Friday of Sorrows

​In the traditional calendar of the Latin Church, the last Friday of Lent is when the Virgin of Sorrows is honoured. Today, we remember the Mother of Christ in Her desolation as She sat at the foot of the Cross watching Her Son die.

How much I wish I was allowed today to light a candle in front of our image at St Giles which depicts our Heavenly Mother with tears on Her face, Her hands clasped at Her breast, and a sword through Her Immaculate Heart.

The Blessed Virgin Mary’s sorrow on Calvary was deeper than any sorrow ever felt on earth, for no mother in all the world had a heart as tender as the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God. She bore Her sufferings for us, that we might enjoy the graces of Redemption.

She suffered willingly in order to prove Her great love for us, for true love is proven by sacrifice.
Let us give ourselves over to Her love completely, and bear our own cross patiently, in union with our Mother of Sorrows.

And let us never forget that it was the explicit will of Our Lord that, just as God was to come to men through Mary, so redeemed humanity should also go to God through Her.

Per Mariam ad Iesum. Through Mary to Jesus.

And so today, I would like to share with you the first part of the Stations of the Cross, as narrated from the perspective of the Virgin of Sorrows, with the illustrations by Jan Hearn. 

By Fr Tomas

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