YEAR B: HOMILY FOR THE MEMORIAL OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS (2)

YEAR B: HOMILY FOR THE MEMORIAL OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS

HOMILY THEME: SORROWS OF MARY

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:

(Jn. 19:25-27) Feast of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows

In today’s Gospel we have the scene of Mary on the foot of the cross where her Son is crucified and dying. This is one of the recorded seven sorrows (siete dolores) of Mary, the feast we are celebrating today. The others were: 1) Prophecy of Simeon, “Your own soul, also a sword will pierce, (2) Flight into Egypt, “Arise and take the child and His mother and fly into Egypt, (3) The three day disappearance of Jesus, (4) The painful progress to Calvary (5) The Crucifixion, (6) and the Entombment.

It was not all sorrows for Mary. She also had her five joys namely: Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and the Assumption. She had her share of ups and downs, tears and laughters, joys and sorrows. In all of these, her faith in God was constant. When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she will be the Mother of the Messiah, the thought of the fulfilment of the promise was near, but things went south. The seven sorrows happened one after the other. Those were hard times. Those were heartbreakers!

The point of those sorrows and this feast is to hang on to God. There will always be dark days and dire situations. In those moments, we cannot rely on anyone or anything but God alone. God is faithful and constant. He never leaves us alone. Mary realized that. We too await the same fate if we keep our faith.

(Note: The pieta is an obra of Michelangelo during the Renaissance period. It is a depiction of the Lamentation of the Blessed Mother. It ranks with the Mater Dolorosa and Stabat Mater in depicting the sorrows of Mary.)