The Via Matris
136. As Christ and Our Lady of Dolours were associated in God's
saving plan (Lk 2, 34-35), so too they are associated in the Liturgy and popular
piety.
As Christ was the "man of sorrows" (Is 53, 3) through whom it
pleased God to have "reconciled all things through him and for him, everything
in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross"
(Col 1, 20), so too, Mary is "the woman of sorrows" whom God associated with his
Son as mother and participant in his Passion (socia passionis).
Since the childhood of Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary's life was
entirely lived out under the sign of the sword (cf, Lk 2, 35). Christian piety
has signalled out seven particular incidents of sorrow in her life, known as the
"seven sorrows" of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Modelled on the Via Crucis, the pious exercise of the
Via Matris dolorosae, or simply the Via Matris, developed and was
subsequently approved by the Apostolic See(140). This pious exercise already
existed in embryonic form since the sixteenth century, while its present form
dates from the nineteenth century. Its fundamental intuition is a reflection on
the life of Our Lady from the prophecy of Simeon (cf. Lk 2, 34-35), to the death
and burial of her Son, in terms of a journey in faith and sorrow: this journey
is articulated in seven "stations" corresponding to the "seven dolours" of the
Mother of Our Saviour.
137. This pious exercise harmonises well with certain themes that
are proper to the lenten season. Since the sorrows of Our Lady are caused by the
rejection of her Son (cf. John 1,11; Lk 2, 1-7; 2, 34-35; 4, 28-29; Mt 26,
47-56; Acts 12, 1-5), the Via Matris constantly and necessarily refers to
the mystery of Christ as the suffering servant (cf. Is 52, 13-53, 12). It also
refers to the mystery of the Church: the stations of the Via Matris are
stages on the journey of faith and sorrow on which the Virgin Mary has preceded
the Church, and in which the Church journeys until the end of time.
The highest expression of the Via Matris is the
Pietà which has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Christian
art since the middles ages.
Source:Directory on Popular Piety
Have you heard about The National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, The Grotto?
Here is the website:www.thegrotto.org
