at the sufferings of her Son was the knowledge that through His death we would be redeemed.*" Next to the Passion of her Divine Son, this is also an image of true love. And so, do not be afraid to approach Our Lady, because she loves you more than you can imagine. Her sorrows are evidence of this. Her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart loves like no other; the Heart of a selfless, patient, understanding and beautiful mother, both inside and out. Go to her; she's waiting for you with open arms, so that she may gently guide you to her beloved Son.

"Can the human heart refrain from
partaking in her pain, in that Mother's pain untold?"
-from the Stabat Mater

Mater Dolorosa, ora pro nobis, now and always.
-Yvonne Gemma

*quoted from Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother (highly recommended for fostering a devotion to her)

Saint Spotlight: St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

I am very, very excited about this particular saint spotlight, because St. Gabriel just happens to be my favorite male saint and patron. Since I like telling stories, here is the story of how I "met" St. Gabriel Possenti.

When I was about 11, I won a game at a church All Saints' Day party. My prize was a very small picture of St. Gabriel. Soon after I lost this image, and forgot his name. I wouldn't recognize his image again for years, but I'm sure that he had been praying for me since that day, and maybe even before then. Fast forward to mid-January of 2013. At the time I was sick, so I was resting in bed reading a book I had received for Christmas only a few weeks before. It was called, "Modern Saints: Their Lives and Faces". As I read about the lives of great saints and holy people, one young man stuck out to me the most. His name was St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows. As soon as I saw his picture, I remembered my own small image from years ago. From there I learned of his intercession with my own patron, St. Gemma, and the rest is history.

"Our perfection does not consist of
doing extraordinary things, but to do
the ordinary well."

St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

Born: March 1st, 1838, Assisi, Italy

Died: February 27th, 1862, Gran Sasso, Kingdom of Italy

Occupation: Passionist seminarian 

Cause of holy death: At 24 years old, St. Gabriel died of tuberculosis before he could see his ordination. To the dismay of his novice master, he had previously prayed for the grace of a slow and early death, so that he could spiritually prepare himself.

He is a shining example to youth with religious vocations, because while he did put off his own religious vocation for some time, after Our Lady called him, he readily left his world of dancing, being fashionable, socializing and the sort, to fulfill his true calling, which was that of a religious brother. There are so many inspirations to draw to from his life; how he patiently fought for his vocation, the way he strived to perfect his state of life as a seminarian, but most of all, his love for Our Lady of Sorrows. St. Gabriel understood the pains of Our Lady, and the need to meditate upon them and compassionate with her. Through his ardent devotion to our Sorrowful Mother, St. Gabriel quickly reached the height of Christian perfection, and died a holy death. 

By loving Our Sorrowful Mother, not only do we sympathize with her dolors, but we also learn to see her beaten, battered Son through her own compassionate eyes; thus teaching us to better understand His dolorous Passion. By better understanding His Passion, we learn to greatly improve and heighten our love for Him, because we are no longer seeing the crucified Lord through our own eyes that are clouded with the effects of sin; but through the pure eyes of His most empathetic and loving mother, who witnessed the whole Passion in its real, full, achingly terrible and sanguinary entirety. 

Love Our Sorrowful Mother, who stood at the foot of the Holy Cross. Love her crucified Son, who by His Holy Cross, redeemed the world.

St. Gabriel Possenti, ora pro nobis,
Mater Dolorosa, ora pro nobis,

-Yvonne Gemma

Fasting for Peace: because Pope Francis said so

As many of you know, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has declared tomorrow (September 7th) as a day of fasting and prayer, for peace in Syria. I am an advocate of peace through strength, however, this is not a war that we Americans should be involved in, but this isn't a political post, so I will leave it at that. 

Fasting is becoming a lost treasure in the Church, and it is Divine Providence that Pope Francis is shifting attention to it*. To fast is to deny the body of what it desires, such as eating for example, and through this we are are doing many things. Not only are we disciplining our bodily senses, but also detaching our soul from the bodily senses, so that it may be free to embrace a higher spirituality.

Is fasting fun? No. Is it easy? No. Should we complain during fasts? Even bigger no. To grumble and gripe while fasting is a sure-sign that the individual is still very attached to their bodily senses. To have such an attitude is to also lose sight of the bigger picture, because we should be focusing on the interior life, instead of the discomforts of the exterior senses. 

 So instead of fasting like this...

"And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest anoint thy head and wash thy face; that thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father Who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee." Matt. 6:16-18 (DR)

   

                         We should be fasting something like this....

So, let us embrace tomorrows fast with a spirit of willingness to suffer, for the sake of peace and glory to God the Father.

 "Besides the ordinary effect of fasting in raising the mind, subduing the flesh, confirming goodness, and obtaining a heavenly reward, it is also a great matter to be able to control greediness, and to keep the sensual appetites and the whole body subject to the law of the Spirit; and although we may be able to do but little, the enemy nevertheless stands more in awe of those whom he knows can fast." -St. Francis de Sales

Happy fasting!

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, 
St. Gabriel Possenti,
Mater Dolorosa, ora pro nobis.

-Yvonne Gemma 

*This isn't to say that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI didn't put an emphasis on fasting, which he did strongly during Lent of 2009. 

September: the Mater Dolorosa

September has begun, so you know what that means. It's the month dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows! Being a Mater Dolorosa devotee, this is a very significant and distinct month. We should take this whole month to especially remember and meditate on Our Lady's Sorrows, specifically the seven the Church has appointed, although the true number of her dolors are innumerable. Her Seven Dolors are:

1. The Prophecy of Simeon
2. The Flight into Egypt
3. The loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple
4. Mary meets Jesus carrying His Cross
5. Jesus dies on the Cross
6. Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms
7. The burial of Jesus

Our Lady promised St. Bridget of Sweden, that those who remember her sorrows and daily pray seven Hail Mary's in honor of them, will be granted seven promises. 

1. "I will grant peace to their families."
2. "They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries."
3. "I will console them in their pains and accompany them in their work."
4. "I will give them as much as they ask for, as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son and or the sanctification of their souls."
5. "I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives."
6. "I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their mother."
7. "I have obtained this grace from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son will be their eternal consolation and joy."

While Our Lord suffered greatly during His Passion, His mother suffered a lifelong, grievous martyrdom which began at the First Sorrow, the Prophecy of Simeon. 

"And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; and thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed." -Luke 2:34-35 (DR)

For this reason, Our Lady is the Queen of Martyrs, because no other martyr suffered like our dear Mother. In the images of Our Lady of Sorrows, her heart is usually depicted being pierced by either one, or seven swords. Each sword represents one of her sorrows, which traces back to Simeon's prophecy. One cannot fully fathom the intense pain Our Lady felt as each sword thrust deeper into her heart, as she anticipated her Son's dolorous Passion, until the moment of His burial. How desolate and afflicted Our Lady must have been. Yet, even through her acute sorrows, she never once despaired, but rather, she remained constant. The whole time, her hope was in her beloved Son. From her perfect resignation to the will of God, even in times of distress, Our Lady teaches us how to perfectly die to ourselves, for the sake of His Divine Providence.

Fr. Chad Ripperger gave a very contemplative and insightful talk on Our Lady of Sorrows. I spent two hours listening to this one hour talk, because I had to keep pausing to reflect on his words. In short, listen to this talk to further know and love Our Sorrowful Mother.

Mater Dolorosa, ora pro nobis,

St. Gabriel Possenti, ora pro nobis,

-Yvonne Gemma