Pondering Pages/Your Sorrow is My Sorrow

I’m not usually a big fan of Joyce Rupp, she’s a bit too trendy for this old-fashioned, traditional girl, but this book was an exception for I found that her words resonated deeply within my own life experiences. For the Feast of the Sorrows of Mary, I found this to be a very fitting book to share for Pondering Pages sponsored by Lara at Holy Mothering.

Your Sorrow Is My Sorrow-Hope and Strength in Times of Suffering offers reflections on each of the Seven Sorrows of Mary and unites them to current suffering that many of us experience in our own lives. The author divides the book into seven sections and in each section she writes a meditation from the viewpoint of our blessed Mother called “Mary Speaks”. She then gives specific examples of how Mary’s sorrows touch our lives today. Each chapter concludes with several prayers and reflection questions.


Here is an excerpt from the chapter Standing Beneath the Cross that touched my heart:

“Mary opened her arms and widened her lap to receive her crucified son. It was a natural response for her because her entire being had always been open to him. The generosity of Mary’s spirit inspires my own willingness to be with those who suffer. Her ability to receive suffering rekindles my own desire to be there for others, in an open and generous way. Her broad shoulders and her wide lap tell me that it is possible to enter into deep suffering and survive.

When Mary held Jesus that last time, she did not know where his body ended and hers began, so deeply was she united with him. When we are compassionately joined with the suffering of another as Mary was with Jesus, their great distress will resound in our soul. When our hearts are receptive and loving as Mary’s was, we will embrace this suffering and know in a deep place within us what it is like to be a living Pieta.”