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THE SEVEN DOLORS.
BY ENFANT DE MARIE.

I.

SHE knelt within the holy place.
And clasped her treasured Child,
But visions of the distant cross
Overcast that Mother mild.

II.

And soon, an exile from her home,
Across the desert sand
She fled to save His precious life
In Egypt's heathen-land.

III.

The years passed by — but darker still
The shadows of the cross ;
For three long days she sought her Love,
And mourned for His loss.

IV.

The Passion-hour came at last;
She saw Him as He went
Along the " via crucis," there
Again her soul was rent.

V.

Behold! the tender Mother stands
Beneath her dying Son,
And there, in love and bitter pain,
Her martyr-palm is won.

VI.

The last sweet sigh is breathed now;
She will not from Him part,
But feels within her anguished soul
The sword that pierced His Heart.

VII.

How soon they take the dear, dead Form
Blest Fruit of Mary's womb—
And lay it gently down to rest
Within the garden-tomb!

Sorrowful Mary, we are with you at the foot of the cross,
we come to your son empty handed, with nothing to offer and everything to plead for.

Please pray and forgive us vile sinners,  unworthy  as we are, that your son's passion was not in vain.
amen.

Today is the Feast of the Seven Dolors..

Let us remember the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin.

Meditation on the Passion and Resurrection:
Good Mother, Mary, you watched the Light of the world die in darkness. Saint John the Beloved took you into his home and comforted your sorrow in the shadow of the Cross. As Guardian of the Holy Virgin, Saint John the Apostle suffered greatly seeing firsthand the death of the Master, Jesus Christ and the sorrow that accompanied the Virgin's mourning. Sweetest Lord Jesus, you beheld the tears of anguish of Mary Thy Mother with greater distress than any other. The Holy Mother of the Lord became the Mother of the martyred Messiah and the handmaiden of the Lord became the Widow of the Lord. Yet three days in the tomb Christ's body lay, Friday Night, all of Saturday and by first light of Sunday, the True Light had risen from the dead. Yet in this great mystery, Thy Apostles and Thy sorrowful Mother did weep and mourn and lament. And it was the Father's Spirit that raised up the Savior from death and made immortal the mortal nature of Christ, having put on glory and dispelling every manner of sorrow, the Lord put to flight the sadness and weeping of His Virgin Mother and banished the cowardice of His fearful disciples.