The 7 promises and the 4 thanks to the devotees of Our Lady of Sorrows

Before the devotion celebrated the so-called Seven Pains of Mary. It was Pope Pius X who replaced this title with the current one, mentioned on September 15: Virgin of Sorrows, or Our Lady of Sorrows.

It is with this title that we Catholics honor Mary's suffering, freely accepted in redemption through the cross. It was next to the Cross that the crucified Mother of Christ became the Mother of the Mystical Body molded on the Cross: the Church.

Popular devotion, which precedes the liturgical celebration, had symbolically fixed the seven pains of the coredentrice on the basis of the episodes narrated by the Gospels:

the prophecy of old Simeon,
the flight to Egypt,
the loss of Jesus in the Temple,
the journey of Jesus towards Golgotha,
crucifixion,
the deposition from the cross,
the burial of Jesus.
These are episodes that invite us to meditate on Mary's participation in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ and that give us the strength to take up our cross on us.

The promises and graces to the devotees of Our Lady of Sorrows

In her revelations approved by the Church, Saint Brigida states that Our Lady promised to grant seven graces to those who recite seven Hail Marys every day in honor of her main "seven sorrows", meditating on them. These are the promises:

I will bring peace to their families.
They will be enlightened on the Divine Mysteries.
I will console them in their sufferings and accompany them in their labors.
I will give them whatever they ask of me, on condition that it does not oppose the adorable Will of my Divine Son and the sanctification of their souls.
I will defend them in spiritual battles against the infernal enemy and protect them in all instants of life.
I will assist them visibly at the moment of death.
I have obtained from My Son that those who propagate this devotion (to my Tears and Sorrows) are transferred from this earthly life to eternal happiness directly, since all their sins will be destroyed and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.
Saint Alfonso Maria de Liguori says that Jesus promised these graces to the devotees of Our Lady of sorrows:

The devotees who invoke the divine Mother for the merits of her pains will obtain, before death, to perform a true penance for all their sins.
Our Lord will imprint in their hearts the memory of His Passion, giving them the pemio of Heaven.
Jesus Christ will guard them in all tribulations, especially at the hour of death.
Jesus will leave them in the hands of his mother, so that he can dispose of them at his will and obtain all the favors for them.

Rosary of the 7 pains of Maria SS.ma
FIRST PAIN
Old Simeon announces to Maria that a sword of pain will pierce her soul.
Jesus' father and mother were amazed at the things they said about him. Simeon blessed them and spoke to Mary, his mother: “He is here for the ruin and resurrection of many in Israel, a sign of contradiction for the thoughts of many hearts to be revealed. And to you too a sword will pierce the soul. " (Lk 2,33-35)
Our father
7 Ave Maria
Mother full of mercy reminds our heart of the sufferings of Jesus during his Passion.

Let's pray:
O Mary, the sweetness for the birth of Jesus has not yet disappeared, which you already understand that you will be fully involved in the destiny of pain that awaits Your Divine Son. For this suffering, intercede for us from the Father the grace of a true conversion of the heart, a complete decision for holiness without fear of the crosses of the Christian journey and the misunderstandings of men. Amen.

SECOND PAIN
Mary flees to Egypt with Jesus and Joseph.
The Magi had just left, when an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said to him: “Get up, take the child and his mother with you and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I warn you, because Herod is looking for the child. to kill him. "
When Joseph woke up, he took the boy and his mother with him, and in the night he fled to Egypt, where he remained until Herod's death to fulfill what was said by the Lord through the prophet: “From Egypt I called my son. (Mt 2,13-15)
Our father
7 Ave Maria
Mother full of mercy reminds our heart,
the sufferings of Jesus during his Passion.

Let's pray:
O Mary, sweetest Mother, who you knew how to believe in the voice of the Angels and you docilely set out on your way trusting God in everything, make us become like You, ready to always believe that the Will of God is only a source of grace and salvation for us.
Make us docile, like You, to the Word of God and ready to follow Him with confidence.

THIRD PAIN
The loss of Jesus.
They were amazed to see him and his mother said to him: “Son, why have you done this to us? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously. " (Lk 2,48)
Our father
7 Ave Maria
Mother full of mercy reminds our heart,
the sufferings of Jesus during his Passion.

Let's pray:
O Mary, we ask you to teach us to meditate in the heart, with docility and love, all that the Lord offers us to live, even when we cannot understand and anguish wants to overwhelm us. Give us the grace to be close to you so that you can communicate your strength and faith to us. Amen.

FOURTH PAIN
Mary meets her Son loaded with the Cross.
A large crowd of people and women followed him, beating their breasts and making complaints about him. (Lk 23,27)
Our father
7 Ave Maria
Mother full of mercy reminds our heart,
the sufferings of Jesus during his Passion.

Let's pray:
O Mary, we ask you to teach us the courage to suffer, to say yes to pain, when it becomes part of our life and God sends it to us as a means of salvation and purification.
Let us be generous and docile, capable of looking Jesus in the eyes and finding in this gaze the strength to continue living for him, for his plan of love in the world, even if this should cost us, as it cost you.

FIFTH PAIN
Mary stands at the Cross of the Son
His mother, her mother's sister, Mary of Cleopa and Mary of Magdala stood at the cross of Jesus. Then Jesus, seeing the mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, said to the mother: "Woman, here is your son!". Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother!" And from that moment the disciple took her into his home. (Jn 19,25-27)
Our father
7 Ave Maria
Mother full of mercy reminds our heart,
the sufferings of Jesus during his Passion.

Let's pray:
O Mary, you who know suffering, make us sensitive also to the pain of others, not only ours. In all suffering, give us the strength to continue to hope and believe in the love of God who overcomes evil with good and who overcomes death to open us to the joy of the Resurrection.

SIXTH PAIN
Mary receives the inanimate body of her Son.
Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate granted it. Then he went and took the body of Jesus. Nicodemus, the one who had previously gone to him at night, also went and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloe of about a hundred pounds. They then took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in bandages together with aromatic oils, as is the custom of burying for the Jews. (Jn 19,38-40)
Our father
7 Ave Maria
Mother full of mercy reminds our heart,
the sufferings of Jesus during his Passion.

Let's pray:
O Mary, accept our praise for what you do for us and accept the offer of our life: we do not want to detach ourselves from you because at any time we can draw from your courage and your faith the strength to be witnesses of a love that does not die .
For Your timeless pain, lived in silence, give us, Heavenly Mother, the grace to detach ourselves from any attachment to earthly things and affections and aspire only to union with Jesus in the silence of the heart. Amen.

SEVENTH PAIN
Mary at the grave of Jesus.
Now, in the place where he had been crucified, there was a garden and in the garden a new sepulcher, in which no one had yet been laid. There they therefore laid Jesus, because of the Parasceve of the Jews, since that tomb was near. (Jn 19,41-42)
Our father
7 Ave Maria
Mother full of mercy reminds our heart,
the sufferings of Jesus during his Passion.

Let's pray:
O Mary, what pain you still feel today in finding that so often the sepulcher of Jesus is in our hearts.
Come, O Mother and with Your tenderness visit our heart in which, because of sin, we often bury divine love.
And when we have the impression of having death in our hearts, give us the grace to promptly turn our gaze to the Merciful Jesus and to recognize the Resurrection and Life in Him. Amen.