In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Our Lady of Sorrows.
Our Lady Mother of the Church.
Saint Joseph.
Our Patron Saints and Guardian Angels.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
The readings today reflect about the prophetic announcement of the coming of the Church.
In the first reading from the Prophet Zechariah,
how the angel spoke to him and said to,
Tell the young man that the people will live in Jerusalem as though an open country.
But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the Lord,
and I will be the glory in her midst.
See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord.
Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day,
and they shall be his people, and he will dwell among you.
We can see that fulfilled, especially in the Church.
For the Church is the dwelling place of God.
We can see God among men today, with our Lord's Eucharistic presence,
with the coming of our Lord.
And truly, the Church has spread itself throughout the world,
and many nations have joined themselves to our Lord in his Church.
And the Responsorial Psalm says that the Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
And our Lord in the first reading through the angels said that he will encircle them like a wall of fire.
To the degree that we live in the Church and live according to the Church,
we will have that promise of our Lord and his protecting providence.
You know, when you think how a shepherd guards his flock from the wolves and those things that are predators.
So the Church, with its doctrine and its sacramental life,
is there to protect the souls entrusted to it.
And when we wander off, you might say,
and think that we know better than the Church,
or we have an idea that is, you know, contrary to what the Church teaches
and its morals and doctrine on the faith,
then we are putting ourselves in danger.
We're putting ourselves among a pack of wolves
if we don't stay close to the Church.
And so many today have thought it was a, you know,
they think that the Church is just an opinion among many.
But it's not.
It's the saving doctrine of our Lord.
And those who dwell in the Church and keep its teachings
are going to be like what our Lord says in the Responsorial Psalm.
The virgin shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy.
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
That truly we have this, the Church is like this wall of fire.
The Church is this bulwark,
this defense that God has given for souls.
You know, I remember G.K. Chesterton said,
you know, the teaching of the Church,
he compared it to the commandments,
you know, the Ten Commandments.
He said that many people think of the Ten Commandments
as this wall that keeps us from being free.
And he says, no, rather the Ten Commandments
are a wall surrounding a playground,
that within the playground the children are safe,
they're having fun.
When they stay within the Ten Commandments
and keep them, if they get out, then they're in danger.
You know, I remember seeing many schools
have big fences around them.
Is it to keep the children in prison?
Or is it rather to keep them from running across the street
and getting hit by a car?
Well, that's what the Ten Commandments
and the teaching of the Church are,
those safety things that God has established for us.
And when we think we know better,
or we think that we can run across the street,
that's when we get hit by the devil driving his car.
Today we also want to call to mind
in this votive mass of Our Lady of Sorrows,
this month of September,
really the theme of this month is Our Lady's co-redemption
because of Our Lady's sorrows.
And that not only does the co-redemption show
that Our Lady's participation in the work of redemption
because of her Immaculate Conception,
she is able to participate in a unique way
that no one else can in the work of redemption.
So also, because she is our co-redemptrix,
it makes it possible for us to be co-redeemers,
that not only can we offer up our sufferings
and unite them with our Lord for our salvation,
but in God's great love
and in His great providence and generosity,
He allows us to participate
in the salvation of others,
that when we endure our crosses
and mortify ourselves
or suffer anything for the love of God,
we know that we can merit for ourselves
and we can merit for other souls,
that we can help pay the price, you might say,
by our Lord's humble acceptance of our suffering,
uniting them to His,
even though His suffering on the cross
is what redeems everyone,
yet because Our Lady's unique participation,
because she said fiat
and offered herself with her Son,
then we too can in our own small
but also important way,
God expects us to take up our cross
and follow Him,
and that we can help save souls
even if we don't preach,
if we haven't gone out
and evangelized anybody
in an overt way,
if we are offering our sufferings,
offering whatever trials and difficulties
we receive and have,
they can be used in the work of redemption.
If you all remember that,
the traditional morning offering prayer,
you know, unite all of our prayers,
works and sacrifices
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
that becomes part of our work
of helping to save souls every day,
and that is a very important thing,
because if everybody does that,
what a great offering that is given to God.
Of course, we remember that it's not
the size of the gift,
but the love with which it is given,
so that even if it's some little tiny thing
that irritates us,
or suffering that we endure,
if we unite it to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
our co-redemptrix,
she will take it to her Son,
and He will look upon it
and see it as a gift that we offer to Him
and unite with Him on the cross
for the salvation of souls.
I remember one time Father Joseph Kentenich,
a famous contemporary Marian Apostle
with Saint Maximilian Kolbe one day was,
walking through a crowd of people,
and a lady was holding up a crucifix
and pointing to the corpus
and wanting Him to bless it,
and he grabbed it from her
and he turned it around to the other side,
and he pointed to it,
and the indication or the meaning was,
yes, Christ is on one side suffering,
but it's open on the other side
for you to crawl up on and suffer with Him.
So today, let us ask Our Lady for that grace,
that we will not just be,
you know, reluctant co-redeemers,
but truly embrace that cross with great love
because it's the greatest task,
greatest gift that Christ can give to us
is the grace to be able to suffer with Him
for the salvation of souls.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Amen.