September 15, 2026
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Lectionary: 444/639
Reading 1
1
Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31a
Brothers and sisters:
As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Now the body is not a single part, but many.
Now you are Christ’s Body, and individually parts of it.
Some people God has designated in the Church
to be, first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers;
then, mighty deeds;
then gifts of healing, assistance, administration,
and varieties of tongues.
Are all Apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?
Do all work mighty deeds? Do all have gifts of healing?
Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (3) We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
For he is good, the LORD,
whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Sequence (Optional)
At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword had passed.
Oh, how sad and sore distressed
Was that Mother highly blessed
Of the sole begotten One!
Christ above in torment hangs,
She beneath beholds the pangs
Of her dying, glorious Son.
Is there one who would not weep,
'Whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ's dear Mother to behold?
Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain,
In that mother's pain untold?
Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
She beheld her tender Child,
All with bloody scourges rent.
For the sins of his own nation
Saw him hang in desolation
Till his spirit forth he sent.
O sweet Mother! font of love,
Touch my spirit from above,
Make my heart with yours accord.
Make me feel as you have felt;
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.
Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified.
Let me share with you his pain,
Who for all our sins was slain,
Who for me in torments died.
Let me mingle tears with you,
Mourning him who mourned for me,
All the days that I may live.
By the cross with you to stay,
There with you to weep and pray,
Is all I ask of you to give.
Virgin of all virgins blest!
Listen to my fond request:
Let me share your grief divine.
Let me to my latest breath,
In my body bear the death
Of that dying Son of yours.
Wounded with his every wound,
Steep my soul till it has swooned
In his very Blood away.
Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
Lest in flames I burn and die,
In his awful judgment day.
Christ, when you shall call me hence,
Be your Mother my defense,
Be your cross my victory.
While my body here decays,
May my soul your goodness praise,
Safe in heaven eternally.
Amen. (Alleluia)
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary;
without dying you won the Martyr’s crown
beneath the Cross of the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
or
Jesus’ father and mother were amazed at what was said about
him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
and you yourself a sword will pierce
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091526.cfm
Commentary on 1
Corinthians 12:12-14,27-31
In today’s reading, Paul moves on to another issue in the
Corinthian community—the question of ‘spiritual gifts’ or ‘charisms’
(Greek, charismata). Here too there were disputes among community
members.
The gifts under discussion were granted to certain members
of the community and were the signs by which the Spirit helped the community to
function. We need to remember that the organisation of the communities at this
stage was not very developed. The later hierarchical ministries we know now
were still in the process of evolution. This led to a certain amount of
confusion in the community, and was the cause of some of the factional
disagreements which were occurring. Some of the gifts were even disruptive,
being rather eccentric in form. Clearly, there had to be a discernment between
which gifts were beneficial and which were not.
In this part of his letter Paul makes five points:
- All
the gifts come from the Spirit, who is working in the community;
- All
the gifts, though given to individuals, are for the good of the whole
community;
- The
importance of each gift is to be measured by its benefit to the community;
- The
gift of ‘prophecy’ is far more important than being able to ‘speak in
tongues’, a gift about which the Corinthians apparently thought very
highly.
- Love
(agape) transcends and is present in all the genuine gifts and is
in a class by itself. This is dealt with in the famous ‘Hymn to Love’ (1
Cor 13:1-13) which we will be reading tomorrow.
To illustrate what he wants to say, Paul uses the analogy of
the human body. Although it is made of many different parts, each with its own
functions, it is basically a single coordinated unit. So it is with Christ,
says Paul. By ‘Christ’ here he means the Risen Christ, which includes his new
Body, the Church and each local church community. For Paul, Christians are
bodily united with the Risen Body through their Baptism and the common
celebration of the Eucharist. The community becomes, in effect, the Risen Body
of Christ—of which he is the Head. Hence, the importance of its unity and
mutual complementarity is obvious.
The source of unity is the Spirit of Christ in which all,
both Jews and Greeks, citizens and slaves, were baptised and given that Spirit.
In the community, there can be no ethnic or social discrimination where the
giving of the Spirit is concerned:
…we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Paul now emphasises that a body is not to be identified with
any one of its parts. This is what was happening in the Corinthian community,
where groups were giving excessive importance to the charism of one or other of
their leaders, or to the gifts which some individuals were experiencing.
Continuing his analogy, he tells them that they, in their
community, are the Body of Christ, but like a body, each one has a different
role to play. He singles out three particular charisms as being of prime
importance.
First of all, come the Apostles. They are those who were
specially and personally chosen by Jesus during his time among us to carry on
his work of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom. They were also to be
witnesses of the resurrection. They are the founder members, the ‘pillars’ of
the Church and the unique bearers of the tradition which Jesus handed on.
Next to them in importance come the prophets. The special
role of the prophet is not to foretell the future. The prophet was any person
through whom God wishes to communicate a message to a particular community. It
might be an encouragement; it might be a warning. The prophet, unlike the
apostle, is a ‘non-institutional’ figure and can appear at any time. Clearly,
careful discernment is needed to distinguish the true from the false prophets.
Because the message they give may be unpleasant to hear or may challenge the
status quo, prophets may not be welcome and may even face efforts made to get
rid of them. At the same time, we ignore the message of the true prophet at our
peril, and at all times we need prophets to wake us out of our complacency.
Thirdly, there are the teachers, those whose gift was to
form the community and to hand on the content and meaning of the tradition
received from Jesus. Again, they make an indispensable contribution to the life
and growth of the community.
After these come charisms of less crucial importance,
although they can greatly enrich the life of the community.
Some members had the gift of performing miracles, namely,
actions which could not be explained by natural means. Their main function was
to reveal the power of God working in the community and to be spurs to a deeper
faith (as such, it does not really matter that at a later age, there might be a
natural explanation for what happened).
The gift of healing was given to some, and again was the
means by which the Lord brought wholeness back into people’s lives.
‘Helpers’ are those who make charitable contributions or
support the community in some other way; ‘leaders’ are those who do the
administrative work and provide guidance on a practical level.
Lastly, there are those who “speak in tongues”. It is not
clear whether this means an actual ability to speak in different languages and
dialects (quite useful in cosmopolitan Corinth) or whether it refers to making
ecstatic utterances, i.e. the ‘gift of tongues’, under the impulse of the
Spirit (and which needed interpretation by those gifted to understand their
meaning).
These gifts are all spread among the community and not given
to all, or even to many. Not all can claim to be apostles, or prophets, or
miracle-doers, or healers. That would result in a very lop-sided body. So, the
gifts are many, but the community is one.
It is also important to realise that this list is not meant
to be exhaustive. There are hundreds of possible charisms, and surely every
single member in the community has a gift by which a positive contribution can
be made to the life of the community. Everyone, in however small a way, can and
should make a difference by their presence.
And, if we are to desire any gifts, let us seek those which
are of greater benefit to the community, and not just those which are more
spectacular (like speaking in tongues) or seem to give higher status in the
eyes of others. However, in conclusion, Paul says that behind all these gifts
lies something much more important; it is “a still more excellent way”. We will
see what that is tomorrow.
Commentary on Luke
2:33-35 or John 19:25-27
(Note: The Gospel readings today are proper to the
memorial and must be used even if the ferial readings are otherwise chosen.)
There are two choices for the Gospel reading. The first is
from Luke’s account of the Presentation in the Temple. While they were in the
Temple, Mary and Joseph met the holy man Simeon, who had been promised that he
would not die before laying eyes on the Messiah. When he meets Mary and Joseph,
he recognises the Messiah in the baby Mary is holding. He then proceeds to make
some prophecies about Jesus and, addressing Mary herself, tells her:
…a sword will pierce your own soul, too.
He does not specify what that “sword” might be, but now we
can see that it particularly alludes to the suffering and death of Jesus which
she witnessed. However, the “sword” can also be applied to the other painful
experiences we remember as the Seven Sorrows of Mary.
The alternative Gospel reading is from John’s account of the
Crucifixion where he mentions that “his mother” was present as her Son died:
…standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and
his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
Also standing next to his mother was “the disciple whom he
loved”.
Seeing them there, Jesus entrusts the ‘Beloved Disciple’ to
the care of his Mother, while telling the Beloved Disciple that Jesus’ Mother
is his also. Some would see in this scene the Mother of Jesus as symbolising
the Christian community. There is to be a relationship of mutual support
between the community and its dedicated members. The community exists for the
well-being of the individual members and each member is committed in turn to
the well-being of the community.
And who was more united to Jesus than his Mother? It is
because of her acceptance of and identification with the sufferings of her Son
that we celebrate her memory today.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary
Tuesday,
September 15, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Almighty
God, our creator and guide,
may we serve You with all
our hearts and know Your forgiveness in our lives.
We ask this through our
Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - John 19: 25-27
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his
mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw
his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother,
"Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple,
"Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into
his home.
Reflection
Today, feast of Our Sorrowful
Mother, the Gospel of the day presents the passage in which Mary, the Mother of
Jesus and the Beloved Disciple, meet at Calvary before the Cross. The Mother of
Jesus appears two times in the Gospel of John: at the beginning at the wedding
feast in Cana (Jn 2: 1-5), and at the end, at the foot of the Cross (Jn 19:
25-27). These two episodes, only present in John’s Gospel, have a very profound
value. The Gospel of John, compared to the synoptics, is like an x-ray of the
other three, while the other three are only a photograph of what has taken
place. The x-rays of faith help us to discover in the events dimensions which
the human eye does not perceive. The Gospel of John, besides describing the
facts, reveals the symbolical dimension which exists in them. Thus, in both
cases, at Cana and at the foot of the Cross, the Mother of Jesus represents
symbolically the Old Testament waiting for the New
Testament to arrive, and in the two cases, she contributes to
the arrival of the New Testament. Mary appears like the step between what
existed before and what will arrive afterwards. At Cana she symbolizes the Old
Testament; she perceives the limits of the Old Testament and takes the
initiative so that the New one may arrive. She tells her Son, “They have no
wine!” (Jn 2: 3). And on Calvary? Let us see:
•
John 19: 25: The women and the Beloved Disciple,
together at the foot of the Cross. This is what the Gospel says: “Near the
cross of Jesus stood His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of
Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.” The “photograph” shows the mother together with
the Son, standing up, a strong woman, who does not allow herself to be
discouraged. “Stabat mater dolorosa!” Hers is a silent presence which supports
the Son in His gift of self unto death, death on a cross (Phil 2: 8). But the
“x-ray” of faith shows how the passage from the Old Testament to the New
Testament takes place. As happened in Cana, the Mother of Jesus represents the
Old Testament, the new humanity which is formed beginning from the lived
experience of the Gospel of the Kingdom. At the end of the first century, some
Christians thought that the Old Testament was no longer necessary. In fact, at
the beginning of the second century, Marcionites rejected the Old Testament and
remained with only a part of the New Testament. This is why many wanted to know
what was Jesus’ will regarding this.
•
John 19: 26-28: The Testament or the Will of
Jesus. The words of Jesus are significant. Seeing His Mother, and at her side
the beloved disciple, Jesus says, “Woman, this is your son.” Then He says to
the disciple, “This is your mother.” The Old and the New Testament must walk
together. At the request of Jesus, the beloved disciple, the son, the New
Testament, receives the mother in his house. In the house of the Beloved
Disciple, in the Christian community, the full sense of the Old Testament is
discovered. The New Testament cannot be understood without the Old one, nor is
the Old one complete without the New one. Saint Augustine said, “Novum in vetere latet, Vetus in Novo patet.”
(The New one is hidden in the Old one. The Old one blooms in the New one). The
New one without the Old one would be a building without a foundation. And the
Old one without the New one would be like a fruit tree which could not bear
fruit.
•
Mary in the New Testament. The New Testament
speaks very little about Mary, and she says even less. Mary is the mother of
silence. The bible only contains seven utterances of Mary. Each one of those is
like a window which allows one to see inside Mary’s house and to discover how
her relationship with God was. The key to understanding all this is given by
Luke: “Blessed are those who receive the word of God and put it into practice”
(Lk 11: 27-28).
•
1st: “How can this come about, since I have no
knowledge of man?”
(Lk 1: 34).
•
2nd: “You see before you the Lord’s servant; let
it happen to me as you have said.” (Lk 1: 38).
•
3rd: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the
Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (Lk 1: 46-55).”
•
4th: “My child, why have You done this to us?
Your father and I were worried looking for you” (Lk 2: 48).
•
5th: “They have no wine!” (Jn 2: 3.)
•
6th: “Do whatever He tells you!” (Jn 2: 5)
•
7th: The silence at the foot of the Cross, more
eloquent than a thousand words! (Jn 19: 25-27).
Personal Questions
•
Mary at the foot of the Cross. A strong and
silent woman. What is my devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, like?
•
In the Pieta of Michelangelo, Mary seems to be
very young, younger than the crucified Son, yet she must have been about fifty
years old. Asked why he had sculptured the face of Mary as a young girl,
Michelangelo replied, “People who are passionate for God never age!” Passionate
for God! Is that passion for God in me?
Concluding Prayer
Yahweh, how abundant is the goodness You have in store for
those who fear
You, and bestow on those who make You their refuge, for all
humanity to see! Safe in Your presence You hide them, far from human plotting.
(Ps 31: 19-20)
Our Lady of Sorrows
Today’s feast is clearly linked with yesterday’s, when we
celebrated the Exaltation of the Cross. Only the Gospel of John records that
his mother Mary was present at the Crucifixion:
…standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and
his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. (John
19:25)
In the Synoptic Gospels, women are recorded as standing at
some distance from the cross, but his mother is not mentioned among them. One
can hardly imagine the pain and grief that Mary must have undergone to see her
only Son dying in such terrible suffering over a period of several hours. Mary,
as the first and greatest disciple of her Son, shared in a very special way in
the redeeming death of her Son and Lord.
Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows flourished in the Middle
Ages. From that time comes the well-known hymn, Stabat Mater, which
we still recite during the Stations of the Cross:
At the Cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
Since the 14th century, these seven sorrows have been linked
to Mary:
- The
Prophecy of Simeon—During the Presentation in the Temple, when Simeon
foretold that a sword of sorrow would pierce Mary’s heart (Luke 2:22-37).
- The
Flight into Egypt—When Mary and Joseph took the new-born Jesus to the
safety of Egypt to escape the massacre of the children in Bethlehem (Matt
2:13-18).
- The
Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days—When Jesus was 12 years old, he
accompanied his parents to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. After
being missing for three days, Jesus was found by his distraught parents in
the Temple, where he was in discussion with the teachers of the Law (Luke
2:41-52).
- Meeting
Jesus on the Way to Calvary—A traditional scene, familiar from the
Stations of the Cross, where Jesus meets his mother as he carries his
Cross on the way to his crucifixion on Calvary (but not mentioned in
Scripture).
- The
Crucifixion and Death of Jesus—As the Gospel of John tells us, the Mother
of Jesus was present at the foot of the Cross and kept vigil with her Son
as he died (John 19:25-27).
- Jesus
Taken Down from the Cross—Again, a traditional scene from the 13th Station
of the Cross and also represented in art by the Pieta (though again, there
is no scriptural reference for this scene).
- Jesus
Laid in the Tomb—This is recorded in all four Gospels. The burial took
place close to the place of crucifixion because of the coming Sabbath day.
It must have been a painfully sad moment for the Mother who must have
believed this would be the very last time she would lay eyes on her Son
(Matt 28:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-50).
By remembering Mary’s sufferings in this way, we realise how
close she was to the redeeming work of her Son. As mentioned, she is his first
and closest disciple. Especially in Mediterranean countries, statues of Our
Lady of Sorrows are traditionally carried in processions on the days leading to
Good Friday.
No feast in her honour was included in St Pius V’s
Tridentine Calendar in 1570. Approval for the celebration of a feast in honour
of Our Lady of Sorrows was first granted to the Servite order in 1667. By
inserting the feast into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, Pope Pius VII
extended the celebration to the whole of the Latin Church in 1814. It was
assigned to the third Sunday in September. In 1913, Pope Pius X moved it to 15
September, the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.
Our Lady of Sorrows is traditionally depicted in art dressed
in black with seven swords piercing her heart. These seven swords symbolize the
chief seven sorrows of her life. Devotion to the Sorrows of Mary inspired the
work of art we call the Pieta, the grieving Mother holding her dead Son in her
arms after he has been taken down from the Cross.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/f0915s/
