*** This was originally posted in September 2010. It has been modified to add activities for the month. ***

During the month of September, the Church dedicates its devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. On September 15, the day after the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, we observe the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.

There are many excellent prayers dedicated to our lady during this month, including the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows, a devotion frequented by the Miles Christi priests who led my Ignatian retreat in July. I’ve found that as a mother, the suffering of Mary is much closer than it ever was before.

Try to add the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows or another prayer to your prayers for September, to help keep in tune with the liturgical year. One of my favorites is:

To Our Lady of Sorrows

O most holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ: by the overwhelming grief you experienced when you witnessed the martyrdom, the crucifixion, and death of your divine Son, look upon me with eyes of compassion, and awaken in my heart a tender commiseration for those sufferings, as well as a sincere detestation of my sins, in order that being disengaged from all undue affection for the passing joys of this earth, I may sigh after the eternal Jerusalem, and that henceforward all my thoughts and all my actions may be directed towards this one most desirable object. Honor, glory, and love to our divine Lord Jesus, and to the holy and immaculate Mother of God. Amen.