Today being the 1st Friday of the month our parish community has Adoration all day with Benediction at 6 p.m. Our pastor has asked us to pray the rosary of the Seven Sorrows at the beginning of our final hour, before the Benediction.
The Rosary of the Seven Sorrows is a powerful devotion, especially if you have the Scriptural reflections to mediatate with. This rosary consists of 7 decades of 7 beads. The Seven Sorrows are: The Prophecy of Simeon, The Flight into Egypt, The Loss of Jesus in the Temple, Mary Meets Jesus on the Way of the Cross, Jesus Dies on the Cross, Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross, Jesus is Laid in the Tomb.
This is a beautiful and poignant devotion. But why pray this Rosary before Benediction? Why reflect on these sorrows when we have the Eucharistic Lord in our very presence?
These questions made me think about the signs of contradiction. Mary and Joseph surely must have been joyful when they presented Jesus to Simeon in the Temple. Then Simeon said these words: "this child is destined for the fall and the rise of many in Israel and for a sin that shall be contradicted." Jesus had his followers and his detractors. Scripture says He is a cornerstone for some, a stumbling block for others. And we know that the Cross is a sign of contradiction. For those who have decided not to follow Christ, the cross is absurd. For those who seek salvation, the cross is the saving power of God. The Cross, the object of such a horrible, painful death is for those who seek salvation the power over sin and death. Not the cross by itself, here we refer to the passion and death of Jesus.
So we reflect tonight that the victory Jesus has won for us came with great sacrifice, sorrow and pain. But without the Cross, without His death, there would be no Resurrection, there would be no eternal life.
A contradiction! You bet. Thanks be to God!
Our Lady of Sorrows; pray for us!
(Thanks to Theology of the Laity, Fr. Paul Doffner)
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