Saints Quotes on Our Lady of Sorrows

One of the more popular techniques of praying the rosary is the scriptural rosary which is: a line of scripture is read in between the prayers of the rosary on the mystery or virtue for that decade. It is a very helpful well of keeping attention on the prayers as their are said. The following quotes on Our Lady of Sorrows are taken from The Glories of Mary by St Alphonsus Ligouri. The Saint quotes are organized according to the seven sorrows so that one can recite the seven sorrows chaplet in the same manner as a scriptural rosary.

If you are familiar with St Alphonsus writing style, you know that he likes to produce all the quotes he can to make a point and so he compiled many quotes from Saints, theologians and other holy men and women, so some of these quotes on the Sorrows of Our Lady are not the words of St Alphonsus but that of the other Saints that he cited, where this has occurred we hope that we have included the citation for the correct Saint that he cited.

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The 1st Sorrow of Our Lady: The Prophecy of Simeon.

How much more miserable would life be, if everyone knew also the future evils which were to afflict him!
The Lord exercises his compassion towards us, that he does make known to us the crosses that await us.
But he did not exercise this compassion with Mary, who, God wished to be the queen of dolors, and in all things like his son, and to see always before her eyes, and to suffer continually the passion and death of her beloved Jesus.
Mary received with the greatest calmness the announcement that her Son should die, and peacefully continued to submit to it.
But what grief she must have continually suffered.
And the nearer the time the passion of her Son approached, with so much greater pain did that sword of sorrow, predicted by St Simon, pierce the heart of the mother.
If, then, Jesus our King and his most holy mother did not refuse, for love of us, to suffer during their whole life such cruel pains, there is no reason that we should complain to suffer a little.

The 2nd Sorrow of Our Lady: The Cold Flight into Egypt.

What great tribulation than that of a newborn child, clinging to its mother’s bosom, should be forced to fly with the mother herself.
How piteous a spectacle it was to see that tender Virgin, with that newly born infant in her arms wandering through the world.
Authors generally agree, that it was four hundred miles so that it was a journey of thirty days.
The season was winter, and therefore they had to travel in snow, rain, wind and storms, and through bad and difficult roads.
Where could they have slept except on the sand, or under some trees in the wood, in the open air, exposed to robbers, or those wild beasts with which Egypt abounded.
The sight, then, of Jesus and Mary wandering like fugitives through this world, teaches us that we should also live as pilgrims on the earth.
Let us then love them, let us console Mary by receiving her son within our hearts, whom, even now, men continue to persecute with their sins.

The 3rd Sorrow of Our Lady: The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple.

Let us imagine what distress that afflicted mother must have experienced in those three days in which she was searching for her Son.
The afflicted mother had no rest, but wept and prayed without ceasing to God that he would enable her to find her son.
Origen says, that through the love which this holy mother bore her Son, she suffered more at this loss of Jesus than any martyr ever suffered at death.
Ah, how long were these three days for Mary! They appeared three ages!
This sorrow of Mary ought, in the first place, to serve as a comfort to those souls who are desolate and who do not enjoy the sweet presence they once enjoyed in the Lord.
He often hides himself that she may seek him with greater desire and joy.
But those who would find Jesus must seek him, not amid delights and pleasures of the world, but amid crosses and mortifications.

The 4th Sorrow of Our Lady: Our Lady Meets Jesus on the Way to Cavalry.

All mothers feel the sufferings of their children as their own…. But what mother ever loved a child so much as Mary Loved Jesus?
The greater the tenderness with which she loved him, the greater was her grief at the sight of his sufferings.
This most afflicted mother met her most afflicted Son said St Bernard.
While Mary stopped in that place how much she must have heard said against her Son by the Jews who knew her, and perhaps also words of mockery of herself!
At length they look at eachother…a look of sorrow, which pierced, as with so many arrows, those two holy and loving souls.
But although the sight of her dying Jesus must cost her such cruel anguish, the loving Mary will not leave him.
Let us then pity her, and endeavor also ourselves to accompany her Son and herself, bearing with patience the cross which the Lord imposes upon us.

The 5th Sorrow of Our Lady: Jesus Dies on the Cross.

A Mother condemned to see an innocent Son, whom she loved with all the affection of her heart, put to death before her eyes.
Under the cross this mother in agony, who was suffering all the pain that her Son was suffering.
As St Bernard says, love inflicted on the heart of Mary the same suffering that the nails caused in the body of Jesus.
But what increased most the sorrows which Mary suffered through compassion for her Son, was to hear him complain on the cross that even the eternal Father had abandoned him.
Thus the afflicted mother saw her Jesus suffering on every side, she desired to comfort him, but could not.
Near the cross stood his mother, speechless; living she died; dying she lived.
If the lips of Mary were silent, her heart was not so; for she did not cease offering to divine justice the life of her Son for our salvation.

The 6th Sorrow of Our Lady: The Piercing of the Side of Jesus and Descent from the Cross.

There came out blood and water, for only a few drops of blood remained, …. in order to show that he had no more blood to give us.
St Bernard says: The spear which opened his side passed through the soul of the Virgin, which could not be torn from the heart of Jesus.
The holy Fathers explain this to be the very sword predicted to the Virgin by St Simeon; a sword, not of iron, but of grief.
Let us consider what anguish it would cause any mother to receive the lifeless body of a son!
The afflicted mother [raised] herself and extending her arms to meet her dear Son; she embraces him, and then sits down at the foot of the cross.
What grief would she feel to see that men after the death of her Son, continue to torment and crucify him by their sins.
Oh afflicted Virgin…ah mother, have pity on me, for I have not loved God, and I have so much offended Him.

The 7th Sorrow of Our Lady: The Burial of Jesus.

When they reached the appointed place how gladly would Mary have buried herself there alive with her son.
Mary left her heart buried with Jesus, because Jesus was all her treasure.
This poor mother went away so afflicted and sad, according to St Bernard, that she moved many to tears against their will.
Wherever she passed, all wept who met her.
Alas! what a night of sorrow was that night for Mary.
Ah, turn to Mary and say to her with St Bonaventure: Let me, oh my Lady, let me weep, thou art innocent, I am guilty.
My afflicted Mother, I will not leave thee alone to weep; no, I wish to keep thee company with my tears.