Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
In today's Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, one question that we can ask ourselves is how is it that one person's sufferings can be the cause of another person's celebration?
How is it that the sufferings of Our Lady can be for us a cause for celebrating?
And I know that you good, holy theologians already know this answer, but I think you also would agree with me that it's such a great answer that it's worth reviewing yet again on today's commemoration.
Why is it that Our Lady's pain and suffering, that sore that pierces her heart, can be celebrated by us?
Well, fundamentally, because Our Lady embraced her sufferings, Our Lady did not waste her sufferings, and Our Lady's sufferings had value for her, for us, for the world.
Our Lady really suffered, but when she suffered, she acknowledged to God that suffering she was experiencing.
It's okay to acknowledge the pain of suffering, but at the same time, Our Lady said to God, I accept this suffering, I truly make it my own.
That's what acceptance means, yes, I accept, I take it upon myself, I make it my own, because You want it.
And because Our Lady accepted her sufferings and offered them to God, they had value, they had co-redemptive value.
There's a little theological window in this reflection.
The pontiffs teach about Our Lady's sufferings.
Benedict XV says very succinctly, for the salvation of mankind, she renounced her mother's rights, and, as far as it depended on her, offered her son to plaquate divine justice.
So we may well say that she, with Christ, redeemed mankind.
Her suffering being co-redemptive, contributed to paying the price of our redemption, as John Paul II says, in her that many and intense sufferings were amassed in such an interconnected way that they were not only a proof of her unshakable faith, but also a contribution to the redemption of all.
God made Mary the new Eve with the new Adam, He wanted her sufferings to contribute to paying the price of our redemption, just as Eve truly had a part in the fall of Adam, so Mary truly has a part in the redemption of Christ.
But, back to the practical consideration.
To offer her sufferings to God, Our Lady had to first accept them.
We can only give to God what is ours.
To offer her sufferings to God, again, Our Lady had to accept them and truly make them her own.
And by offering to God her own sufferings, they became co-redemptive.
That's reason number one, why we celebrate her sufferings.
Reason number two is that Our Lady experienced in her suffering what Jesus says in the Gospel, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Whoever loses anything for my sake will find it.
Loses, in this case, can be considered to be an active verb, it's something that we actually do.
It's not just something that we undergo against our will.
Our Lord doesn't say whoever has his life against his will, take it away from him while he tries to hold on to it, kicking and screaming, rebelling against it.
No, Our Lord says whoever loses his life, whoever lays it down, whoever actively gives up his life, will find it.
And Our Lady, in her sufferings, offered everything that she loved to God, her Son, Jesus Christ.
That was Our Lady's cause of joy, cause of suffering.
But, by losing, she found.
She lost her Son, yes, in Calvary, but because she offered him, she received him again, eternally, in the resurrection.
And not only Jesus, her Son, but other children as well, John and the other disciples, and the entire Church.
Our Lady lost nothing, gained much, gained far more.
That's the way it works with God.
He doesn't take away, He bestows.
So let's recap, and then we'll be done.
One, our sufferings cannot have value until we offer them to God.
Two, we cannot offer our sufferings until they are really ours, until we own them.
Three, they cannot be ours until we accept them, until we stop rebelling against them, until we stop grumbling against them, until we stop trying to reject them, until we stop trying to complain.
Our sufferings cannot be ours until we accept them.
And four, when we accept them, and offer them, we lose nothing.
Whenever we give something to God, it is never wasted, it is never lost.
When we give something to God, we find it again in God.
When we place something in God, so to speak, that's exactly where we find it again, and much more.
So I know you good holy theologians already knew this answer, but it's just such an amazing answer, I thought it was worth dedicating these few minutes to reviewing it.
And only if we see suffering in its correct, Marian light, can we celebrate it and imitate it in our own lives as well.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.