Our Lady of Sorrows

What if there were no mystery of Our Lady of Sorrows (which we celebrate on September 15th)? 

Behold your Mother

As ruthless and vicious as the mob at Calvary was, some among them must have been touched by what they came to see and hear.  Surely certain people, when they heard Jesus asking forgiveness upon them, or promising the convicted thief paradise, or at the words of the centurion calling Jesus "the Son of God," felt contrition and remorse.  But it is when the one-time enemies of Jesus Christ witnessed the exchange from the cross — "Woman, behold your son…. Behold, your mother" (Jn 19:26-27) — that they realized there was somewhere to go with their shame and self-reproach.  There was a way out.

Bereft of the presence of the Sorrowful Mother at the cross, would we ever dare to hope for salvation, faced with the condemnation of our own sins? 

Blessed Henry Suso, one of the great 14th-century Dominican Rhineland mystics, speaks eloquently about Our Lady of Sorrows.  He prays:

O Queen of heaven and earth, melt my petrified heart with one of those burning tears that while standing beneath your gentle Son's cross, you shed in compassion with him.  This will sensitize and attune my heart to yours, because it is the nature of affliction that no one understands it properly except he whom it affects.

We trust Mary with our sufferings for one simple reason: because she suffered worse.

A moment of clarity

Recently a Catholic website post recalled a 1996 benefit concert featuring three time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Eric Clapton, and opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti.  And what was this unlikely pair singing together?  Eric Clapton's song about the Blessed Mother!

In his autobiography, Clapton looks back on what he calls "the absolute squalidness of my life" (he was suffering terribly from alcoholism).  In the midst of it came "a moment of clarity."  That is when he began to write a song called "Holy Mother" in which he "asked for help from a divine source. It's a song he still loves because "I recognize that it came from deep in my heart as a sincere cry for help."

The song is a prayer: "Holy Mother, where are you?/ Tonight I feel broken in two.... Holy Mother, can't keep from crying…./ Oh I need your help this time./.... Tell me please which way to turn/ To find myself again."

Blessed Henry Suso confesses to Our Lady:

The greater a soul's sinfulness, the greater its right to approach you; the more numerous its misdeeds, the more eagerly it rushes into your presence.  If the greatness of your sins frightens you, ah, she who is endless clemency invites you.

A place to turn to

A few years later, Clapton found himself in a rehab "in complete despair."  He recounts that, in the privacy of his room, he begged for help.  He had no notion to whom he was talking; "I just knew that I had come to the end of my tether...and, getting down on my knees, I surrendered.  Within a few days I realized that...I had found a place to turn to, a place I'd always known was there but never really wanted, or needed, to believe in."

His song begs: "Holy Mother, hear my prayer,/ Somehow I know you're still there./ Send me please some peace of mind;/.... Holy Mother, hear my cry,/....  I've felt the anger running through my soul;/ All I need is a hand to hold."

Henry Suso beseeches Our Lady of Sorrows on our behalf:

Ah, therefore, look at me, a poor creature, with those merciful eyes that your loving heart has never turned away from a sinful or disconsolate person.  Enfold me under your mantle because you are my consolation and my hope.  Is there any sinner, no matter how numerous his crimes and felonies, who cannot overcome his discouragement by thinking of you?  Predestined Queen, you are indeed the ever-open gate of grace, the never-closed door of compassion.  It would be more possible for heaven and earth to liquefy than for you to leave a sincere supplicant unaided.