QUEEN OF MARTYRS

(1) MARY, you are the Queen of Martyrs because of the greatness of your sorrows. We think it almost impossible that man could endure the torments of the martyrs. But far more intense was your pain, for you did not, like the martyrs, suffer only bodily, but also spiritually. The sword of sorrow did not pierce your body, but your soul, as Simeon had prophesied: "Thy own soul a sword shall pierce" (Luke 2,35).

You suffered not only as a mother, but as the Mother of God. If a mother witnesses the sufferings of her child, these sufferings become her own. The scourging, the crowning with thorns, the nailing, all the tortures which tormented the body of your Son, penetrated your heart to complete your martyrdom. You even witnessed the violent death of your loving Son.

You did not, however, feel the sufferings of your Son in the manner in which other mothers feel the sufferings of their children. He whom you saw suffer and die was also the Son of God. Your sorrow at the Passion of Jesus was as great as was your love for Him, and you loved Jesus more than your own life, and would have sacrificed your life a thousand times if, without offending God, you could have rescued your Son from the sufferings of the Passion.

God poured into the hearts of the martyrs such consolations as enabled them to bear their pains more easily; but you suffered without consolation. Feeling, as you did, all the pains of your Son, you also experienced in your heart His want of consolation, and like Him you could exclaim: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." It was this desolation that made your suffering so bitter and plunged you into a sea of sorrow.

(2) MARY, you are the Queen of Martyrs on account of the long duration of your sufferings. The tortures of the holy martyrs were very great, but passing; your martyrdom lasted from the moment that you took your divine Son into your arms until you beheld Him expire on the cross. Your life was one constant scene of sorrow, because you so clearly understood the inner meaning of the predictions of the Prophets about the Passion of Jesus, and you were enlightened by a special revelation in the knowledge of the details of the Passion and death of your beloved Son. You were an eye witness of all His sufferings. Even after the Resurrection of Jesus you still remembered His bitter Passion and death, and the remembrance of it always pierced your soul anew with the sword of sorrow. Your grief ceased only with your last breath.

(3) MARY, you are the Queen of Martyrs because you took the holy martyrs under your special protection. You prayed for them and obtained for them strength and courage to declare their faith in Christ fearlessly, to endure pain bravely, and thus to obtain the crown of martyrdom.

Queen of Martyrs, help me to suffer patiently the unbloody martyrdom of self-denial. As long as I live, I am inclined to evil. Aid me in keeping a watchful eye on these inclinations and in fighting against them with earnestness that I may also obtain a crown like that of the martyrs. Give me strength and consolation in my own martyrdom so that I may bear my cross willingly for the love of Jesus and you.

Lord Jesus Christ, we offer You our prayers and sacrifices so that, while recalling Your sufferings we also may dwell on the bitter piercing through of the most sweet heart of Your Blessed Mother Mary, and through the most powerful and loving intercession of this Queen of Martyrs and of all Your Saints gathered at the foot of the Cross, we may deserve to be one day numbered with the blessed by the merits of Your death. Who live and reign forever. Amen. (Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, Sept. 15)