Today, September 15, as our Church celebrates the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows we are invited to first read and reflect on a passage from the book of the prophet Ezekiel (2:8---3:11, 16-21), entitled "The call of Ezekiel". Our treasure, which follows, is from a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot.
The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows commemorates the profound union of heart that existed between the Mother of the Redeemer and the Savior, through which she experienced many interior sorrows as a consequence of His Mission, but particularly during His Passion and Death.
This feast gives glory to God for the salvific work that He accomplished in one of His creatures, in this case, His greatest creaturely work, Mary. For Mary herself, her earthly maternal union of heart and soul with Her Son, in which she experienced both joys and sorrows, is now perfectly consummated in Heaven. However, her maternal love and union extend to us still here on Earth! As the Mother of Christ, she is also the Mother of the Mystical Christ, the Church, and of we, the members of Her Son as individuals..
St. Louis de Montfort said, "If you put all the love of all the mothers into one heart, it still would not equal the love of the heart of Mary for her children." This means that she suffers for us as well, and we can turn to her as we would turn to our biological mothers, in both joys and sorrow.
Saint Bernard was born in 1090 near Dijon in France. After a religious upbringing, he joined the Cistercians in 1111 and later was chosen abbot of the monastery of Clairvaux in southeast France in an area known as Bar-sur-Aube. There he directed his companions in the practice of virtue by his own good example. In the year 1128, Bernard attended the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, which soon became an ideal of Christian nobility. Both monastic rule and military manual, the Rule is a unique document and an important historical source.
He was centrally responsible for the early expansion of the Cistercian Order throughout Europe. Tens of thousands heard his powerful preaching, and he personally attracted and helped many hundreds of men to follow a call to monastic life. Because of schisms which had a risen in the Church, he traveled all about Europe restoring peace and unity. He wrote many theological and spiritual works. Bernard was canonized just 21 years after his death by Pope Alexander III. He died in 1153. In 1830 Pope Pius VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church.
In response to the rebellion of Jehoiakim of Judah in 601 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian ruler, besieged Jerusalem. When Jehoiakim's successor, Jehoiachin, surrendered in 597, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah king and deported to Babylon Jehoiachin and the royal family, along with members of the upper class, including Ezekiel the priest. Five years later, as Zedekiah planned his own revolt against Babylon, Ezekiel became the first prophet to be commissioned outside Judah or Israel. Before Jerusalem is destroyed in 587 B.C., Ezekiel is concerned to convince his audience that they are responsible for the punishment of exile and to justify the Lord's decision to destroy their city and Temple. Later, Ezekiel argues that the Judahites who embrace his preaching are the people whom the Lord has chosen as a new Israel, enlivened by a new heart, imbued with new breath, and restored to a re-created land, Temple, and covenant relationship. Ezekiel is clear on one point: the Lord punishes and restores for one reason—for the sake of his name, in order to demonstrate once and for all that he is Lord.
