Today, 8 September, we celebrate the Nativity of Mary, Mother of the Lord. It is a day of joy, but also the beginning of the Septenary of Our Lady of Sorrows, those seven days that prepare us for the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Joy and sorrow are intertwined from the very beginning, just as they are intertwined in the life of every family.
Jesus himself taught us that, as his brothers and sisters, Mary is also our Mother (cf. Mt 12:46-50). Not a distant mother, but one who walks with us and suffers with us. That is why this day invites us to form a true family with Jesus and Mary, allowing them to enter our homes and our wounds.
In this context the prophecy of the elder Simeon resounds: “and a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Lk 2:35). From that moment on, Mary would know that her love for her Son would lead her to the deepest pain: to see him suffer on the cross.
That pierced heart is today a mirror of so many hearts: separated families, homes marked by violence, people living in solitude, others suffering poverty. In each of these situations there is a pierced heart, like that of Mary.
To begin the septenary is, then, an act of hope: to turn to the Mother who knew suffering without letting herself be overcome by it, so that she may teach us to bear it with faith, knowing that after the cross comes the resurrection.
Mary, our Mother, accompany the wounded families of our time. Teach us to remain faithful in trial and to find, together with you, the hope that does not disappoint. Amen.
Seven-day preparation for the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows
FIRST DAY
Christ gives his life because he loves. Mary is at the foot of the cross because she loves.
Today, in many corners of the world, there are real crosses: the sick suffering alone, families torn apart by violence, people who bear physical or inner pain that no one sees. At the school of Mary, we learn to love her Son by accepting our own cross—physical, moral, and spiritual—without running away from it.
Mary, Mother of Charity at the foot of the Cross, pray for us to your Son Jesus.
SECOND DAY
Love knows how to offer and how to offer itself. Mary, at the foot of the Cross, offers the Father the most precious treasure of her life—Christ Jesus—and offers herself.
In a world that teaches us to accumulate, to compete, and to keep everything for ourselves, today we choose the opposite: to offer to the Father our time, our work, our relationships, our past and our future, with the same sentiments as Christ on the Cross and Mary beneath the Cross.
Father, I offer you my whole life, like Mary.
THIRD DAY
Forgiveness is the perfect gift of love. Christ on the Cross forgives his crucifiers… Mary, beneath the Cross, forgives all those who, in every age, will continue to crucify her Son.
We live surrounded by open wounds: family resentments, social divisions, hate speech on social media, wars that never end. Today, like Mary, I open my heart to concrete forgiveness: towards that person, that situation, that wound that I have not yet let go.
Teach me, Mother, to forgive as you have forgiven.
FOURTH DAY
Love is always welcoming and welcomes everyone. With John, we feel that Mary has welcomed us all into her Heart.
Today we think of those whom our society leaves on the margins: migrants and refugees, forgotten elderly people, people with addictions, those experiencing a mental health crisis, those who feel misunderstood or invisible behind a screen. Like Mary, let us welcome into our hearts all who suffer.
Let us pray for them and, if possible, help them concretely, demonstrating our love with deeds—not just words.
Mother, help me to see and welcome those who suffer around me.
FIFTH DAY
Love does not sleep. Love keeps watch. Let us offer with Mary and like Mary our inability to give, to help, to act.
There are sufferings before which we feel helpless: catastrophes, distant wars, incurable diseases, poverty we cannot resolve no matter how much we would wish. Today, let us not hide this helplessness: let us also offer it to God, trusting that our limited love, united with that of Christ, has value.
Accept, Father, even my helpless love.
SIXTH DAY
Those who pray believe. Those who love pray. Mary silently receives her Son’s offering and lets the same prayer resonate in her heart.
Amid the constant noise of information, news and dizzying haste, today we seek silence to truly pray. Our prayer, united with that of Christ, will be a more conscious expression of faith, hope and love, and will be presented to the Father through Mary’s hands.
Mother, teach me to pray in silence, like you.
SEVENTH DAY
After Jesus’ burial, Mary waits in the darkness, with certain hope, for the scandal of the Cross to be transformed, on the third day, into the glory of the Resurrection—not only of her Son, but of all those He entrusted to her from the Cross.
Today we too are experiencing “dark Saturdays”: uncertainty, crisis, moments when evil seems to triumph. With Mary and like Mary on Calvary, let our hearts be filled with joyful hope in Christ, the source of our salvation and our glory.
Virgin of Hope, help us to hope with faith in the victory of life over death.