Using various allegories from Scripture this article explores the sorrows of our Lady and how we are called to join our Lady in Her Sorrows.
The Martyrdom of the Mother and Her Seven Sons
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| 'The Martyrdom of the Maccabees', Jean Baptiste Vignaly, 1781. |
In the Second Book of the Maccabees
we read the account of the Jewish mother and her seven sons who were arrested
by the Greek King Antiochus IV (215-164
B.C.) for having kept their Jewish religious customs against the tyrannical decree
of the king. King Antiochus IV was the king of the Seleucid Empire, a Hellenistic
state which was one of the empires formed out of the division of the empire of
Alexander the Great upon his death. We read that “the king sent an Athenian
senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no
longer by the laws of God; also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate
it to Olympian Zeus (Mac 6:1-2a). An extract from the account of the mother and
her seven sons reads as follows:
It happened
also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being
compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of
unlawful swine's flesh. One of them, acting as their spokesman, said,
"What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die
rather than transgress the laws of our fathers." The king fell into a
rage, and gave orders that pans and caldrons be heated. These were heated
immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and
that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the
brothers and the mother looked on. When he was utterly helpless, the king
ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan.
The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother
encouraged one another to die nobly, saying, "The Lord God is watching
over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song which
bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, `And he will have
compassion on his servants.'" (2 Mac 7:1-6).
The rest of the account
relates that the king tries to persuade each son to transgress their Jewish
customs, yet after each refuses and retorts with courageous words the king orders
the mother’s sons to be tortured in more or less the same gruesome way, one by
one, but torturing the last and youngest of the brothers worst of all. Finally the
king then has the mother tortured and killed. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition
this mother is referred to as St. Solomonia, and according to a rabbinical
tradition she is interestingly known as Miriam which is the Hebrew equivalent
of Mary.
There are many things that are
striking about this account but let us focus on the courage of the mother and
the sorrow she must have undergone in seeing all seven of her sons tortured and
killed before her. Although she would have desired to have the lives of her
sons spared, she preferred their physical death to what she believed would have
been their spiritual death and damnation, or if not this, at least a lesser kind
of spiritual death if they ate of the swine’s flesh which was forbidden to them
by the Law of Moses. She thus encourages her sons to stand fast boldly and to
be martyrs of their faith –dying for reparation of the sins of Israel (Mac
7:32, 37-39), and in obedience to God’s Will, whilst she knows that they will
all be reunited in the afterlife and will attain the glory of the resurrection
(Mac 7:14b). The mother encouraged the youngest of her sons as follows:
"My son,
have pity on me. I carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three
years, and have reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and
have taken care of you. I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the
earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make
them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being. Do not
fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in
God's mercy I may get you back again with your brothers." (2 Mac 7:27-29).
The Crucified Jesus and Mary at the Foot of the Cross
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| Mary at the Foot of the Cross |
The above account serves as a
fitting allegory for our Lady at the foot of the Cross, for as the mother
beheld each of her seven sons die, so too did our Lady behold Her own beloved
Son die on the Cross. As the seven brothers were innocent and were killed for
doing what was right and just, so too our Lord Jesus, Innocence
Incarnate, was killed for doing what was right and just –for simply spreading
the Good News of God’s Merciful Love. Just as King Antiochus sought to persuade the seven brothers to abandon their identity
as Jews, they resisted and willingly laid down their lives; so too Pontius
Pilate sought to persuade Jesus to forsake His identity as the Jewish Messiah in
order to set Him free; and before Caiaphas the High Priest Jesus also had an
opportunity to shy away and deny His identity, but instead He paid no heed to such an opportunity, and willingly laid down His life on the Cross.
The mother and her seven sons died a martyr’s death for the sins of Israel, in order to ‘make up’ for the idolatry and faithlessness of many of the Jewish people who had abandoned their faith to the paganism of the Greeks. Likewise Jesus died as the Martyr of Martyr’s in order to ‘make up’ for the sins of Israel and the whole world, and for the sins of our very selves. The Blessed Virgin Mary also died a martyr’s death, a white martyr’s death without the shedding of Her blood; because at the foot of the Cross Her pains were so great in seeing Her Son die - the very Son whom She nursed as a babe - it was truly worse than death, since for a mother it is far less of a death to die herself, than it is to see the death of her own child. And these pains our Lady suffered at the foot of the Cross were Co-Redemptive because they were perfectly joined and were a very sharing in Christ’s Redemptive sufferings (Col 1:24), and thus Her martyrdom like the mother in the Maccabean account was –but in an extraordinary way – for the reparation of the sins of Israel and the whole world, and for our very own sins.
The mother and her seven sons died a martyr’s death for the sins of Israel, in order to ‘make up’ for the idolatry and faithlessness of many of the Jewish people who had abandoned their faith to the paganism of the Greeks. Likewise Jesus died as the Martyr of Martyr’s in order to ‘make up’ for the sins of Israel and the whole world, and for the sins of our very selves. The Blessed Virgin Mary also died a martyr’s death, a white martyr’s death without the shedding of Her blood; because at the foot of the Cross Her pains were so great in seeing Her Son die - the very Son whom She nursed as a babe - it was truly worse than death, since for a mother it is far less of a death to die herself, than it is to see the death of her own child. And these pains our Lady suffered at the foot of the Cross were Co-Redemptive because they were perfectly joined and were a very sharing in Christ’s Redemptive sufferings (Col 1:24), and thus Her martyrdom like the mother in the Maccabean account was –but in an extraordinary way – for the reparation of the sins of Israel and the whole world, and for our very own sins.
The Seven Sorrows of our Lady
We might also draw a further
parallel in reference to the Seven Sorrows of our Lady. These sorrows are
traditionally as follows:
1.
The Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34–35) or the
Circumcision of Christ
2.
The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13)
3.
The loss of the child Jesus in the Temple. (Luke
2:42–49)
4.
Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary.
5.
Jesus dies on the cross. (John 19:25)
6.
The piercing of Jesus’ side, and Mary's
receiving the body of Jesus in her arms. (Mt 27:57–59)
7.
The body of Jesus is placed in the tomb. (John
19:40–42)
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| 'Pietà', Adolphe William Bouguereau, 1876. |
In consideration of these
seven sorrows we can say that the seven sons in the Maccabean account represent
each of the seven sorrows of our Lady. For just as the mother lost her seven
sons, so too each of the seven sorrows of our Lady in seeing Her Beloved Son suffer,
were so painful that it is as if she had lost Her Son seven times. For truly an
ordinary mother loves her child exceedingly so, and there is no greater human
love than this example, and hence there is no greater sorrow than when a mother
loses her child. But what shall we say is the sorrow of the Mother of mother’s,
the most perfect and greatest of all mother’s; She who is the very Mother of
God? Indeed we can hardly fathom how great Mary’s love for Jesus was (and is!). So
great was this Divine Love that palpitated in the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
that even the consideration of the pains of Jesus yet to come, as received in
the prophecy of Simeon – who said that Her Son would “be a target of
contradictions” – was so painful that She experienced the sorrow of the death
of Her Son. Likewise when Mary lost Jesus for three days we might think this
would hardly warrant the kind of intense sorrow that we are speaking of, but
assuredly our Lady loved Jesus so much that to even have Him out of Her sight
for one minute was a sacrifice beyond even the greatest of sacrifices made by
all of the Saints’ sacrifices combined. Hence three days of Mary missing Her
Son caused the very pain as if He had died. The greatest sorrow of our Lady was
the death of Her Son on the Cross; and like Jesus She was fully aware of this
pending reality throughout His life, and hence every sorrow of our Lady recalled
the death of Her Son to Her mind; and even more so, brought through eternity the
very reality of Jesus’ death on Calvary and its sorrow into Her heart. Thus
truly as the Maccabean mother suffered the sorrow of losing seven of her sons,
the Blessed Virgin Mary suffered the loss of Her Son seven times; and even then
we are speaking mildly, for these are but the primary sorrows of our Lady and
we could easily say that She suffered the loss of Her Son seven times seventy
times. This is why one of the titles of Mary is Our Lady of Sorrows, and hence we
can apply these words spoken by the Prophet Jeremiah to our Lady: “Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me” (Lam 1:12).
Our Lady of Sorrows
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| 'Mater Dolorosa', Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo, 1668/70. |
The sorrows of our Lady are
the very sorrows of seeing Her Son suffer, and of experiencing the loss of Her
Son. Yet since Christ Jesus is the Head of the Church, and all other members of
the Church are other parts of this Mystical Body (1 Cor 12:12-26), these
sorrows of our Lady cannot be separated from the sorrows She has in seeing the
members of the Church – who are Her children – suffer in any way. Our Lady’s sorrows
thus include the sorrows She has over seeing the evils in this world, over the
hatred and violence of men, over the abuse of children, the abortion of children,
the blasphemies against Her Son, the sacrileges against the Eucharist, and most
of all the sorrows of seeing countless souls dead in sin. She also sorrows over
those who may not be dead in mortal sin, but those who are even in a state of
grace but are relatively dead in a lesser sense, and these are they who live good
lives but who live in their own will as opposed to living in the Divine Will,
and this would apply to almost all of us practicing Catholics. In the light of
this understanding we come to realise that our sins, our resentments against
others, our slanders and harsh judgments, are all wounds which we cause to
Christ and wounds which we cause to Mary our Mother. It is true that they
cannot suffer now in their state of glory in heaven, but they did suffer in the
past for our sins that we commit today, and hence it is as if they suffer now. We
may think those who tortured the mother and her seven sons were cruel and
heartless, but the reality is that we are ‘the butchers’ who butchered our Lord
Jesus on the Cross, and who thus made the Mother suffer such horrendous pains. The
awareness of this truth ought to humble us, and lead us to repent from the
depths of our heart for having caused Jesus and Mary so much pain. A marvelous
way to repay them and thus give glory to God, is to meditate and come to
participate in the Cross of Christ and in the Sorrows of Mary –for this tells
them that we are grateful for their sufferings. Besides, they suffered for our
sake, not for their own sake; so the best thing we can do is satisfy their
desire for our salvation and complete sanctification, by allowing their
sufferings to bear fruit in our souls. For their sufferings are as water that
nourishes the soul and makes it bear good fruit –Jesus’ sufferings have this
quality by virtue of His divine nature, whereas Mary’s sufferings possess this
sanctifying quality because of Her ‘fullness of grace’. So indeed the soul that
meditates and enters into these sufferings of Jesus and Mary becomes as a
garden that is moist and rich with all kinds of fresh and luscious produce –spiritual
produce which God Father delights to feast upon.
Mary the New Rachel that ‘Weeps for Her Children’
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| An Icon of Rachel Weeping for Her Children |
In the Book of Jeremiah we
read: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping
for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no
more.” (Jer 31:15). The author of the Gospel of Matthew states how this was
fulfilled when Herod slaughtered the Holy Innocents – killing “all the male
children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under”
(Mt 2:16-17). This is true on a literal level, however interpreting these
Scriptures in the spiritual sense we can glean further insights which reveal
that Mary is the New Rachel –the fulfillment of the Old Testament Rachel – who weeps
for her children that ‘are no more’. As we mentioned, on one level the children
Mary weeps for are those who are dead in mortal sin, those who are spiritually
dead who do not possess the life of Christ within them. Thus the Scripture applies:
“Rachel” –by which we understand as Mary – is “weeping for her children and
refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.” (Jer 31:15). On
another level the children Mary weeps for are those who are in a state of grace
but who are still sorely imperfect and do not yet live in the Divine Will of
God; and hence these children are dead –not in mortal sin – but dead compared
to the fullness of life of living in the Divine Will, a fullness of life that
is akin to eternal beatitude – the state of those in heaven. Hence the
Scripture likewise applies: Mary the New “Rachel [is] weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.” (Jer 31:15).
This passage from Jeremiah also
reminds us when the Lord says along the via
dolorosa (‘the way of sorrows’ which is the way of the Cross): “Daughters
of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your
children.” (Lk 23:28). This He says to the women who are weeping over His
sufferings as He carries the cross towards Calvary. If these are the consoling
words the Lord spoke to the daughters of Jerusalem, what consoling words did
the Lord speak to His weeping Mother – the
Daughter of Jerusalem – through the mutual exchange of their glance? “Daughter
of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for your children.” For She need not
weep for Herself, because our Lady the Daughter of Jerusalem was conceived without
sin and had no guile in Herself to weep over unlike the daughters of Jerusalem
which symbolise all of us who are born in the state of original sin and fall at
least seven times a day (Prov 24:16). Thus truly we can understand how Mary is
the New Rachel that weeps for Her children who are either dead in mortal sin,
or dead in subjection to the finite operation of the human will. Yet as we know
our faith does not stop at the Cross, it does not culminate with the shedding
of tears, for the Cross and tears are necessary means to the joyful end of the
mystery of the Resurrection.
Following the passage where
Jeremiah states how Rachel is weeping inconsolably for her children, he speaks
again saying: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping and
your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,’ declares the Lord. ‘They
will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future,’
declares the Lord. ‘Your children will return to their own land.’” (Jer
31:16-17). When we look with the eyes of our New Testament faith through the
Mariological lense, this is simply another way of saying: “This is what the
Lord says to you O Mary the New Rachel: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping and
your eyes from tears, for your work of suffering and your many sorrows will be
rewarded,’ declares the Lord. ‘Your children who are dead in mortal sin and who
belong to the land of the enemy, Satan; and your children who are dead to the
life of the Divine Will and who belong to the land of the enemy of the human
will, will return and be raised spiritually to life again. So there is hope for
you to rejoice,’ declares the Lord. ‘Your children will be raised from their
graves, you will hold them again, and those you hold already you will hold even
closer; for your children will return to their own land –those in mortal sin to
the state of grace, and those abiding in the human will to the Divine Will.’”
Mary’s Sorrows: The Mystical Dew
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| 'The Israelites Gathering Manna', Ercole de' Roberti, 1490's. |
We ourselves may be one of
these children who are spiritually dead in one way or another, but we can
number among the ranks of those children who are spiritually resurrected if we repent
of our sins and for the pain they have caused our Lord and this Mother of ours;
and if we endeavour to allow the tears of Mary, the tears of our Lady of
Sorrows, to wash us clean and sanctify us, through mediating and entering into our
Lord’s sufferings and the inseparable sorrows of our Lady. For then spiritually
we will be immersing ourselves into this sanctifying water of Mary’s tears which
will lead to our spiritual regeneration into deeper modes of holiness. For
these tears of Mary, of our Lady of Sorrows, and of the New Rachel, are one
with the Holy Spirit, and are the same waters that Christ poured out when He
was pierced by a spear (Jn 19:34)–for the humanity of Christ was given to Him
by Mary. These are the very waters concerning which the Lord said: “I tell you
the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and
the Spirit.” (Jn 3:5). Yes, this speaks of Baptism and Confirmation, and even
the Holy Eucharist as ‘the source and summit of the Christian life’, but it
also speaks of the fulfillment of one’s baptismal life which is only totally fulfilled
in the one who bathes and drinks from the wellspring of our Lady’s Sorrows,
such Sorrows which are the spiritual dew that encase the Manna of the Eucharist,
just as the physical dew so covered the manna in the wilderness (Num 11:9). For
indeed one may receive the Eucharist day after day, but as the Catechism
states: the Sacraments “bear fruit in those who receive them with the required
dispositions” (CCC 1131), and if one is relying on their own imperfect dispositions
(i.e. their own humility, faith, love etc.) they are sure to bear imperfect
fruit as children who are alive in the state of grace for sure, but as children
who are ‘dead’ to the perfection to which they are called. Yet those who bathe
and drink from the wellspring of our Lady’s Sorrows, they become like the manna
that was covered with dew, they invest the perfect dispositions of Mary (i.e.
Mary’s humility, faith, love etc.) as their own –thus they approach the
Eucharistic table with the very same perfect and immaculate dew that
spiritually covers the Manna of the Eucharist. Hence even though such persons may
still be imperfect they bear perfect spiritual fruit because they receive the
Eucharist with Mary’s perfect dispositions and not with their own.
Bathing in the Sorrows of our Lady
Additionally the one that
bathes in these Seven Sorrows of our Lady, although he be sorely sinful and
imperfect like a spiritual leper, if he bathes in these waters he will be
cleansed, and will possess the purity of Mary as his own. This is signified in
the Scriptures when Naaman the leper is told by the prophet Elisha to bathe
seven times in the Jordan River so that he will be healed. Naaman stubbornly complains
yet his servant convinces him to carry out such a simple ritual because he has
nothing to lose but can only gain by doing so. The Scriptures then record: “So
he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the
word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little
child, and he was clean.” (2 King 5:14).
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| Naaman Washes in the Jordan River |
In this instance we can understand
Elisha to represent Jesus, Naaman as ourselves, the Jordan River our Lady, the
seven immersions referring to the Seven Sorrows of our Lady and our ‘fusion’
with them, and the servant of Naaman our conscience. Hence we approach Jesus as
spiritual lepers, in this case we will refer to being lepers in regards to that
lesser kind of death –spiritual imperfection a.k.a. not yet living in Divine
Will; and we say to Him: Lord heal us of our leprosy. He tells each of us to go
to Mary and to foster devotion to Her, and to accommodate ourselves with Her
Seven Sorrows – by meditating upon them, seeking to console Her through the
Rosary and acts of mortification (especially of the will), and to enter into
them spiritually by making Her sorrows and all thus all Her merits our own. If
we do this, our Lord says we will be healed of spiritual leprosy. Yet maybe
like Naaman we are repulsed by this idea –doubting in the benefit and necessity
of Marian devotion for spiritual sanctity; thinking that things like
consecrating oneself to Mary is ‘going overboard’ or ‘crossing the line’; as if
devotion to Mary takes away from Christ. Yet if we listen to the voice of our conscience,
and inform our conscience with the teachings of Truth, the teachings of Holy
Mother Church which was founded on Peter by Christ; then we will hear our
conscience say: “Devotion to Mary does not slight Christ, it is in fact the
perfect means of rendering Him greater glory. No one comes to Father except through
the Son, and no one comes to the Son except through the Mother –whether they
are aware of this or not. Do not be one of those who ignores this Mother and
goes to Christ without paying Her homage, for the Archangel Gabriel paid Her
homage, so will not you? Indeed honour Her as the commandment demands: ‘Honour
thy father and thy mother’; a commandment which Christ fulfilled by honouring
Mary, and do you think that you are better than Christ to forfeit rendering Her
such honour? Certainly not! So make haste and consecrate yourself to Her –immerse
yourself in this mystical River- make Her virtues and merits your own, and
bathe in Her Sorrows.” If we do this, then just as Naaman’s flesh was restored
to that of a little child by dipping seven times in the Jordan River; our soul’s
will be restored to become spiritually like ‘little children’, and as the Lord
says: “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven,” that is, the Kingdom of living in Divine Will (Mt 18:3). This
becoming ‘little children’ –who are simple and innocent – is perfectly wrought
through true devotion to Mary, by uniting with Her and becoming one with Her
Sorrows, for in this manner one’s ‘old man’ – as St. Paul calls it – of sin and
imperfection, will be washed away so that one is spiritually regenerated, spiritually
reborn and resurrected into higher levels of sanctity.
Conclusion
Finally we must remember as
Mary so perfectly understood, and as the life of Christ testifies as does Her
own life and that of all the Saints: “If we have received happiness from the
hand of God, shall we not also receive sorrows?” (Job 2:10). For it is only
those who embrace their cross of sorrows in this life that come to enjoy the
delights of eternity; and the greater one’s sorrows in this life, the greater
one’s joys in the next. For when that great day comes, those who are rejoicing
will mourn, and those who mourn will rejoice, for to those who join Mary and
follow Christ along the via dolorosa, “he
will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither
shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things
have passed away…and thus they that sow in tears shall reap in joy for they
went out full of sorrow carrying seed for the sowing, but they will come back, they
will come back, carrying their sheaves, full of joy.” (Paraphrase: Rev 21:4, Ps
126:5-6).
