Wednesday, September 7, 2016

John 20, Verse 26

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”

Here is a copy of an email I receive today I would like to pass on.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Misery loves company.”

   Well, in a way, this cliché contains a profound spiritual truth: Mary’s sorrowful Heart longs for and loves your company.

   Today I invite you to spend some time every day for the next nine days consoling the afflicted Heart of Mary Most Holy.

Click here for the Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows

   Richard, has your heart ever been so heavily weighted down with sorrow that you didn’t have the strength, or desire, to even talk?

   Then someone quietly just sat down beside you, maybe put his or her hand on yours, and simply kept you company?

   When I contemplate Our Lady of Sorrows, I can’t find the words to comfort one who loves mankind so much, yet is continually rebuffed by the majority of men. And openly ridiculed by others.

   So, I just like to sit with her in prayer.

   And I encourage you to do the same in this Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows.

   Can you imagine this Sorrowful Mother surrounded by her faithful children, each of us participating in our own way in her Sorrows?

   What a lovely consolation for this Best of All Mothers!

   And in turn, she will certainly reward these faithful children.

   Sorrow is a part of life in this vale of tears. No matter what Hollywood and Wall Street tell us, it cannot be avoided.

   And here is another thing you won’t hear coming out of Hollywood: Sorrow and Suffering can be very good for us, for it can make us better people.

   So, the next time you are enveloped in this most human of conditions, Your Mother will be there for you, her dear child.

   Unite your heart to hers in this Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows today, and feel her loving presence beside you in your struggles.

   You may even feel her hand gently rest on yours in these moments when she comes to keep you company.