For any mom

drawing by Kate Kollwitz, 1903

Today is the day we remember Our Lady of Sorrows.

Oh, there is so much to this one...

As a mom, this resonates with me.  

Ok, maybe as an older mom it resonates.

As a mom of sons who've gone to college, who has just sobbed goodbye to them...

as a mom of kids who come from hard places and  have endured hardship and trauma...

as a mom who has held other mom's babies and children across the world in dark hot smelly orphanages, waving flies off their face as I feel their damp bottoms but also their arms clinging to my neck, or see them lying limp in my arms just gazing out - disconnected...

as a mom of kids who have struggled with different needs, some of them very hard and/or intense...

as a mom of kids who've gone through life-threatening events and as a mom who has sat vigil bedside in the PICU....

gosh as a mom who has lain awake countless nights worrying over  her kids...

over things big or small....

As a friend to moms who have lost children...

as a friend to moms who's kids have been in the PICU, or hospital too....

as a friend to moms who have had kids go through the hardest scariest time in their lives and/or those of their parents...

goodness, as a mom who WATCHES THE NEWS, for pity's sake...

....this memorial is for us.  

Because this Blessed Mother, she is us.  

She is every mom.  

She is the mom giving  her portion of food for her hungry child.

She is the mom sitting bedside by her sick child.

She is the mom who weeps sending her child off, to work, to college, to a new life in a new country.

She is the mom who wishes she could hurt so her child doesn't have to.

She is the mom who carries them, bodily, but also in mind and heart....all day, every day, all night, every night. 

She is the mama.

She is us.  

She gets it.  

And she helps us carry it all....all those things that no one but a mom can fathom, truly...well, she does.  

As I wept and wept a few weeks ago, worried over my son, him moving out and having to say goodbye to him in a new place that didn't feel like home, at all, to him or to me...my other son said this: "Our Lady of Sorrows mom....the litany, it will help."  I said, "She didn't send her son to college!" (I know, I'm a selfish idiot)  He smiled and said "Yuh, she watched him be crucified."  

So...with that, I give you this, it helped me then, and it is a reminder that she is not just the remote Mother of God.  

She is everywoman.  

Everymom.  Us.

 Litany of Our Lady Of Seven Sorrows 
By Pope Pius VII

Leader	Response
Lord, have mercy on us.	Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.	Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven,	Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,	Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,	Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,	Pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins,	Pray for us.
Mother of the Crucified,	Pray for us.
Sorrowful Mother	Pray for us.
Mournful Mother	Pray for us.
Sighing Mother	Pray for us.
Afflicted Mother	Pray for us.
Foresaken Mother	Pray for us.
Desolate Mother	Pray for us.
Mother most sad	Pray for us.
Mother set around with anguish	Pray for us.
Mother overwhelmed by grief	Pray for us.
Mother transfixed by a sword	Pray for us.
Mother crucified in thy heart	Pray for us.
Mother bereaved of thy Son	Pray for us.
Sighing Dove	Pray for us.
Mother of Dolors	Pray for us.
Fount of tears	Pray for us.
Sea of bitterness	Pray for us.
Field of tribulation	Pray for us.
Mass of suffering	Pray for us.
Mirror of patience	Pray for us.
Rock of constancy	Pray for us.
Remedy in perplexity	Pray for us.
Joy of the afflicted	Pray for us.
Ark of the desolate	Pray for us.
Refuge of the abandoned	Pray for us.
Shield of the oppressed	Pray for us.
Conqueror of the incredulous	Pray for us.
Solace of the wretched	Pray for us.
Medicine of the sick	Pray for us.
Help of the faint	Pray for us.
Strength of the weak	Pray for us.
Protectress of those who fight	Pray for us.
Haven of the shipwrecked	Pray for us.
Calmer of tempests	Pray for us.
Companion of the sorrowful	Pray for us.
Retreat of those who groan	Pray for us.
Terror of the treacherous	Pray for us.
Standard-bearer of the Martyrs	Pray for us.
Treasure of the Faithful	Pray for us.
Light of Confessors	Pray for us.
Pearl of Virgins	Pray for us.
Comfort of Widows	Pray for us.
Joy of all Saints	Pray for us.
Queen of thy Servants	Pray for us.
Holy Mary, who alone art unexampled	Pray for us.
Pray for us, most Sorrowful Virgin,	That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O God, in whose Passion, According to the prophecy of Simeon, A sword of grief pierced through The most sweet soul Of Thy glorious Blessed Virgin Mother Mary: Grant that we, who celebrate The memory of her Seven Sorrows, May obtain the happy effect of Thy Passion, Who lives and reigns world without end. Amen.