Mary suffered in her Son’s suffering St. Alphonsus observes that, just as it would be for any anguished mother seeing her child tortured and killed, Mary suffered in her soul what her Son suffered in his body. While other martyrs suffered by sacrificing their own lives, the Blessed Virgin suffered by sacrificing her Son’s life—a life that she loved far more than her own. So she not only suffered in her soul all that her Son endured in his body.... Read more

Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary St. Alphonsus imagines the scene when Jesus meets Mary as he carried the Cross to his execution. Mary goes with St. John to see Jesus on the way to Calvary. She later reveals to St. Bridget: “By the footsteps of my Son, I knew where he had passed; for along the way the ground was marked with blood.” St. Bonaventure imagines the afflicted mother taking a shorter way, and placing herself at... Read more

A thousand flames of love turned to grief St. Alphonsus talks about the intensity of Mary’s love for her Son—and how devastated she would have been to meet him as he carried his cross to Calvary. St. Bernardine says that to form an idea of the greatness of Mary’s grief in losing her Jesus by death, we must consider the love that this mother bore to her Son. All mothers feel the sufferings of their children as their own. But... Read more

Mary cared for her Child with sorrow Like a mother whose child has been born with a terminal illness, Mary could never escape for long thoughts about her Son’s death. St. Alphonsus considers how these thoughts would have served as a continual stream of sorrow for her. King David, in the midst of all his pleasures and regal grandeur, heard from the prophet Nathan that his son would die: “The child that is born to you shall die” (2 Sam... Read more

Mary’s sufferings grew as Jesus grew When we speak of Mary’s sorrows, we typically focus on seven occasions in her life that brought her untold suffering. But St. Alphonsus points out that Mary’s suffering grew throughout her life as she became increasingly devoted to her Son, knowing what lay ahead for him. The sufferings of Our Lady as she offered the infant Jesus to God in the temple didn’t end there. No, they only began; for from that time forward,... Read more

The only sorrow in which Mary complained When the Blessed Mother found her young Son at last in the temple, her words were not a rebuke, St. Alphonsus insists. But they were a loving complaint. The only sorrow in which Mary complained was her search for the boy Jesus in Jerusalem. She lovingly and earnestly asked of Jesus, after she had found him in the temple: “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been... Read more

The greatest of Mary’s sorrows Which of Mary’s sorrows was the greatest? Some have suggested, St. Alphon- sus reports, that it was her loss of her young Son in Jerusalem for three days. The third of Mary’s traditional seven sorrows was not knowing what had happened to Jesus when she returned from the Passover in Jerusalem. Some have reasonably asserted that this wasn’t just among the greatest of her sorrows, but was in fact the greatest and most painful of... Read more

Mary’s sorrow when Jesus was lost St. Alphonsus points out that when Mary couldn’t find Jesus for three days, she was deprived not only of her Child, but of her Lord. The Apostle St. James says that our perfection consists in the virtue of patience. “Patience has a perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing” (see Jas 1:4). Since our Lord had given us the Blessed Virgin Mary as a model of perfection, it... Read more