Novena to the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Day 2

Day 2 – September 7 – Feria

Prayers-

Collect for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Deus, in cuius passióne, secúndum Simeónis prophétiam, dulcíssimam ánimam gloriósæ Vírginis et Matris Maríæ dolóris gladius pertransívit: concéde propítius; ut, qui transfixiónem eius et passiónem venerándo recólimus, gloriósis méritis et précibus ómnium Sanctórum Cruci fidéliter astántium intercedéntibus, passiónis tuæ efféctum felícem consequámur: Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre, in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

O God, in Whose Passion the sword, according to the prophecy of blessed Simeon, pierced through the soul of Mary, the glorious Virgin and Mother, mercifully grant that we, who reverently commemorate her piercing through and her suffering, may, by the interceding glorious merits of all the saints faithfully standing by the Cross, obtain the abundant fruit of Your passion. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

Excerpt from the Sequence Stabat Mater dolorósa
O quam tristis et afflícta Fuit illa benedícta Mater Unigéniti! Quæ mærébat et dolébat, Pia Mater, dum vidébat Nati poenas íncliti.	Oh, how sad and sore distressed Was that Mother highly blessed Of the sole begotten One! Christ above in torment hangs, She beneath beholds the pangs Of her dying, glorious Son.

Prayer by Saint Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri

Oh my blessed mother, not one sword only, but as many swords as I have committed sins have I added to those seven in thy heart. Ah, my Lady, thy sorrows are not due to thee who art innocent, but to me who am guilty. But since thou hast wished to suffer so much for me, ah, by thy merits obtain for me great sorrow for my sins, and patience under the trials of this life, which will always be light in comparison with my demerits, for I have often merited hell. Amen.

Reading for Mediation-

Excerpt from the Discourse on the First Dolor of Mary by Saint Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri

The First Dolor – Saint Simeons Prophecy

In this valley of tears, every man is born to weep, and every one must suffer those afflictions that daily befall him. But how much more miserable would life be, if every one knew also the future evils which are to afflict him! Too unhappy would he be, says Seneca, whose fate was such. The Lord exercises his compassion towards us, namely, that he does not make known to us the crosses that await us; that if we are to suffer them, at least we may suffer them only once. But he did not exercise this compassion with Mary, who, because God wished her to be the queen of dolors, and in all things like his Son, and to see always before her eyes, and to suffer continually all the sorrows that awaited her; and those were the sufferings of the passion and death of her beloved Jesus. For St. Simeon in the temple, after having re ceived the divine child in his arms, predicted to her that this child was to be the mark for all the opposition and persecution of men; "Set for a sign which shall be contradicted;" and that therefore the sword of sorrow should pierce her soul: "And thy own soul a sword shall pierce."

The holy Virgin herself said to St. Matilda, that at the announcement of St. Simeon all her joy was changed into sorrow. For, as it was revealed to St. Theresa, the blessed mother, although she knew before this that the life of her Son would be sacrificed for the salvation of the world, yet she then learned more particularly and distinctly the sufferings and cruel death that awaited her poor Son. She knew that he would be contradicted in all things. Contradicted in doctrine; for instead of being believed, he would be esteemed a blasphemer for teaching that he was the Son of God, as the impious Caiaphas declared him to be, saying: "He hath blasphemed, he is guilty of death." Contradicted in his reputation, for he was noble, of royal lineage, and was despised as a peasant: "Is not this the carpenter's son?" "Is not this the car penter, the son of Mary?" He was wisdom it self, and was treated as an ignorant man: "How doth this man know letters, having never learned? As a false prophet: "And they blindfolded him and smote his face .... saying: Prophesy who is this that struck thee." He was treated as a madman: "He is mad, why hear you him?" As a wine-bibber, a glutton, and a friend of sinners: "Behold a man that is a glutton, and a drinker of wine, a friend of publicans and sinners." As a sorcerer: "By the prince of devils he casteth out devils." As a heretic and possessed person: "Do we not say well of thee, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" In a word, Jesus was considered as so bad and notorious a man, that no trial was necessary to condemn him, as the Jews said to Pilate: "If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to thee." He was contradicted in his soul, for even his eternal Father, in order to give place to the divine justice, contradicted him by not wishing to hear him when he prayed to him, saying: "Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me;" and abandoned him to fear, weariness, and sadness, so that our afflicted Lord said: "My soul is sorrow ful even unto death." His interior suffering even caused him to sweat blood. Contradicted and persecuted, in a word, in his body and in his life, for he was tortured in all his sacred members: in his hands, in his feet, in his face, and in his head, in his whole body, till, drained to the last drop of his blood, he died an ignominious death on the cross.

Prayers for each day.