Virgo Dolorosa

The greatest proof we can show those we love, says Our Lord, is to give our life for them.

Mary was to give this proof of her love for us, if not by dying, at least by suffering torments capable of bringing about death a thousand times.

As the Fathers of the Church say, it was established in God’s plan that just as one man and one woman had lost the human race, so another Man and another Woman should raise it up again: the Man as Redeemer and the Woman as Co-Redemptrix.

Associated with the work of Redemption, Mary had to bear her burden and suffer her Calvary, as Jesus suffered His.