Liturgical Calendar

There were standing by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Salome, and Mary Magdalene.

Woman, behold your son, said Jesus; and to the disciple, Behold your mother.

There were standing by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Salome, and Mary Magdalene.

O God, in Whose Passion the sword, according to the prophecy of blessed Simeon, pierced through the soul of Mary, the glorious Virgin and Mother, mercifully grant that we, who reverently commemorate her piercing through and her suffering, may, by the interceding glorious merits of all the saints faithfully standing by the Cross, obtain the abundant fruit of Your passion.

Lesson from the book of Judith

The Lord has blessed you by His power, Who by you has brought our enemies to nought. Blessed are you, O daughter, by the Lord the Most High God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord Who made heaven and earth, because He has so magnified your name this day, that your praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men, who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord forever: for you have not spared your life by reason of the distress and tribulation of your people, but have prevented our ruin in the presence of our God.

Sorrowful and tearful are you, O Virgin Mary, standing by the Cross of the Lord Jesus, your Son and Redeemer.

O Virgin Mother of God, He Whom the whole earth contains not, the Author of life, made man, bears this anguish of the Cross.

Holy Mary, the Queen of heaven and mistress of the world, stood by the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, full of sorrows.

At the Cross her station keeping,

Stood the mournful Mother weeping,

Close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,

All His bitter anguish bearing

Now at length the sword had passed.

Oh, how sad and sore distressed

Was that Mother highly blessed

Of the sole begotten One!

Christ above in torment hangs,

She beneath beholds the pangs

Of her dying, glorious Son.

Is there one who would not weep

‘Whelmed in miseries so deep

Christ’s dear Mother’s pain untold.

Can the human heart refrain

From partaking in her pain,

In that Mother’s pain untold?

Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,

She beheld her tender Child,

All with bloody scourges rent.

For the sins of His own nation

Saw Him hang in desolation

Till His spirit forth He sent.

O sweet Mother! fount of love,

Touch my spirit from above,

Make my heart with yours accord.

Make me feel as you have felt;

Make my soul to glow and melt

With the love of Christ, my Lord.

Holy Mother, pierce me through,

In my heart each wound renew

Of my Saviour crucified.

Let me share with you His pain,

Who for all our sins was slain,

Who for me in torments died.

Mix’d with yours let my tears be,

Mourning Him Who mourned for me,

All the days that I may live.

By the Cross with you to stay,

There with you to weep and pray,

Is all I ask of you to give.

Virgin of all virgins blest!

Listen to my fond request:

Let me share that grief of yours.

Let me, to my latest breath,

In my body bear the death

Of that dying Son of yours.

Wounded with His every wound,

Steep my soul till it has swooned

In His very Blood away.

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,

Lest in flames I burn and die,

In this awful judgment day.

Christ, when You shall call me hence,

Be Your Mother my defense,

Be Your Cross my victory.

While my body here decays,

May my soul Your goodness praise,

Safe in heaven eternally.

Amen. Alleluia.

Continuation + of the Holy Gospel according to John

At that time, there were standing by the Cross of Jesus His Mother and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus, therefore, saw His Mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He said to His Mother, Woman, behold your son. Then He said to the disciple, Behold your Mother. And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Remember, O Virgin Mother, to speak good things before God’s face in our behalf, so that He may turn away His wrath from us.

O Lord Jesus Christ, we offer You prayers and sacrificial gifts, humbly beseeching You that, as we prayerfully recall the piercing of the most sweet soul of Your blessed Mother Mary, so through the merits of Your death and the manifold intercession of her and her holy friends at the foot of the Cross, we may have our reward with the blessed.

Happy the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which without dying earned the palm of martyrdom beneath the Cross of our Lord.

O Lord Jesus Christ, may the sacrifices of which we have partaken, while devoutly celebrating the piercing of Your Virgin Mother’s soul, obtain for us, through Your kindness, the good effect of salvation.