The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, what were they?

The Sorrows of the Virgin Mary , are those moments in which the Virgin Mary came to suffer from suffering and pain due to the events that her beloved son Jesus passed on the cross of Calvary. In the following article we will know everything related to this topic and what are these 7 types of pain of the Virgin Mary.

The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary

The Bible verse says as follows:

“And you, Mother, a sword of pain will pierce your heart…”

Luke 2:35

On Saturday of each year, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows of the Virgin Mary is commemorated. According to an ancient tradition, Catholic Christians always remember “the 7 sorrows of the Virgin Mary” as:

The moments in which, perfectly united to her Son Jesus, she came to share in a very unique way the depth of the pain and love of her sacrifice. So during this article we are going to present a series of texts from the Bible that mention this.

First, before beginning with the prayers for the 7 pains of the Virgin Mary, we will begin with the prayer of 1 Our Father and 7 Hail Marys for each pain of the Virgin. At that very moment she is going to be asked to help them understand the type of evil they have come to commit and to lead them to have a true and sincere repentance with all their hearts.

By uniting her sorrows with those of the Virgin Mary, just as she herself united them with those of her beloved Son, it will be possible to participate in the redemption of her sins and also those of the whole world.

act of contrition

O my Lord, Jesus Christ, on this day I deeply repent of each and every one of my sins. I humbly beg your forgiveness and also through your grace, please grant me to truly become a person worthy of your love, for the merits of your Passion and your death and in the same way for the pains of your Holy mother. Amen.

Many recommend reading the Gospel with the biblical quotes that accompany each of the 7 pains of the Virgin Mary.

Devotion

At all times, Catholic Christians have come to learn about Our Lady better than to love Jesus Christ. The devotion to the 7 Sorrows of the Virgin Mary was developed by the many kinds of private revelations. The Virgin came to communicate to Saint Bridget of Sweden in the year 1303 and 1373 the following:

“I look at all those who live in the world to see if there is someone who feels sorry for Me and meditates on my pain, but I find very few who think about my tribulation and suffering. That is why you, my daughter, do not forget Me, who is forgotten and despised by many. Look at my pain and imitate me as much as you can. Consider my anguish and my tears and be sorry that there are so few friends of God.

So the Virgin Mary came to promise that she would grant the 7 graces to all those souls who honored her and also accompanied her on a daily basis, praying the 7 Hail Marys while they meditate on their tears and their pains. The 7 graces are as follows:

• I will Grant Peace to your Families.

• They will be Enlightened as to the Divine Mysteries.

• I will console you in your sorrows and I will accompany you in your work.

• I will give you as much as you ask for, as long as it does not oppose the Adorable Will of my Divine Son or the Salvation of your Souls.

• I will defend you in your Spiritual Battles against the Infernal Enemy and I will also Protect you at every Moment of your Lives.

• I will Visibly Assist you at the Moment of your Death and you will also see the Face of your Mother.
• I have achieved from my Divine Son that all those who come to spread the devotion to my tears and my sorrows, will be taken directly from this earthly life to what is eternal happiness, since all sins will be forgiven and the Lord Jesus will be your consolation and your eternal joy.

According to Saint Alphonsus Maria Ligorio, the Lord revealed to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary that He would grant some 5 special graces to the devotees of His Blessed Mother’s sorrows, which would be:

• Those who before their death come to invoke the Blessed Mother in the name of their pains, will obtain a perfect contrition for all their sins.

• Jesus will protect all those who remember this kind of devotion in their tribulations and will also protect them in a very special way at the time of their death.

• He is going to impress on their minds the memory of His Passion and for that very reason they will have their reward in heaven.

• He will entrust these devout souls into the hands of Mary, with the purpose of obtaining for them all the graces that he wants to pour out on them.

• You will meditate on the 7 Sorrows of Our Blessed Mother, it becomes a way of being able to share the deepest sufferings of Mary’s life on earth.

The feast of the Lady of Sorrows is celebrated on September 15, the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. At the foot of the Cross, where a sword of pain pierced Mary’s heart, Jesus gave his Mother to them as her Mother of ours shortly before he died.

In response to this kind of supreme demonstration of His love for each and every one of us, let us say each day of our lives:

“Yes, She is my Mother. Jesus, I receive her and I ask You to lend me Your Heart to love Mary as You love her”.

First Sorrow: Simeon’s Prophecy

Once the days of his purification were completed, according to the Law of Moses, they took him to Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord that says:

“Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to the Lord and to offer in sacrifice a pair of turtledoves or two pigeons, as ordered in the law of the Lord.”

There was at that time in the regions of Jerusalem a man named Simeon; this man was just and pious, who was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was with him. It had become revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he was not going to die before seeing the Christ of the Lord.

Moved by the Holy Spirit, he moved to the Temple; and when his parents introduced the child Jesus to fulfill what the Law prescribed about him, he took him in his arms and blessed him to God saying the following words:

“Now, Lord, you can now let your servant go in peace, according to your word, because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light for the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel.”

His father and mother were amazed at the things that were said about him. Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary:

“Look, this one has been destined to be the fall and resurrection of many in Israel, and as a sign of contradiction, a sword will pierce your soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Luke 2:22-35.

The virgin listens attentively to what God wants, ponders what she does not understand, questions what she does not know. Afterwards, she surrenders herself entirely to the fulfillment of God’s divine will: behold, the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word. Do you see the wonder? Holy Mary, teacher of all our behavior, is the one who teaches us now that obedience to God is not servility, she does not subjugate the conscience: rather, she moves us intimately so that we can discover the freedom of the children of God.

Second Sorrow: The Flight into Egypt

After they had come to leave, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him the following:

“Arise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt; stay there until I tell you, because Herod is going to look for the child to finish him off.” He got up, took the child and his mother, by night and went to Egypt. There he was until the death of Herod, so that what the Lord announced through the prophet would be fulfilled when he said: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Matthew 2:13-15.

Mary cooperated with what is her charity so that the faithful could be born in the Church, members of that Head of which she effectively becomes mother according to the body. As Mother, she teaches her; and, also as a Mother, her lessons are usually not noisy. It is necessary to have in the soul a base of finesse, a touch of delicacy, to be able to understand what it shows us, more than with simple promises, but with works.

Master of Faith

Blessed are you, who have believed! This is how Elizabeth greets her, who was her cousin, when the Virgin Mary climbs the mountain to visit her. That act of faith of Holy Mary had become marvelous:

behold, the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word. At the Birth of the Son, she contemplates the greatness of God on earth: so there is a choir of angels, and both the shepherds and the powerful of the earth come to adore the Child. However, then the Holy Family had to flee from Egypt, in order to escape the criminal attempts of King Herod.

Later, silence: about 30 long years of simple life, of an ordinary life, like that of one more home in a small town in Galilee. The Holy Gospel, briefly, facilitates the way for us to understand the example of the Virgin Mary:

Mary kept all these things within herself, always pondering them in her heart. That is why we, the faithful, try to imitate her, dealing with her with the Lord, in a dialogue in love with her, with everything that happens to them, even with the most frequent events. Let us not forget that we have to weigh them, to value them, to see them with eyes of faith, in order to discover the Will of God.

Third Sorrow: Jesus Lost in the Temple

Jesus’ parents always went to Jerusalem every year for the Passover festival. And when he was already 12 years old, they went up to the party as was his custom. After those days, when he returned, the child Jesus stayed in the regions of Jerusalem, without his parents noticing him.

Thinking that the child was in the caravan, they spent a day looking for him among his relatives and also his acquaintances; however, not finding him, they had to return to Jerusalem in search of him. After about 3 days they found him in the Temple, sitting in the middle of all the doctors, who were listening to them and asking the boy questions.

All who heard him were amazed and amazed at his wisdom and his answers. Seeing him, his mother told him:

“Son, why have you done this to us? Look how your father and I, anguished, were looking for you”. And he said to them: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must attend to my Father’s business?” But they did not understand the answer he gave them.”

Luke 2:41-50.

The Gospel of the Holy Mass has come to remind us of that moving scene of Jesus, who stays in the regions of Jerusalem teaching in the temple. María and José were walking for a whole day, asking their relatives and acquaintances. However, they had to return to Jerusalem to look for him. This scene can go something like this:

Where is Jesus? Lady: The Child!… Where is he?

Mary cries. For the rest, you and I have run from group to group, from caravan to caravan: they haven’t seen him. José, after making useless efforts not to cry, cries too… And you… And me.

I, since I’m a coarse little kid, cry my eyes out and cry out to heaven and earth…, for when I lost him because of me and I didn’t cry out.

Jesus: may I never lose you again… And then misfortune and pain unite us, as sin united us, and groans of deep contrition and ardent phrases come out of our whole being, that the pen cannot, must not print.

And, consoling ourselves with the joy of meeting Jesus, three days of absence! disputing with the Masters of Israel

Luke 11:46.

Fourth Sorrow: Mary Finds Her Son on the Way to Calvary

Hardly has Jesus gotten up from his first fall, when he comes to find his Most Holy Mother, next to the road where he passes. With immense love Mary looks at Jesus, and Jesus comes to look at his Mother; Her eyes meet, and each heart pours her own pain into the other. The soul of the Virgin Mary is drowned in bitterness, in the bitterness of Jesus Christ.

“O you who pass by the way: look and see if there is pain comparable to my pain!”

(Lamentations 112).

But no one gets to realize, no one notices; only in Jesus. So it can be said that he has finally come to fulfill Simeon’s prophecy when he said:

“A sword will pierce your soul”

Luke 11:35.

In the dark solitude of the Passion, the virgin comes to offer her Son a balm of tenderness, also of union, of fidelity; a yes to the divine will of God. Hand in hand with Mary herself, you and others also want to console Jesus, accepting at all times and in everything the Will of his Father, or rather, of our Father.

Only in this way will we taste the sweetness of the Cross of Christ, and which we will embrace with the strength of love, carrying it in triumph through all the paths of the earth.

Fifth Sorrow: Jesus Dies on the Cross

Standing by the Cross of Jesus were his mother and also his mother’s sister, Mary Cleophas, and at the same time Mary Magdalene. Seeing Jesus that her mother was in that place and next to her the disciple whom he loved, so he said to her mother:

“Woman, there’s your son”

Then he said to the disciple:

“Here is your mother”

And from that very moment the disciple took her with him. After this, Jesus knowing that everything had already been consummated, so that the Scripture could be fulfilled, where he says:

“I’m thirsty”

In that place was a glass full of vinegar; and he had tying a branch of sponge hyssop soaked in the vinegar, they brought it close to his mouth. When Jesus took some of the vinegar, he said:

“Everything is finished”

And having bowed his head, he gave up his spirit, the word of God says in John 19, 25-30.

In the scandal of the Sacrifice of the Cross, the Virgin Mary was present, sadly listening to those who came to pass by that place, and they blasphemed, shaking their heads and shouting:

“You who destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! if you are the son of God, he comes down from the Cross.”

So Mary listened to the words of her Son, joining his pain saying:

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

What could she do? Simply merge with the redeeming love of her Son, offer the Father immense pain like a kind of sharp sword that came to pierce his pure Heart. Again Jesus feels comforted, with that same discreet and also loving presence of his Mother. Maria does not shout, she does not run from one side to the other, she was as follows:

He is standing next to the Son. It is then that Jesus looks at her, then looking at John. And he exclaims: “Woman, there you have your son”. Later he tells the disciple: “There you have your Mother”. In John, Christ came to entrust to his Mother all men and especially his disciples: those who were to believe in Him.

Sixth Sorrow: Jesus is taken down from the Cross and delivered to his Mother

When evening came, as was the parasceve, this comes to be, on the eve of the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, who was one of the illustrious members of the Sanhedrin, who also expected the kingdom of God; and with courage he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate was surprised that he had already died and, calling the centurion, asked him if Jesus had already died. Assured by the centurion, he delivered the body to Joseph. This one came to buy a sheet; he took him down and wrapped him in the sheet, put him inside a tomb that was hewn out of the rock and rolled a stone to the door of the tomb. Book of Mark 15:42-46.

“And when it was evening, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a noble senator, who also hoped for the kingdom of God, came and boldly entered Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus .

44 And Pilate marveled that he was already dead; and summoning the centurion, asking him if he was already dead. 45 And when the centurion found out, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 Who bought a sheet, and taking it from him, he wrapped him in the sheet, and put him in a tomb that was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone to the door of the tomb.

Now, located before that moment of Calvary, when Jesus had already died and the glory of his triumph has not yet been manifested, it becomes a good occasion to be able to examine our desires for Christian life, for holiness; in this way to react with an act of faith before each of our weaknesses, and always trusting in the power of God, to make the purpose of putting love in the things of our day.

The experience of sin must eventually lead us to pain, to make a more mature and deeper decision to be faithful, to be able to truly identify ourselves with Christ our Lord, to persevere, whatever it takes, in that same priestly mission that He has come to entrust all his disciples without exception, that he may push us to be salt and light of the world.

Seventh Sorrow: They Bury the Body of Jesus

The seventh of the pains of the Virgin Mary was, after this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was one of the disciples of Jesus, although he was secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate for permission to withdraw the Body of Jesus from the cross of Calvary. Pilate granted it so this man was, well, and removed the body of Jesus.

Nicodemus also arrived, the one who had previously come to him at night, bringing him a kind of mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100 pounds. So they took the body of Jesus and bandaged it with some cloths and aromas, as the Jews used to bury. There was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden a type of new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.

As it was the Preparation of the Jews, and because of the proximity of the tomb, it was in that place that they placed Jesus, we can see this in the following biblical quote:

“After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, more secretly for fear of the Jews, begged Pilate to remove the body of Jesus: and Pilate allowed it. So he came, and removed the body of Jesus.

39 And Nicodemus also came, the one who had previously come to Jesus at night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 40 So they took the body of Jesus, and wrapped it in cloths with spices, as is the custom of the Jews to bury.

41 And in that place where he had been crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb, in which none had yet been laid. 42 There, therefore, because of the eve of the Passover of the Jews, because that sepulcher was near, they put Jesus.

John 19:38-42.

We are going at this moment to ask the Lord, in order to end this time of conversation with Him, that He may allow us to repeat with Saint Paul what he said:

“We triumph by the virtue of him who loved us. For which I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor virtues, nor what is present, nor what is to come, nor force, nor what is higher, nor deeper, nor any other creature will never be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord”.

Of this same love the Scripture sings in the same way with some fiery words:

The copious waters could not get to extinguish charity, nor could the rivers carry it away. This type of love filled the Heart of Holy Mary at all times, until it was enriched with the entrails of her Mother for all of humanity. In the Virgin, love for God is equally confused with concern for all her children.

His very sweet Heart must have suffered greatly, attentive, even for the smallest details they have no wine, witnessing all that kind of collective cruelty, that cruelty that was, on the part of the executioners, the Passion and also the death of Jesus . However, Maria does not speak. Like her Son, she loves, shuts up and forgives. That becomes the force of love.

Closing Prayer

Oh Sorrowful and also Immaculate Heart of Mary, the abode of purity and holiness, the one that covers my soul with your maternal protection so that, always being faithful to the voice of Jesus, you come to respond to His love and obey his divine will.

I want, on this day, my Mother, to be able to live intimately united to your Heart, which is totally united to the Heart of your Divine son. Please I ask you to tie me to your Heart and also to the Heart of Jesus with all your virtues and your pains. Please, I beg you to protect me always. Amen.