Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

What words can ever describe the unspeakable anguish that rent the sacred heart of Mary as she looked upon her Divine Son hanging on the cross! Every wound in Jesus’ body was also a wound in the heart of Mary: every fiber, every nerve throbbing in agony, every pang He suffered re-echoed in her heart. She endured by her compassion a share in all the anguish of His Passion. Why did Mary suffer all this? That she might be our Mother, the Mother of mankind. She who brought forth her Divine Son without a pang suffered many a piercing pang when from the cross her dying Son commended to her the sinful sons of men. It was indeed a motherhood of sorrow that she suffered for our sins: for mine.

Here are a couple pictures of Maria that were actually taken yesterday. We woke her up early to catch a ride into Scheibbs, the nearest town of moderate size, in order to do some more extensive grocery shopping at the Hofer, which believe it or not is the exact same store as Aldi. Maria was, as you can see, none to pleased to be awakened before she was good and ready.

Then, for some reason, she suddenly developed an intense fear of heights; even heights of one or two inches. Here she is cautiously scooting over a little ledge between the kitchen and living room with a rather fearful expression on her face. This only after she stood there and cried for quite some time begging to be carried over the ledge. Our strategy must have worked because today she walks over it without seeming to notice at all.