Our Lady of Sorrows

Our Lady of Sorrows: Feast Day Sept. 15th

The sorrowful mother. As a mother, I honestly have no idea how the Blessed Virgin Mary was able to witness the crucifixion of her son, and the amount of unwavering faith she possessed to know and trust that it was all part of God’s plan, even though she most likely did not fully understand why Jesus must suffer and die the way he did. I know, as a mom, my heart breaks a little when my children cry from merely scraping their knee or tripping and busting a lip. How full of grace, faith, and strong our Spiritual Mother Mary is!

Today as my family celebrated the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows, we focused on “Mary’s Seven Sorrows,” the letter “S,” and the number “7.” We first baked scones, and added blueberries and cinnamon to the batter for Mary. I always like adding cinnamon to things we bake for Mary, because it is sweet and fragrant smelling. I guess I always imagine that Mary radiates a sweet and beautiful aroma. This is my go to scone recipe that I make all the time. It’s quick, simple, and you can add any spice, zest, dried or fresh fruit you like to it.

Craft time!

After making scones, we made a red construction paper heart and tapped an artificial flower to it to represent Mary’s heart. I then wrote the “Seven Sorrows” Mary endured on paper swords and discussed them one by one with my children as they tapped them “piercing” her heart. I chose this for our activity, because images and statues of Our Lady of Sorrows often depict her heart being pierced by swords.

Mary’s Seven Sorrows:

1. Simeon’s prophecy

2. Flight to Egypt

3. Loosing the child Jesus at the temple

4. Mary witnessing Jesus carrying the cross on his way to his crucifixion

5. Jesus’ crucifixion

6. The lance being thrust into Jesus’ side

7. Jesus’ burial

Letter “S” and number “7” lesson:

My four year old and I practiced writing the letter “S” and discussed that the following words begin with the letter “S:” sorrows, sword, seven, scones, square

I then worked with my four year old on tracing the number “7” and then had her count and color “7” squares.

If you are looking for something additional to do as a family, praying the “Divine Mercy Chaplet” today is a beautiful and wonderful pray that is also easy for children to learn. This article discuss how it is great to pray this prayer today as well as on the feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross (yesterday, Sept. 14th). Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us!

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