The first sword of sorrow

(First Dolour)

I. The Blessed Virgin revealed to St. Bridget, that while on earth, there was not an hour in which grief did not pierce her soul: "as often," she continued, "as I wrapped my Son in His swaddling-clothes, as often as I saw His hands and feet, so often was my soul absorbed, so to say, in fresh grief; for I thought how He would be crucified."

The Abbot Rupert contemplates Mary suckling her Son, and thus addressing Him: A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me; he shall abide between my breasts (Cant. i. 12). Ah, Son, I clasp Thee in my arms, because Thou art so dear to me; but the dearer Thou art to me, the more dost Thou become a bundle of myrrh and sorrow to me when I think of Thy sufferings. "Mary," says St. Bernardine of Sienna, "reflected that the Strength of the Saints was to be reduced to agony; the Beauty of Paradise to be disfigured; the Lord of the world to be bound as a criminal; the Creator of all things to be made livid with blows; the Judge of all to be condemned; the Glory of Heaven despised; the King of kings to be crowned with thorns, and treated as a mock king."

It was revealed to the same St. Bridget, that the afflicted Mother, already knowing what her Son was to suffer, "when suckling Him, thought of the gall and vinegar; when swathing Him, of the cords with which He was to be bound; when bearing Him in her arms, of the Cross to which He was to be nailed; when sleeping, of His death." As often as she put on His garment, she reflected that one day it would be torn from Him, that He might be crucified; and when she beheld His sacred hands and feet, she thought of the nails which would one day pierce them; and then, as Mary said to St. Bridget, "my eyes filled with tears, and my heart was tortured with grief."

I pity thee, O afflicted Mother, on account of the first Sword of Sorrow that pierced thee, when, in the Temple, all the outrages which men would inflict on thy beloved Jesus, were made known to thee by St. Simeon, and which thou already knewest from the Sacred Scriptures; outrages which were to cause Him to die before thine eyes, on that infamous Cross, exhausted of His Blood, abandoned by all, and thyself unable to defend or help Him. By that bitter knowledge, then, which for so many years afflicted thy heart, I beseech thee, my Queen, to obtain for me the grace that during my life and at my death I may ever keep the Passion of Jesus and Thy sorrows impressed on my heart.

II. The Evangelist says that as Jesus Christ advanced in years, so also did He advance in wisdom and in grace with God and men (Luke ii. 32). This is to be understood as St. Thomas explains it — that He advanced in wisdom and grace in the estimation of men and before God, inasmuch as all His works would continually have availed to increase His merit, had not grace been conferred upon Him from the beginning, in its complete fullness, by virtue of the hypostatic union. But, since Jesus advanced in the love and esteem of others, how much more must He have advanced in that of Mary! And, O God, as love increased in her, so much the more did her grief increase at the thought of having to lose Him by so cruel a death; and the nearer the time of the Passion of her Son approached, so much the deeper did that Sword of Sorrow, foretold by St. Simeon, pierce the heart of His Mother. This was precisely revealed by the Angel to St. Bridget, saying: That Sword of Sorrow was every hour approaching nearer to the Blessed Virgin, as the time of the Passion of her Son drew near."

Since, then, Jesus our King, and His most holy Mother, did not refuse, for love of us, to suffer such cruel pains throughout their lives, it is reasonable that we at least should not complain if we have to suffer something. Jesus, crucified, once appeared to Sister Magdalen Orsini, a Dominicaness, who had long been suffering under a great trial, and encouraged her to remain, by means of that affliction, with Him on the Cross. Sister Magdalen complainingly answered: "O Lord, Thou wast tortured on the Cross only for three hours, and I have endured my pain for many years." The Redeemer then replied: "Ah, ignorant soul, what dost thou say? From the first moment of My conception I suffered in Heart all that I afterwards endured dying on the Cross." If, then, when we suffer we also complain, let us imagine Jesus and His Mother Mary adressing the same words to ourselves.

Ah, my Blessed Mother, it is not one sword only with which I have pierced thy heart, but I have done so with as many as are the sins which I have committed. Ah, Lady, it is not to thee, who art innocent, that sufferings are due, but to me who am guilty of so many crimes. But since thou hast been pleased to suffer so much for me, ah, by thy merits, obtain me great sorrow for my sins, and patience under the trials of this life, which will always be light in comparison with my demerits, for I have often deserved hell.