The Sorrowful Mother, St. Catherine of Genoa, and Ember Days!

There is a lot going on today liturgically.  We have the feast of our Sorrowful Mother, the Feast day of our Parish Patroness, St. Catherine of Genoa, and today is the first day of the Fall Ember Days.   They each point to the truth of our faith and remind us to examine our faith, spend time in prayer, fasting, and penance.  So let’s look at them and how they seem to connect a bit with today’s readings.

The Blessed Virgin Mary shows us a way of life that helps us connect and stay rooted in the life of Christ.  She shows us the perspective of a person completely in love with another.  The love of a parent for a child.  A mother for her Son. When Jesus walks the Way of the Cross, she journeys with Him and suffers with him.   The way only one who shared the intimate bond of family, the flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone, can ever understand.

Her seven sorrows also connect with each of us on some level.

Some of us connect with one or 2 or three  (give examples)

  1. The presentation of Jesus in the temple 

    Mary and Joseph were just going about their day when Simeon came up and spoke words that were foreboding and difficult to hear. This prophecy reminded us of when someone gave us news that made us worry for the future.  A diagnosis from a doctor provides a dismal forecast for our loved ones.   An ailing economy threatens the future of our work or companies. In the world of COVID-19, rising numbers and mandates cause fear and alarm. Yet, Mary kept all these things in her heart and offered them to God, never losing faith.

  2. The flight to Egypt 

    Some of us have had to leave our homes to journey to distant areas. Whether for immigration or house fires, moving for work, persecution, fleeing an abusive relationship, and so forth.  We leave behind family and friends, comfort to travel into strange places where we have to learn how to interact with the people and their culture.  Sometimes even having to learn a new language or skillset just to survive. Yet, Mary and Joseph followed God’s guidance in these unique, stressful situations and kept the faith.

  3. Jesus being lost in Jerusalem 

    Have you ever lost a child in a crowded place? Years ago, we were at “Irish Fest,” and one of our kids got separated from us.  She was just 10 or so at the time.  Luckily, she just stood where she was waiting for us to come back.  Those few minutes of panic were difficult to bear and filled with fear.  Mary was separated from Jesus for three days.  Preparing her for what was to come, the sorrow and fear of the tomb.

  4. Mary meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary 

    There are moments in our lives when we meet someone who is in the process of dying. They’ve been given a few days, weeks, or months to live, and they share that with us. In their moment of fear and agony, they choose to share that moment with us, and we can choose to be there with them.  Mary decided to be there with Jesus, to journey with Him toward the cross.  We can choose to do the same, traveling with each person we meet toward their own Calvary, their own Easter.

  5. The Crucifixion

    Watching as someone dies, taking their last breath. Wanting to be strong for our loved ones but often finding they remain grounded for us.  Trusting in God even in our pain and loss.
  6. Taking down of Jesus from the Cross

    Holding a loved one for the last time, touching their face, seeing their body there without the light of life we are used to. It’s jarring and difficult. The Pieta shows us the magnitude of this moment.  Mary is holding her Son in anguish and sorrow but trusting in God.
  7. The Burial of Christ 

    Burying those we love, knowing this is the last time we’ll be near them in that way. Watching as the casket is lowered into the grave or placed in a place of repose.  It can break through our composure and resolve and leave us broken with grief.  Watching the stone roll over the mouth of the grave must have made much doubt; in fact, the disciples ran away.  But Mary, she was there and believed.

While we connect with one sorrow more than others might… we see in them a common thread, an experience that unites humanity.  Suffering.  Mary shows us that her Son elevated suffering to have meaning and unite humanity instead of pulling it apart.  All of us suffer.   The blessed Mother can help us understand that, pray for us during those times, and lead us to Jesus in those moments.

Our Parish patroness’s feast day is today as well.  St. Catherine of Genoa was no stranger to suffering.  Her marriage was an unhappy and abusive one.  Her life was so unpleasant that she would pray that God would keep her so sick that she couldn’t get out of bed the next day.  Then she encountered Jesus in the confessional.  It changed her life.  She turned to Jesus’ Mother in prayer, praying the rosary constantly.  She also began to receive the Eucharist daily, which was uncommon for non-clergy during the middle ages.  This devotion to the Blessed Mother and to Jesus Christ in the Sacraments led to mystical experiences and a close union with God that can only be explained as miraculous.

Her husband followed her example. After his conversion, he began to serve alongside her in the hospitals for the poor.  She entered Heaven on this day in 1510.  Her death was described as slow, with many days of pain and suffering as she experienced visions and wavered between life and death. Her body was worn out from the labors of the body and soul.   Her writings have influenced many other Saints and theologians. She has written one of the most brilliant treatises on Purgatory ever authored.

So we are joined together today.   Uniting our own lives, our own sufferings, and joys.  Our own pleasure and pain with those of Jesus Christ, on the cross.  This gives them value.  It transforms them from simple agony and discomfort to something beautiful and uniting.  Uniting us with Christ on the cross and with all of humanity in their shared sufferings and struggles.

 

Today is also the beginning of the September Ember Days, which follow the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.  These three days are to remind us of our dependence on God and His providence.  Living in a farming community, it’s pretty apparent where our food begins and the work necessary for it to get to our tables. Unfortunately, though, most of the world gets their food through big box stores or delivered to our doors.  Ember Days is a time to bring awareness and reestablish that connection with creation.   Then in gratitude focus on giving thanks to God for all His blessings.

It’s also seen as a sort of Mini-Lent, in which we take time to reassess how we are doing.  Lent is supposed to have changed our lives, not just during Lent, but to help us grow spiritually.  It’s a chance for us to “suffer” in small ways.  Prayer, fasting, almsgiving, even abstinence from meat.  These aren’t required but are definitely encouraged.  The Christian life should be marked with them, not just 40 days of the year, but from the beginning of our walk to the time we cross the finish line with our own birth into the new life.

So please spend some time the next three days in extra prayer, meditating on what God has given us with gratitude.  The good and the bad.  Seeking to understand Jesus more fully by understanding His Mother, and His family, the Church.  We don’t need to wait till Heaven to become Saints. Today’s plenary indulgence is a reminder that our purification can happen in this life.. but it’s not going to be easy.  It’s going to require sacrifice, discipline, and above all, grace.

Because Jesus did everything necessary on the cross, but then He hands it to us.  As the reading from the Liturgy of the Hours reminds us:

Even now, I find my joy in the suffering I endure for you. In my own flesh, I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the Church. I became a minister of this Church through the commission God gave me to preach among you his word in its fullness.

Colossians 1:24-25

It’s not that Christ needs anything or that His sufferings on the cross weren’t enough.   But we are the Body of Christ.  It’s like a bucket of paint that’s been given to us, this grace that God hands us freely when we repent and turn to Him in the Sacraments… but we have to apply it.  The interior of our heart isn’t going to paint itself, and God would never force Himself into our lives.  He gives us the free will to do the painting, to apply it, and to change.  We have work to do Church!

A reflection on the readings for the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows: September 15th, 2021