Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows September 15th 2002 Assembly Reflection: Terry O’Malley This weekend, the church remembered the trials and tribulations of Mary, the mother of Jesus and it was a day officially called: the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Most of you know that Notre Dame means in French, "Our Lady" and refers to Mary the mother of Jesus. Our school has had a few changes of names down through the years. When the sisters of Charity of Saint Louis started a little private school here in 1920, it was called Notre Dame of the Prairies and there is a stain glass of Our Lady of the Wheat in our church. Athol Murray changed the name to Notre Dame of Saskatchewan. And then, in the 1960’s, after a few of his graduates started a Notre Dame College in Nelson, B.C, Murray changed the name to Notre Dame of Canada just so those upstarts in B.C, would know their place. Following Murray’s death, the Board of Regents changed the school name to its current one: Athol Murray College of Notre Dame.
All over the world, there are references to "Our Lady" - Notre Dame of Indiana, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and Montreal. When I used to travel from Ottawa to Mt. Tremblant in Quebec, I passed through a number of Notre Dame’s - Notre Dame du Plages (of the Sands) and these names give a sense of protection and nourishing to an area - as, for example, the name "alma Mater" for ones’ graduating College means "nourishing mother." Truly, when it was predicted in scripture that "all nations would call her name blessed," there is an authenticity to that prophecy.
Well what has all this to do with Sorrow and Suffering? Well, think about your mothers for a moment. We all know that giving birth is painful. We all know that a nourishing mother has to be extra alert and willing to sacrifice of herself in order to see her children through to adulthood.
My mother, whom, like most of you out here, I never really appreciated when young, has some great sayings: We use to call them Kattiisms after her name Kathleen. Some of her favourite were: "I never know whether to kiss em or kill em! - or - "hit em first, ask questions later, saves on a lot of distress & hassle." - "There are no mothers in hell!" An in-law of mine had four big competitive sons and when teenagers, she had to call in the RCMP four times to break up fights. On Saturdays, when they were younger, she’d buy them bus passes and tell them not to come home till supper - and take the dog along too! Moms pay the price of motherhood. And I don’t think it is any different with Mary & Jesus as she struggled to get him to grow up and he struggled with who he was.
There were seven recognized sorrowful events in Mary’s life. The first occurred eight days after Jesus was born. In presenting him to the temple Rabbi, Mary was cut to the quick when Simeon, the Prophet, forecast that a "sword would pierce her heart." Then as a young family, they had to uproot and flee to Egypt to escape the wrath of a jealous Herod. When Jesus was coming of age, and he wanted to test his talents, he took off for three days in the city of Jerusalem much to the chagrin and worry of Mary & Joseph. Then there was the time, though not officially recognized, after Jesus, now 30, set out on his mission, and Mary and her family set out to bring him home. Jesus’ claims were causing a stir in the Jewish communities and Mary was anxious. The other sorrows of Mary all had to do with Good Friday and the way of the cross, four in all. You can imagine a mother witnessing a son on a cross - condemned as a criminal. And Michealangelo captured the moment in his famous sculpture of the Pieta -a replica is right here in Varsity Hall - the mother with her son in her arms - now dead...
"To live greatly is to suffer greatly," said the Greeks.
"He who is unwilling to take up his cross, that is to risk suffering, is not worth of the Me," said Jesus
"If you are going to love, you have to be willing to suffer," said C.S. Lewis.
"No pain, no gain!" say all of your coaches
"Why can't you just live a life minding your own business, secure and content with what you have?" students ask Fordham University chaplain Bill O’Malley. "Because life won't let you." That's the real purpose of enduring schooling: to come to terms with that truth. There's another truth too: "Without a hurt, the heart is hollow."
Mary is an example of a life lived greatly - and so the Church, in recognition of that great life recognizes the sorrows she endured as well.
Let us Pray: Heavenly father, help us understand the need to risk suffering and pain in order to reach our own fulfillment whether as a mother, a friend, a spouse, and athlete, an artist, an academic, a student, a citizen, a hound of Notre Dame, a Christian. |
