Our Lady of Sorrows Teaches Us How to Assist At Mass

By her consent to be the Mother of God, Mary cooperated in a singular way in our salvation. But even more she united herself wholly to her Son's work of Redemption by offering Him wholeheartedly on the Cross for us, with all her sorrows preceding and following it.

As we meditate on our Lady's seven sorrows we appreciate more deeply the sufferings she endured with love, which she united with Jesus’ for our Redemption. In fact, by the bitter sorrow of her heart no martyrdom was equal to hers. We who are parents, especially mothers, understand the pain of seeing our children suffer. The slightest fever of our child affects us; and we suffer with him/her vicariously because of love.

Thus by her sorrows she united herself most intimately to Jesus’ work of Redemption. “The Redeemer could not but associate His Mother in His work. For this reason we invoke her under the title of Co-redemptrix. She gave us the Savior, she accompanied Him in the work of Redemption as far as the Cross itself, sharing with Him the sorrows of His agony and of the death in which Jesus consummated the Redemption of mankind” (Pope Pius XI).

Aren't we all called also to share in the work of Redemption, each according to our calling? But beyond our particular calls, everyone can participate in this ‘greatest of all works’ by our own sufferings united with the Cross of Christ.

We do this by uniting all our daily sufferings to the Cross, as we make this intention in our morning offering, (in union with all the Masses offered throughout the world). But we punctuate this participation as we assist at Mass. For “through the Liturgy Christ continues the work of Redemption IN, WITH, and THROUGH His Church” (Compendium #219, see CCC 1071–1075). Indeed, God wills that we participate in our own salvation, and intercede for the salvation of others, especially our loved ones.

What better model do we have than our Blessed Mother who offered her Son, with all her bitter sorrows. Mary teaches us to accept all the sufferings that befall us in this valley of tears, with patience, resignation, and love, and offer them up with Jesus to the Father. As we strive to be “a pure victim, a holy victim, a spotless victim”, we offer ourselves, with all our sufferings (sorrows) in union with Jesus, the VICTIM, at every Mass, to give supreme worship and thanksgiving to the Father, to atone for our sins, to petition for graces, and to participate in the work of Redemption (interceding for the salvation of others).

We can also offer our miseries, imperfections, and weaknesses (our woundedness), even as we beg for healing. For these, too, bring sorrows to us. We can also offer other people's sorrows and miseries, especially those of our loved ones who may be suffering from sickness, or going through difficult times, or living in the darkness of sin or indifference, needing conversion, as we suffer with them vicariously because of our love for them.

This is what it means to “fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ” (Col 1: 24). “Of course there is nothing lacking in the sufferings of Christ…. the ‘lack’ is on the side of sinful humanity. Through our sufferings, lovingly united to that of Christ's, we can obtain for people the grace to accept His gift of salvation.” (Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, 33 Days to Merciful Love). What a flattering gift of God to us members of the Mystical Body of Christ (Church), to be made participants in the saving actions of the Head!

And so inasmuch as the Mass is ‘Calvary made actually present in the here and now’, then at every Mass our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, is always present, offering her Son for us. We, too, following her example, offer ourselves– our sufferings, our daily white martyrdom, united with Jesus’ Sacrifice, as we become ‘co-redeemers’ with Mary, our Co-redemptrix. This attitude of ‘offering’ ought to characterize our whole life, reaching its climax in our participation in the Eucharist – the source and summit of our Christian Life.