As we remember and pray for all who are suffering throughout the world today, we are invited to draw strength from Mother Mary who went through experiences of pain and sorrow at the foot of the Cross. When we meditate on the scene where Mary stood by the Cross and saw her Son die, her anguish and terror must have been indescribable. Yet she submitted to the will of God and this sharing of pain and sorrow with Jesus was all for our redemption. So this reminds us that there is no joy without suffering. When we embrace such with Mother Mary, our lives will be transformed. We also see how Jesus responded whole heartedly to Mary's love for Him in Jesus' tender concern for her in His instruction to John who took Mary to his home in Jerusalem.

The submission to the will of God by Jesus and Mary is truly an act of obedience and surrender as it is reiterated in the first reading. Similarly it reminds us that 'prayers and petitions' point to our dependence on God who listens and answers us according to God's will for us. On this memorial of "Our Lady of Sorrows", let us pray for all who, in different ways, have experienced suffering and pain.St. Jean-Pierre de Caussade in Self Abandonment to the Divine Providence says "God teaches the heart not by ideas but by pains and contradictions."