Posted on 04/16/2011 12:16:03 PM PDT by markomalley
Marys role in the life of the church, in the Christian experience did not end with the deliverance of her placenta and the taking of her ritual bath. Rather, Mary The Mother walked with and monitored every part of her sons life (as mothers do) and his ministry. Far from being a toss-off, a mere minor player in the story of Christ and the Christian experience, Marys life is as entwined with Christs at his death as it was when he was living and growing inside her body. Her life is entwined in the whole of the story of Salvation.
She was there when Christ was found, talking with great wisdom with the elders; she raised an eyebrow at him and we can imagine the mixture of relief and fear when she found him: your father and I have been worried sick, now you get over here and dont take off on your own like that again!
She was there at Cana, tugging at his sleeve and saying, hey, these people have a need, please help them and to the waiters, do as he tells you
She was there as he preached, and as he was arrested and tortured, and as he carried his cross. She was there - not running away - broken, yet completely faithful, as he died before her eyes, after telling her that her work was only just beginning, that she had no time for a luxury of grief, because now she was to be The Mother to others, even as he told John that he (and we) were to hold her to that role.
She was there as the apostles hid in the upper room. Likely she was around the food, making everyone as comfortable as possible and raising the eyebrow again, wondering if these men would ever get it.
And she was there at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down and the church was formed.
We dont read about Mary in a leadership role in the Acts of the Apostles, but I suspect that this is because Marys leadership was lived in the guise of The Mother.
The guidance (and the role of overseer) which is part and parcel of a mothers job is - while indispensable - rarely understood as leadership. This is as true today, in our enlightened age as it was in the patriarchal Judean culture. The attention to detail, the fussy human stuff, the work, wisdom, planning and supervisory/administrative role of a mother is as under-appreciated now as it was, then, but in either era it is the backbone of . . .well, if you really stop to consider, the role of The Mother is the backbone of everything that is and was and will be.
Luke does not write about Mary in the Acts, but it is not unthinkable that as the apostles were building up the church Mary was doing more than simply feeding people and washing clothes. I am sure she did do those things, but she was a mother - The Mother of the church - and so I am quite certain that aside from her domestic tasks Mary was pointing the apostles and those first followers in this direction and that saying, make sure you talk to so-and-so, dont forget about thus and such, did you remember to do this or that? I overheard thus-and-such, youd better be aware of that, and make sure you . . .
Thats the affectionate watchfulness of The Mother, too often seen by her children as nagging, and it might have seemed like nagging to the apostles, too. But all of that meddling and observing and commenting has a tendency to beget planning and strategy and the foreseeing-and-overcoming of obstacles before they muck things up.
This is what mothers do. It is what I suspect Mary did, constantly at the service of the church, at the service of the apostles and the believers, serving them not only with her hands but with the wisdom of The Mother, gleaned over a lifetime of work and love.
Having given her own flesh and blood to the Incarnate Word who knew Christ better than she? Who could explain to his sometimes thick-headed apostles what he was about, how the woman who bested him in reason, (but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table.) probably pleased Jesus with her cleverness, not only because it demonstrated her faith, but because it nudged his good humor.
Perhaps she cued Luke (who tradition holds interviewed Mary, personally) into the fact that when Jesus said, regarding Herod, Go tell that fox that I cast out demons and heal the sick he was not merely giving forth information, but he was having fun with language, as well, by calling Herod a fox, which was another way of calling him (scripturally) a weakling, that he was a small, scuttling opportunist whom Christ did not fear, and whom we should not fear, either.
Mary said yes to the Angel of the Lord. She was the Ark of the New Covenant, there at the beginning of the great pageant of Salvation.
She is here, now, the approachable Mother to whom countless parents and children turn when - exasperated or undone by human relations - they need a wise mother in whom to confide. But her answer is always the same, Do whatever HE tells you . . .
She is in the time to come - Revelation 12 calls her the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, the very image which, after 500 years, still shows itself on the rough, plant-fibered tilma of Juan Diego the image of reassurance.
But that is what a mother does. She reassures. She works for her family. She serves. She carries on and carries forward, doing the things that need to be done. Even if all the while, her heart is pierced with a sword of deep and lasting sorrow.
And we, who each carry within our own lives wounds both secret and open, have in this Sorrowful but Eternal Mother, a perfect confidante, a Mother to whom we can turn because we know shes been there, done that. When a daughter keeps dubious company and a son gets himself in trouble, you can turn to Mary and say, Mary . . . what am I to do with this child? Help!
Do, she will counsel, over and over, what He tells you . . .
Our Lady of Sorrows, part I: "Her Martyrdom was longer and greater than that of all the martyrs"
The Seven Dolors (Sorrows) of Mary [Catholic/Orthodox Devotional]
Apparition in Africa: Our Lady of Sorrows [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary [Catholic Caucus Devotional]
Feast of Our Lady/Mother of Sorrows
Homilies on Our Lady of Sorrows
Starkenburg:Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Sorrows Shrine
Our Mother of Sorrows
ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI, OF THE DOLOURS OF MARY, The Glories [Sorrows] of Mary
Our Lady of Sorrows - Sep 15
Stabat Mater is the title of a thirteenth-century Latin hymn and it means "the Mother was standing." In Latin, the hymn consists of twenty couplets which describe the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin at the Cross. There are more than sixty English translations that have been made of the Stabat Mater. To listen to the music of the Stabat Mater, click here. This requires a Real Media Player which may be downloaded free from realaudio.com.
Text: At the cross her station keeping, While she waited in her anguish, With what pain and desolation, Ever-patient in her yearning Who, that sorrow contemplating, Christ she saw, for our salvation, Christ she saw with life-blood failing, Mary, fount of love's devotion, Virgin, ever interceding, Mother, may this prayer be granted: At the cross, your sorrow sharing, Fairest maid of all creation, Virgin, in your love befriend me, Savior, when my life shall leave me, Virgin of all virgins blest! Let me, to my latest breath, Wounded with His every wound, Be to me, O Virgin, nigh, Savior, when my life shall leave me, While my body here decays The Collegeville Hymnal
Stabat Mater dolorósa Cujus ánimam geméntem, O quam tristis et afflicta Quae maerébat, et dolébat, Quis est homo, qui non fleret, Quis non posset contristári, Pro peccátis suae gentis Vidit suum dulcem natum Eja mater, fons amóris, Fac, ut árdeat cor meum Sancta Mater, istud agas Tui nati vulneráti, Fac me tecum pie flere, Juxta Crucem tecum stare, Virgo vírginum praeclára, Fac, ut portem Christi mortem, Fac me plagis vulnerári, Flammis ne urar succénsus, Christe, cum sit hinc exíre Quando corpus moriétur, Missale Romanum
Spiritual Meaning Christians of the twentieth century can truly identify with Our Lady's experience of Sorrow. The message of the Stabat Mater focuses on the spiritual and emotional bond which unites Mary and all Christians to the death of her Son on the Cross. From this bond, each Christian can recognize the incredible compassion and holiness in Mary's character. The Blessed Mother demonstrated her maternal compassion to all generations of Christians by her presence and participation with her Son Jesus in the Sacrifice of the Cross. There is a mother-son bond that unites Mary with Christ Jesus during his experience of suffering and death. This empathetic bond indicates that Our Lady shared in her Son's suffering. Mary is Our Lady of Sorrows precisely because her Son Christ Jesus bore the sins of the world during his passion and death. As the faithful disciple, Our Blessed Mother invites us to unite our personal suffering with her own. We can share in Jesus' burden on the Cross, just as Mary did at Calvary. As Our Lady of Sorrows, Mary also reminds us that Christians are called to expiate for his or her own sins and the sins of their neighbors, and the sins of the world. We can share in the bond between the Blessed Mother and Our Lord through fasting, prayer, and contrition for sin. Our Lady of Sorrows teaches us that the Crown of eternal life in Heaven can be reached when we each choose to share with Our Lord in His suffering and death on the Cross at Calvary. The compassion of Mary is part of the mystery of the Church community's sharing in, and offering, the Sacrifice of Jesus for the salvation of the world. Each member of the Church has a role to play in redeeming the world. Our Lady of Sorrows is a guide who inspires and teaches us how to be compassionate. Historical Aspects
Mary stood in sorrow weeping
When her Son was crucified.
Seeing Christ in torment languish,
Bitter sorrow pierced her heart.
With what noble resignation,
Mary watched her dying Son.
Though her tear-filled eyes were burning,
Mary gazed upon her Son.
On that passion meditating,
Would not share the Virgin's grief?
Scourged with cruel acclamation,
Bruised and beaten by the rod.
All her anguish unavailing,
Saw him breathe his very last.
Let me share with true emotion
All the sorrow you endured.
Hear me in my fervent pleading:
Fire me with your love of Christ.
That Christ's love may be implanted
In the depths of my poor soul.
All your grief and torment bearing,
Let me stand and mourn with you.
Queen of hope and consolation,
Let me feel your grief sublime.
At the Judgment Day defend me.
Help me by your constant prayer.
Through your mother's prayers
receive me
With the fruits of victory.
Listen to my fond request:
Let me share your grief divine
In my body bear the death
Of your dying Son divine.
Steep my soul till it has swooned
In His very Blood away.
Lest in flames I burn and die,
In His awe-full judgment day.
Through your mother's prayers
receive me
With the fruits of victory.
May my soul your goodness praise,
Safe in heaven eternally. Amen Alleluia.
Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 1990.
Juxta Crucem lacrimósa,
Dum pendébat Filius.
Contristátam et doléntem,
Pertransivit gladius.
Fuit illa benedicta
Mater Unigéniti!
Pia Mater, dum vidébat
Nati poenas inclyti.
Matrem Christi si vidéret
In tanto supplicio?
Christi Matrem contemplári
Doléntem cum Filio?
Vidit Jesum in torméntis,
Et flagéllis súbditum.
Moriéndo desolátum,
Dum emisit spíritum.
Me sentíre vim dolóris
Fac, ut tecum lúgeam.
In amándo Christum Deum,
Ut sibi compláceam.
Crucifixi fige plagas
Cordi meo válide.
Tam dignáti pro me pati,
Poenas mecum dívide.
Crucifixo condolére,
Donec ego víxero.
Et me tibi sociáre
In planctu desídero.
Mihi jam non sis amára:
Fac me tecum plángere.
Passiónis fac consórtem,
Et plagas recólere.
Fac me Cruce inebriári,
Et cruó re Fílii.
Per te, Virgo, sim defénsus
In die judícii.
Da per Matrem me veníre
Ad palmam victóriae.
Fac, ut ánimae donétur
Paradísi glória. Amen. Allelúja.
Cincinnati: Benziger Brothers, 1956.
Now that we have explored some of the contemporary meaning of the Stabat Mater, let us summarize the hymn's important history. Tradition has identified the hymn with St. Bonaventure, Jacopone da Todi, and Pope Innocent II. A notable number of scholars point to da Todi as author, since two fourteenth-century codices and the 1495 edition of the sequence attribute the hymn's authorship to him. While it cannot be denied that the composition's general tone and sensitivity parallel that of da Todi's poems, strictly stylistic comparisons yield uncertain and even disputable results. Recent scholars like L. Russo and M. Cassella are not impressed by the arguments in favor of Jacopone's authorship. The Stabat Mater has two qualities that most scholars date from the twelfth century: an intricate rhyme scheme and a regular meter (usually trochaic).
Liturgical Importance
The Stabat Mater was introduced into the Liturgy gradually until 1727 when it was prescribed as a Sequence for Mass of the Seven Sorrows of Mary on September 15 and on Friday before Holy Week, as well as their corresponding offices. The Stabat Mater has been retained as an optional Sequence for September 15 in the reformed Roman Missal and as the hymn for the Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, and Evening Prayer in the new Liturgy of Hours. The Stabat Mater's popularity is reflected by its use in the popular devotion of the Stations of the Cross.
Its Place in Music
During the sixteenth century, the sequence motet was a favorite form among important musical composers. The Stabat Mater was frequently given elaborate polyphonic settings. A model of such settings is Palestrina's famous Stabat Mater which employs two choruses and combines several couplets to suggest larger musical units within the total composition. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Stabat Mater inspired large works for chorus and orchestra. The hymn's text was divided into a number of autonomous and differentiated movements. Compositions of this type were those of Seffani, Scarlatti, Pergolesi, Boccherini, and Haydn. During the nineteenth century, the popularity of the Stabat Mater's text is evident by its place in the work of Verdi, Rossini, Schubert, and Dvorak.
This summary was compiled from the following sources:
Cuyler, L. E. "Stabat Mater." New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 13. Pages 625-626.
Washington D.C.: Catholic University Press, 1967.
Dictionary of Mary. New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1985.
Missale Romanum. Cincinnati: Benziger Brothers, 1920.
McKenna, Edward J. The Collegeville Hymnal. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1990.
O'Carroll, Michael. Theotokos: A Theological Encyclopedia of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Collegeville: Michael Glazier, 1980.
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