Our Lady of Sorrows
One
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Today we remember how Mary suffered with Jesus in His work of saving souls.
She did not begin to suffer at Cavalry when Jesus was crucified. Oh no, her suffering began much earlier. Her suffering began when Jesus was presented in the Temple forty days after his birth and Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce Mary’s heart because her son would be rejected. Almost immediately, Mary and Joseph had to flee with their infant son to Egypt to escape being murdered by King Herod. Then when Jesus was twelve, he disappeared for three days causing great anguish in the hearts of Mary and Joseph.
We recall the sorrowful meeting between Jesus and Mary in the fourth station of the Cross. And the sword did pierce her mother’s heart when Jesus was crucified and died on Calvary. Immediately after she received her dead son into her arms as they lowered him down from the cross and placed him in the Tomb.
These seven sorrows of Mary signify the way she participated with Jesus in his work of saving the world.
Today we turn to our Mother Mary with gratitude for all she and her Son suffered for us.
Two
Mary continues to suffer with and for her children.
Many people are unaware of the approved messages from Mary to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa which took place in Akita, Japan between 1973 and 1981. The apparition and messages were approved by Bishop John Ito in 1984. During this time a wooden statue of Mary wept human tears on 101 different occasions, ending on this day Sept. 15, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
I met the man who carved the statue. He testified that it was just wood! The miracle of the Weeping Statue was followed by messages from Her Guardian Angel and Our Lady to Sr. Sasagawa.
In December of 1975 her Guardian Angel said, "Do not be surprised to see the Blessed Virgin weeping. She weeps because she wishes the conversion of the greatest number. She desires that souls be consecrated to Jesus.”
But you might ask, how could Mary weep in Heaven?
Jesus and Mary continue to mystically suffer in heaven as the head and heart of the body of Christ. Mary is the Mother of every person on the planet. If her children are suffering, how could their mother not be? Any mother can understand that. In heaven Mary weeps, but she is not sad for herself. Her sorrowful heart breaks to see so many of her children on earth rejecting God and in very real danger of going to hell by their own free choice.
She sheds tears to get our attention, to wake us up, to call us to conversion and call us to action. Our Lady is forming her army and she needs you.
Three
August 3rd, 1973, Mary revealed to Sr. Sasagawa.
"My daughter…do you love the Lord? If you love the Lord, listen to what I have to say to you...Many men in this world afflict the Lord.
"In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father's anger…Offer in reparation (whatever God may send) for sins. Let each one endeavor, according to capacity and position, to offer herself entirely to the Lord."
"Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamites which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved."
This might sound terrifying but it’s not fatalistic. Our Lady is saying that by our own personal conversion, praying the Rosary daily, and taking up our cross daily we can change the course of world events and help save souls.
Four
October 13, 1973
Again Our Lady said to Sr. Sasagawa, "As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the Flood…Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests."
What is the purpose of the message about chastisements?
God does not punish us. He does not need to because we are oh-so good at punishing ourselves. God leaves mankind free. Good choices result in good consequences, evil choices cause evil consequences that affect the good and bad alike. War, famine, persecution of the good.
The purpose of the message of Chastisement is this: the future is not irrevocably set. We can’t change world events by watching the news. We can change world events and save souls, if we answer the call of Our Lady.
What will our future look like, that depends on us.
Five
Our Lady is calling us to join her in a rescue mission.
God expects you to help the people He placed in your life. Given the culture, I think the most effective thing we can do for our loved ones is three-fold.
Pray the Rosary every day for your loved ones who are not interested in Jesus and the Church. Offer sacrifice for their conversion. Pick something to fast from and offer it for this person. Offer up some suffering you are experiencing. Prayer combined with sacrifice is powerful.
Invite the people in your life who aren’t very interested in God to come and share life with you. They may not be willing or able to go to Mass, but they can come to your home. Over time, if you do this regularly and patiently, maybe this will spark something in them to be interested in God and to have faith in him.
Sundays are a great day for this. We need to take back Sundays.
Personal investment one on one. This gives you a chance to get to be genuinely interested in them to show them you know, understand, love them unconditionally and care for them. You’re the only Gospel their going to get, so you better live it well and joyfully and invite them.