From Ave Maria Meditations
by JosephMary??
![stabat mater stabat mater](http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i224/Viator3/stabatGIF.gif)
English: |
Latin: |
While she waited in her anguish, ? With what pain and desolation, Ever-patient in her yearning Who, that sorrow contemplating, Christ she saw, for our salvation, Christ she saw with life-blood failing, All her anguish unavailing, Mary, fount of love’s devotion, Virgin, ever interceding, Mother, may this prayer be granted: At the cross, your sorrow sharing, Fairest maid of all creation, Virgin, in your love befriend me, Savior, when my life shall leave me, Virgin of all virgins blest! Let me, to my latest breath, Wounded with His every wound, Be to me, O Virgin, nigh, Savior, when my life shall leave me, While my body here decays The Collegeville Hymnal |
Cujus ánimam geméntem, ? O quam tristis et afflicta Quae maerébat, et dolébat, Quis est homo, qui non fleret, Quis non posset contristári, Pro peccátis suae gentis Vidit suum dulcem natum Eja mater, fons amóris, Fac, ut árdeat cor meum Sancta Mater, istud agas Tui nati vulneráti, Fac me tecum pie flere, Juxta Crucem tecum stare, Virgo vírginum praeclára, Fac, ut portem Christi mortem, Fac me plagis vulnerári, Flammis ne urar succénsus, Christe, cum sit hinc exíre Quando corpus moriétur, Missale Romanum |
Spiritual Meaning
? Christians of the 20th century can truly identify with Our Lady’s experience of Sorrow.? The message of the Stabat Mater focuses on the spiritual and emotional bond which unites Mary and all Christians to the death of her Son on the Cross.? From this bond, each Christian can recognize the incredible compassion and holiness in Mary’s character.? The Blessed Mother demonstrated her maternal compassion to all generations of Christians by her presence and participation with her Son Jesus in the Sacrifice of the Cross.
There is a mother-son bond that unites Mary with Christ Jesus during his experience of suffering and death. This empathetic bond indicates that Our Lady shared in her Son’s suffering.? Mary is Our Lady of Sorrows precisely because her Son Christ Jesus bore the sins of the world during his passion and death.? As the faithful disciple, Our Blessed Mother invites us to unite our personal suffering with her own.? We can share in Jesus’ burden on the Cross, just as Mary did at Calvary.
As Our Lady of Sorrows, Mary also reminds us that Christians are called to expiate for his or her own sins and the sins of their neighbors, and the sins of the world.? We can share in the bond between the Blessed Mother and Our Lord through fasting, prayer, and contrition for sin. Our Lady of Sorrows teaches us that the Crown of eternal life in Heaven can be reached when we each choose to share with Our Lord in His suffering and death on the Cross at Calvary.
The compassion of Mary is part of the mystery of the Church community’s sharing in, and offering, the Sacrifice of Jesus for the salvation of the world.? Each member of the Church has a role to play in redeeming the world.? Our Lady of Sorrows is a guide who inspires and teaches us how to be compassionate.
Ave Maria!