For Lent, I will be sharing a series of meditations on the Seven Sorrows of Mary through the lens of the Eastern Church, drawing from its tradition of the Prayer of the Heart and the tears of repentance. According to the Fathers, tears are a gift from God, leading us from contrition (penthos) to enlightenment, healing the wounds of sin, and carrying us from sorrow to joy. I will be posting excerpts up until Pascha. May these reflections deepen your journey toward the Resurrection.
Most mothers give their child away in marriage, so they may become one flesh with another, raise children, and live out the vocation of holy matrimony. But Our Lady did not walk Christ down the aisle—rather, she walked with Him to Calvary.
At Golgotha, the place of the skull, Jesus trampled death by death, reaching into Hades to redeem Adam’s sin as the New Adam, setting the captives free.
It was a resurrection procession—the source of our life, our sweetness, and our hope. Without the Resurrection, Jesus is merely a teacher, His words another philosophy rather than the fulfillment of all things. But triumphantly, we proclaim at Pascha:
Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!
Our God is alive, and we live in the reality of the One who is, was, and always shall be. (Revelation 1:8)
He, present everywhere and filling all things, is our treasury of blessings and the giver of life. (From the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom)
Compelled by love, Jesus gave Himself fully, sparing not a single drop of blood.
And Our Lady, who bore witness to this offering, sees the price of her Son’s holocaust in every soul. There is no hope of Heaven—where every tear is wiped away—without the Cross. And preceding the Cross was the rejection, humiliation, and torment of Christ at the hands of His creation, some of whom had cried ‘Hosanna’ (Matthew 21:9) just days before.
The Great Fast is a time of repentance, almsgiving, and sacrifice. Our attitude and approach to the fast are crucial. We can go through the motions, check the boxes, or do the bare minimum, but if we do not allow such abstinence to draw us closer to Christ and to love others more deeply, we waste the opportunity.
St. Maximilian Kolbe reminds us: “Penance, penance, penance—that is what the Immaculata calls us to.” Through our sacrifices, united with Christ, we join in His redemptive work, transforming our hearts and the world. The Theotokos, who bore the Savior of our souls, remained by His side through His ministry, rejection, and suffering.
What a mystery—that the Creator of the universe became an infant, cradled in the arms of the Virgin, and that at the Cross, the King of the Cosmos embraced all creation, redeeming it in His love.
There is no better guide for us this Lent than Mary, the Mother of God. She leads us through every aspect of the fast—from the spiritual preparation of Clean Monday, through Holy Week, and ultimately to Pascha. She helps us prepare our souls for confession and the reception of the Mystical Supper.
From her, we learn how to ponder all things in our hearts (Luke 2:19), crave silence and contemplation, and surrender ourselves to God. Like Our Lady, we learn to say in every situation: Be it done unto me according to Your will.
One of the most striking aspects of Compline at a monastery is when the abbot says, “Forgive me, brothers, for I am a sinner,” and the brothers, in turn, ask for forgiveness. This is the heart of Lent—a time to be reconciled with God and with one another, stripping away all that is unnecessary so that we may stand humbly before God.
Penance is not a solitary act. It is a means of purgation, by which we are passed through the Theotokos’s most immaculate hands.
We are raised by our Mother of Mercy in the ‘ways in which we should go’ (Proverbs 22:6).
In her maternal intercession, we find refuge and strength, and through our sacrifices, we join in her work of bringing souls to Christ.
May we continue to grow in prayer, charity, and, above all, love for one another. Let us be doers of the Word, speaking from the depths of our being like the publican: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
The world has no shortage of things to pray for, and each of us carries our own crosses.
We all know someone who suffers. May these meditations on the Tears of the Theotokos prompt us to intercede for others, to enter into the presence of God, and to cleanse our souls with tears of repentance and thanksgiving.
As we begin this holy season of Lent, let us do so with hearts open to the graces of God, mindful that the fast is a path of union with Christ and a means of transforming our hearts. Together with Mary, Mother of all, may we walk with Jesus every step of the way. May this meditation on her tears soften our hearts and prepare them for the triumph of Pascha.
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