{"id":6714,"date":"2014-04-10T20:13:07","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T19:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/?p=6714"},"modified":"2014-04-10T20:48:21","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T19:48:21","slug":"friday-of-the-sorrowful-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2014\/04\/friday-of-the-sorrowful-mother\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday of the Sorrowful Mother"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mother<\/a><\/strong>The Virgin of Sorrows is the Portress of the Holy Mysteries, the Keeper of the Door of Christ’s Pierced Heart, the Mother of our Joy. <\/strong>On the Friday of Passion Week, the Church keeps the Solemn Commemoration of the Sorrows and Compassion of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a Proper Mass.<\/p>\n

The sequence of tomorrow’s Mass, the Stabat Mater,<\/em> is a thirteenth century text, attributed to the Franciscan friar, Jacopone da Todi. The Stabat Mater<\/em> is strong medicine for those who, being of a more abstract or cerebral disposition, would approach the Passion of Christ without getting bloodied, without being set ablaze, without feeling a melting in their breast.<\/p>\n

Stabat Mater Dolorosa<\/strong>
\nTranslated by Denis Florence MacCarthy (1817-1882)<\/p>\n

Although I grew up with the beautiful Caswell <\/a>translation of the Stabat Mater<\/em>, my favourite English translation was done by the Irish author, poet, and translator Denis Florence MacCarthy. Three strophes are particularly noteworthy:<\/p>\n

By the cross, on which suspended,
\nWith his bleeding hands extended,
\nHung that Son she so adored,
\nStood the mournful Mother weeping,
\nShe whose heart, its silence keeping,
\nGrief had cleft as with a sword.<\/p>\n

Oh, that Mother\u2019s sad affliction–
\nMother of all benediction–
\nOf the sole-begotten One;
\nOh, the grieving, sense-bereaving,
\nOf her heaving breast, perceiving
\nThe dread sufferings of her Son.<\/p>\n

What man is there so unfeeling,
\nWho, his heart to pity steeling,
\nCould behold that sight unmoved?
\nCould Christ\u2019s Mother see there weeping,
\nSee the pious Mother keeping
\nVigil by the Son she loved?<\/p>\n

For his people\u2019s sins atoning,
\nShe saw Jesus writhing, groaning,
\n‘Neath the scourge wherewith he bled;
\nSaw her loved one, her consoler,
\nDying in his dreadful dolour,
\nTill at length his spirit fled.<\/p>\n

O thou Mother of election,
\nFountain of all pure affection,
\nMake thy grief, thy pain, my own;
\nMake my heart to God returning,
\nIn the love of Jesus burning,
\nFeel the fire that thine has known.<\/p>\n

Blessed Mother of prediction,
\nStamp the marks of crucifixion
\nDeeply on my stony heart,
\nEver leading where thy bleeding
\nSon is pleading for my needing,
\nLet me in his wounds take part.<\/p>\n

Make me truly, each day newly
\nWhile life lasts, O Mother, duly
\nWeep with him, the Crucified.
\nLet me, ’tis my sole demanding,
\nNear the cross, where thou art standing,
\nStand in sorrow at thy side.<\/p>\n

Queen of virgins, best and dearest,
\nGrant, oh, grant the prayer thou hearest.
\nLet me ever mourn with me;
\nLet compassion me so fashion
\nThat Christ\u2019s wounds, his death and passion,
\nBe each day renewed in me.<\/p>\n

Oh, those wounds, do not deny me;
\nOn that cross, oh, crucify me;
\nLet me drink his blood, I pray:
\nThen on fire, enkindled, daring,
\nI may stand without despairing
\nOn that dreadful judgment-day.<\/p>\n

May that cross be my salvation;
\nMake Christ\u2019s death my preservation;
\nMay his grace my heart make wise;
\nAnd when death my body taketh,
\nMay my soul when it awaketh
\nOpe in heaven its raptured eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Virgin of Sorrows is the Portress of the Holy Mysteries, the Keeper of the Door of Christ’s Pierced Heart, the Mother of our Joy. On the Friday of Passion Week, the Church keeps the Solemn Commemoration of the Sorrows and Compassion of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a Proper Mass. The sequence of tomorrow’s <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-passiontide-2014"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-1Ki","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6714"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6727,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6714\/revisions\/6727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}