Suy Niệm Lễ Kính Đức Mẹ Sẩu Bi, Sept 15

Suy Niệm Lễ Kính Đức Mẹ Sẩu Bi, Sept 15
Trước khi Chúa Giêsu chết trên thập giá, Chúa đã trao phó Đức Maria, mẹ của mình cho Thánh Gioan, môn đệ Ngài yêu dấu để chăm sóc, "Đây là mẹ của con," và Ngài cũng nhắn nhủ với mẹ mình là hãy chấp nhận Thánh Gioan như con trai của mình, "Này bà, đây là con bà."
Những lời mà Đức Kitô giao phó Mẹ Ngài cho thánh Gioan và Thánh Gioan cho Mẹ Ngài, chính là những lời mà Giáo Hội đã coi như là những lời di chúc và bằng chứng mà Chúa Kitô đã trao phó Mẹ Ngài cho chúng ta, và Ngài cũng đã phó thác tất cã mỗi người chúng ta trong sự gìn giữ, lo lắng và chăm sóc của Đức Maria. Vì thế Đức Maria là Mẹ của mỗi người chúng ta, những người theo Chúa Kitô.
Tin Mừng Thánh Gioan cho chúng ta biết là:"Và từ giờ đó, môn đồ đã lĩnh lấy bà về nhà mình." (Gn 19:27). Từ giờ phút đó thánh Gioan đã rước Đức Maria về nhà mình và đã yêu thương, kính trọng và chăm sóc của Đức Maria như là mẹ của mình.
Giờ đây Đức Trinh Nữ Maria cả xác lẫn hổn đã được vinh quang với Con của Mẹ và tất cả những người được chọn và các thiên thần ở trên Thiên Quốc. Đức Maria không cần sự chăm sóc, thương yêu chúng ta như Mẹ đã cần sự chăm sóc của Thánh Gioan lúc xưa khi còn ở trần thế. Đức Maria ở trên trời là một người Mẹ có quyền thế và sức mạnh nhất, Mẹ luôn yêu thương giúp đỡ và hướng dẫn mỗi người chúng ta. Chúng ta nên học theo cách yêu mến của Con Mẹ là Chúa Giêsu và tập sống giống như Mẹ.
Cảm ơn Chúa đã ban cho chúng con Mẹ của Chúa để làm Mẹ của chúng con. Xin cho chúng con có thể học cách yêu Mẹ như Chúa. Xin cho chúng con có thể luôn luôn biết quay về với Mẹ để học cách yêu Chúa như chính mẹ và Kính Yêu Chúa. Cảm ơn Chúa đã ban cho những người mẹ của chúng con, những người sinh dưỡng chúng con cũng là người giúp chúng con biết phản ánh tình yêu của Đức Maria, Mẹ của Chúa.
 
Reflection Sep 15 Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
When we are asked to care of our friend's belongings, we do so with great care. What if we are asked to look after our friend's mother? Would we be able to undertake such a task?
Dying on the cross our Lord leaves his Mother Mary to the care of the beloved disciple John, "There is your mother," and also tasks his Mother to accept John as her son, "Woman, this is your son."
The Church has read Christ entrusting his Mother to John and the beloved Apostle John to his Mother as Christ's lasting will and testament to entrust his Mother to each of his followers and to entrust each of his followers to Mary's care. Thus Mary is the Mother of each one of us, of each one of the followers of Christ and each one of us is her son or daughter.
John's Gospel said that "from that moment the disciple took her to his own home." From that moment John loved and took care of Mary as his mother. Tradition has it that John and Mary eventually moved to Ephesus where to this date there is a shrine of their home.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is now body and soul in glory with her Son and all the elect and angels in heaven. She does not need us to take care of her as she needed John's love and care during her lifetime.
Mary in heaven is a most powerful and loving Mother of each one of us. With her help and guidance, may we learn to love her Son as she does. Thank you, Lord, for giving your Mother to be our mother. May we learn to love her as you do. May we always turn to her to learn to love you as she does. Thank you for our own mothers who reflect the love of your Mother Mary.
"Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but, in your mercy, hear and answer me.
 
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, September 15
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. John 19:25
Our Blessed Mother, the Mother of the Son of God, loved her Son with a perfect love. She enfleshed every virtue to perfection. Her love for her Son was a love that was beyond what we could ever imagine. She conceived Him miraculously, bore Him in her womb, gave birth to Him, nursed Him, raised Him and loved Him throughout His life. It’s difficult to even imagine the depth and beauty of the love she had for Jesus. Generally speaking, a mother’s love is powerful, unwavering, deep and filled with tenderness. Try to imagine the Immaculate Heart of Mother Mary and the amazing depth of love alive in her heart.
Imagine also the scene depicted in the Gospel passage quoted above. This loving mother stood at the foot of the Cross, gazing upon her crucified Son, continuing to exude every motherly virtue. And because it’s hard to fathom the depth of her love for her Son, it’s also very hard to imagine the depth of sorrow and interior suffering she endured as she watched the cruelty toward Jesus unfold. All she could do in that moment was stand by Him and with Him in this moment of extreme agony. Her love was expressed, in that moment, by her fidelity to Him.
What’s beautiful to know is that love, sorrow, compassion and suffering were united as one within her Immaculate Heart. Within the beauty of her heart was every human emotion, fueled by God’s grace, enabling her to give to her Son the greatest gift she had: her motherhood. She was a true mother throughout her life, and, in this moment, as her Son hung on the Cross, her motherhood culminated in a perfect human expression.
We all long to be loved by another. To give and receive love is the greatest gift that we can give and receive. Love is what we were made for and is the source of our fulfillment in life. We can be certain that as Mother Mary stood at the foot of the Cross, her human heart experienced the greatest fulfillment ever known. Her heart was fulfilled because she exercised her motherly love to perfection.
Gaze upon the image of the Mother of God this day. Ponder, especially, all that she would have experienced within her human heart. Though theologians could write volumes on this meditation, the best way to understand her heart of love is through prayerful meditation. Ask our Blessed Mother to reveal her heart to you today. Find some time to sit in silent adoration of this holy image of perfect motherly love. As you do, know two things. First, know that Mother Mary has this same depth of love for you. Do not doubt it. Her heart burns with compassion as she gazes upon you, even in your sin. Second, know that our Blessed Mother’s love must also fill your heart and overflow into the lives of others. We all must allow her compassion, concern, fidelity and mercy to flow through our hearts. Who do you need to love with the heart of our Blessed Mother? Seek to receive the love in the heart of the Mother of God and seek to give that love. Receive it in and then allow it to flow forth. There is truly nothing in this world more beautiful and awe inspiring than the holy image of this love.
My Immaculate and Sorrowful Mother, you stood at the foot of the Cross of your Son with the perfection of a mother’s love. Your heart was filled with a sorrow that was mixed with every holy virtue. Pray for me that I may understand this love more fully, so that I may also open up my own heart to your love. As I do, I pray that I will become an instrument of the love in your heart toward those in my life who suffer and are in most need of tender compassion and mercy. Sorrowful Heart of Mary, pray for us. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Sep 15 Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Opening Prayer: Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Word of God, open my heart and become living and effective in me (see Hebrews 4:12) while I ponder your words in this passage. 
Encountering Christ:
1. The Sword Reveals: When Jesus was an infant, Simeon told Mary that her heart would one day be pierced “so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:25). The one to whom all thoughts are revealed is Christ, the Word: “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). The sword, the word of God, pierced the heart of Mary and it pierces our hearts with the truth every time we meditate on the Scriptures. When we read God’s word, our hearts are laid open before him. Mary’s Immaculate Heart–pierced with a sword–is part of God’s plan to deliver his word to us. As St. Louis de Montfort said, “to Jesus through Mary.”
2. Redemptive Suffering: Mary knew Isaiah’s prophecy about the suffering servant (see Isaiah 53). She was aware that suffering was a key part of her Son’s mission, and she willingly participated in his sufferings. When we encounter our own sufferings, we have the same chance to participate in Christ’s saving mission by offering God our hurts, failures, illnesses, sorrow, and grief. When we unite our suffering to Christ’s, our offering becomes meritorious for the salvation of the world. As St. John Paul II said, “Christ has raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ” (Salvifici Doloris 19).
3. Our Mother’s Heart: When Jesus gave John to Mary, he made all of humanity her children for eternity. How blessed we are. No one has ever had a mother with more compassion and tenderness than we do in Mary. Her Immaculate Heart is the most beautiful work of God’s creation. She is “the most excellent fruit of the redemption” (Sacrosantum Concilium 103). Mary’s maternal heart is sorrowful, yet it is marvelously full of love for God and for us. St. Jerome wrote, "Even while living in the world, the heart of Mary was so filled with motherly tenderness and compassion for men that no one ever suffered so much for their own pains, as Mary suffered for the pains of her children."
Conversing with Christ: Immaculate Heart of Mary, my mother, lead me to your Son. Please receive my prayers and make them beautiful for Christ. Sacred Heart of Jesus, reveal my heart to yours. Open it and lay it bare in front of you. Discern and purify the innermost thoughts of my heart. Fill my heart with a love that burns with such a pure and radiant love for you that others are attracted to you by this love.
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will pray a rosary in honor of my mother Mary, and offer some small sacrifice out of love for you.
 
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Opening Prayer: Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Word of God, open my heart and become living and effective in me (see Hebrews 4:12) while I ponder your words in this passage. 
Encountering Christ:
1. The Sword Reveals: When Jesus was an infant, Simeon told Mary that her heart would one day be pierced “so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:25). The one to whom all thoughts are revealed is Christ, the Word: “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). The sword, the word of God, pierced the heart of Mary and it pierces our hearts with the truth every time we meditate on the Scriptures. When we read God’s word, our hearts are laid open before him. Mary’s Immaculate Heart–pierced with a sword–is part of God’s plan to deliver his word to us. As St. Louis de Montfort said, “to Jesus through Mary.”
2. Redemptive Suffering: Mary knew Isaiah’s prophecy about the suffering servant (see Isaiah 53). She was aware that suffering was a key part of her Son’s mission, and she willingly participated in his sufferings. When we encounter our own sufferings, we have the same chance to participate in Christ’s saving mission by offering God our hurts, failures, illnesses, sorrow, and grief. When we unite our suffering to Christ’s, our offering becomes meritorious for the salvation of the world. As St. John Paul II said, “Christ has raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ” (Salvifici Doloris 19).
3. Our Mother’s Heart: When Jesus gave John to Mary, he made all of humanity her children for eternity. How blessed we are. No one has ever had a mother with more compassion and tenderness than we do in Mary. Her Immaculate Heart is the most beautiful work of God’s creation. She is “the most excellent fruit of the redemption” (Sacrosantum Concilium 103). Mary’s maternal heart is sorrowful, yet it is marvelously full of love for God and for us. St. Jerome wrote, "Even while living in the world, the heart of Mary was so filled with motherly tenderness and compassion for men that no one ever suffered so much for their own pains, as Mary suffered for the pains of her children."
Conversing with Christ: Immaculate Heart of Mary, my mother, lead me to your Son. Please receive my prayers and make them beautiful for Christ. Sacred Heart of Jesus, reveal my heart to yours. Open it and lay it bare in front of you. Discern and purify the innermost thoughts of my heart. Fill my heart with a love that burns with such a pure and radiant love for you that others are attracted to you by this love.
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will pray a rosary in honor of my mother Mary, and offer some small sacrifice out of love for you.