Toward Easter - Daily Readings & Meditations for Lent 2025 - Day 38

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The sorrowful mother stood weeping. As Good Friday approaches, we pause to contemplate a profound yet often overlooked dimension of Christ's Passion—the compassion of His mother, Mary, who didn't merely witness the Crucifixion but actively participated in the redemptive sacrifice.

Mary's journey of suffering began when Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce her soul, but reached its crescendo at Calvary. There, as St. Ambrose beautifully notes, when she gazed upon her Son's wounds, "what filled her mind was not the death of this beloved son but the salvation of the world." This remarkable insight reveals how Mary transcended personal grief to embrace a mother's ultimate sacrifice—willingly offering her Son for mankind's redemption. Her tears mingled with Christ's blood in a mystical cooperation that extends salvation to all generations.

The spiritual practices suggested during this meditation provide practical ways to honor Our Lady of Compassion: praying the Stabat Mater, attending Stations of the Cross, contemplating Mary's sorrows, and returning to the daily rosary if we've abandoned it. As we enter this final week of Lent, Mary's example calls us to deepen our commitment to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Her sorrowful yet immaculate heart offers refuge to sinners and a model of perfect conformity to God's will even in the face of unimaginable suffering.

Join us in this meditation on Mary's compassion, and let her tears of love wash over your soul as we prepare for the sacred mysteries of Holy Week. Has your devotion to Our Lady grown cold? This Passion Week offers the perfect opportunity to stand with her at the foot of the Cross and rediscover the transformative power of a mother's love.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Choir singing In teisper avert.
It is Friday in Passion Weekand today we will be talking
about Our Lady of Compassion.
The link to the book, if youhaven't already purchased it, is
in the description below.

(00:56):
And I will do what I've done inthe past put up an image on
screen so there's nothing towatch.
Done in the past.
Put up an image on screen sothere's nothing to watch.
You just listen to me read and,without further ado, that's
what I'm going to do.
I'm going to put up an image onscreen and we'll get going.

(01:18):
Friday in Passion Week.
Our Lady of Compassion,sorrowing mother, stood and wept
.
In exactly one week it will beGood Friday.

(01:52):
The sacrifice of Christ,accomplished once and for all
2,000 years ago, will bemystically made present for our
souls.
Our thoughts and our heartswill be all taken up with
contemplating this profoundmystery of the justice and the
mercy of God.

(02:13):
Holy Church willed toconsecrate already a special day
for honoring the sorrows ofJesus' Holy Mother.
A special day for honoring thesorrows of Jesus' Holy Mother.
The sufferings of the BlessedVirgin begin when the old man
Simeon predicts that a sword ofsorrow will pierce through her

(02:34):
soul, but they reach theirparoxysm at the foot of the
cross.
On that day, not only does sheaccept the martyrdom of her son,
but she offers him to theHeavenly Father.
Our Lord goes spontaneouslytoward his passion and Mary

(02:54):
offers willingly her beloved sonfor the glory of the Most Holy
Trinity and for the salvation ofmankind.
Mankind.
Mary mixes her tears as amother, the most holy and the
most loving of mothers, with thedivine blood of her son for the

(03:15):
redemption of the men of alltime.
God, who had given her thisdivine son, asks her for him
back on Calvary, and Mary offershim with all the love of her
heart, in the greatest adhesionto the divine will.
O Mary, o Mother most loving,it is your heart also which is
pierced mystically by the ironpoint of the spear.

(03:36):
It opens for me an entry intoyour sorrowful and immaculate
heart, and I wish today tomeditate on your sufferings.
Your sorrowful and immaculateheart, and I wish today to
meditate on your sufferings.
O Queen of Mercy, refuge ofSinners, untiring Advocate of

(03:57):
all our miseries, deign to watchover me during these days.
The passion of your Son tookplace beneath your gaze.
Help me to draw near to itsmystery, so that my soul,
redeemed by the blood of yourSon and watered with your tears,
may convert resolutely to Godand always persevere in His
service.
And now a prayer taken from theStabat Mater in the name of the

(04:27):
Father and of the Son and ofthe Holy Ghost Amen.
Ah, mother, fount of love, makeme feel the force of sorrow,
make me weep with Thee.
Make this heart of mine burnwith love of Christ, my God,
that so I may content his heart.
In the name of the Father andthe Son and the Holy Ghost, amen

(04:52):
.
Our first thought today is takenfrom St Ambrose.
When, with a maternal gaze, shelooked upon the wounds of her
son, what filled her mind wasnot the death of this beloved

(05:12):
son but the salvation of theworld.
And the second thought today istaken from Monsignor Louis
Soubigu.
Mary wept over us, she who weptover Jesus, but to call forth,

(05:36):
by her compassion, our ownresurrection of soul.
We have four resolutions today.
The first, to read slowly theStaba Mater and praying for the

(05:56):
conversion of sinners.
The second, to meditate oftenon the sufferings which Mary,
our good mother, endured at thefoot of the cross, where her
dear son was nailed.
The third, to pray for thereligious men and women who

(06:18):
stand at the foot of the cross,as did the Blessed Virgin in St
John.
And four, to take up again thepractice of saying the rosary,
if we have fallen away from it.

(06:39):
And that's the reading fortoday.
Um, just, real, quickly, forthe resolutions, if you, if you
can't read the Staba Mater, youknow, and praying for the
conversion of sinners, todaywould be a good day to to like,

(07:02):
instead of listening to eithersecular music or instead of
listening to a podcast, besidesavoiding Babylon, of course, um,
then listen to, to, you know, arendition, a rendition of the
Stabat Mater, um, the mostwell-known one, probably being
Pergolesi's.
Um, just just, you know, searchPergolesi Stab, stabat mater,

(07:27):
and, and there'll be numerousversions by different um you
know orchestral groups and stuff, but, uh, at the very least,
listen to the stabat mater ifyou can't read through and pray
it.
Um, or another option would bego to Stations of the Cross,

(08:09):
no-transcript.
So that would be another goodsuggestion for today.
And, of course, most parisheswill have stations on Fridays
throughout Lent.
Obviously, it's just to take upagain the practice of saying the
rosary.
Rosary, if we have fallen awayfrom it.

(08:31):
If you do pray the rosary daily, then today would also be a
good day to pray the chaplet ofOur Lady of Sorrows.
You know the chaplet of theseven sorrows as well, so that

(08:54):
can also be that practice.
That practice praying thatchaplet, uh, is what father
Ripperger suggest, um, as a wayof finding or predominant fault,
which I believe we've talkedabout in these meditations
already.
But but, yeah, uh, so if, ifyou do not pray the rosary daily

(09:16):
, or gotten out of that practice, which happens right, I know
when we were, when we were sickas a family, we daily or gotten
out of that practice, whichhappens right, I know when we
were, when we were sick as afamily, we kind of got out of
that practice just because, uh,at least saying it together out
loud as a family, because noneof us could speak out loud for
that long without coughing fits.
Um, now that we're pretty muchall better, it's time to get

(09:40):
back into the practice of sayingit as a family, together aloud.
But, but, yeah, get back intothe practice of saying the
rosary daily.
Go to stations today If you can.
The passion is one week fromtoday.
It's amazing, you know thethese 46 days total on Ash

(10:03):
Wednesday.
You know, if, if you've pickedout a good penance or set of
penances.
It seems like a long time,right.
I mean, um, starting these,these morning readings, uh, you
know, because this is the thirdyear in a row, I've done it.
Just, you know, looking at iton the day before Ash Wednesday,

(10:27):
it's like, oh man, that's a lotof work, it's a lot of getting
up early, it's just a lot ofwork.
And now here we are.
We have one week until GoodFriday and it seems like it flew
by.
So make this last week of Lenthere, which really starts

(10:51):
tomorrow, but make this lastweek of Lent a good week.
Make it a fruitful week withpenance and prayer and
almsgiving.
You know those, those three P's.
I forget what P we invented tostand in place of almsgiving,

(11:13):
but you know what I mean thethree practices you're supposed
to increase throughout Lent.
Make sure you do that this lastweek.
As for the continued readings,like I said, we will be doing

(11:34):
them throughout Easter week.
I do not believe I will do themdaily after that.
Um, that's just a lot of workand it's asking a lot of the the
family at at times.
But, uh, I do plan on any.
Of course, I'll do it forAdvent again, um, but maybe

(11:58):
we'll do.
We'll do some throughout thenfor any important feast or
anything, um, anything that popsup.
Uh, I don't know exactly whatthat would be like, but just
just a forewarning.
We probably we won't be doingthese daily after the Easter
octave, but I will be doing thatmore often than we have in the
past, so we'll see what thatlooks like.

(12:24):
But make this a good Friday herein Lent Fast Abstain from meat,
obviously.
Go to stations.
If you can Say the rosary,sorry about that.

(12:44):
If you already say the rosarydaily, say the chaplet of seven
sorrows.
And I'll see you again tomorrowfor saturday, throughout
passion week, where we will talkabout judgment day.
So I hope you'll have a greatday today and, um, so I hope you
all have a great day today.
And so, oh yeah, this weekend Iam going out of town.

(13:06):
Tomorrow will be normal.
Tomorrow will be normal becausewe're not leaving until later.
I'll probably record Sundaystomorrow as well, um, so if it

(13:29):
looks like I'm wearing the exactsame shirt for both of them,
cause they were recorded on thesame day, but anyways,

(14:06):
no-transcript.