Vigils Reading – Our Lady of Sorrows
TEARS OF LOVE
From the Sequence “Stabat Mater” attributed to Jacopo da Todi
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The sorrowful mother was standing in tears beside the cross on which her
Son was hanging. Her soul was full of grief and anguish and sorrow, for the
sword of prophecy pierced it.
How sad now and how unhappy at the fate of her only Son was that
mother, once called blessed; how the faithful mother grieved and lamented as
she saw her glorious Son so shamefully treated.
Who is there who would not weep, were he to see Christ’s mother in such
great suffering? Or who could help feeling sympathy with the mother, were he to
think of her sorrowing with her Son?
Yet she actually saw Jesus in agony and broken by the scourging – and
this because of the sins of her own people. She saw her dear Son all the time he
was dying and abandoned until he yielded up his soul.
Come then, mother, from whom all love springs, make me understand the
meaning of your sorrow that I may mourn with you. Make my heart burn with
love of Christ, my God, that he may look on me with favor.
Holy mother, do this for me. Pierce my heart once and forever with the
wounds of your crucified Son. Let me share with you the pain of your Son’s
wounds, for he thought it right to bear such sufferings for me.
Grant that my tears of love may mingle with yours and that, as long as I
live, I may feel the pains of my crucified Lord. To stand with you beside the cross
and be your companion in grief is my own wish.
Virgin without equal among virgins, do not now turn down my request;
grant that I may mourn with you. Grant that I carry about the dying state of
Christ; grant that I be a sharer of his passion; grant that I relive his wounds.
Grant that I be wounded with his wounds; grant that I drink to my soul’s content
of the chalice of his cross and blood. Be a defense to me, virgin Mary, on the
judgment day, and I will not burn and be consumed in the fires of hell.
When it is time, Lord Christ, for me to leave this world, give me through
your mother’s prayers the palm of victory. When my body is dead, grant that my
soul be given the glory of paradise.