Monthly Spiritual Message, October 2005
By Fr Carl Schafer OFM
The gospel pictures the mother of Jesus “deeply disturbed” at the Annunciation, and, later, expressing great joy, when she visited her cousin Elizabeth: “My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” (Lk 1:47).
Our Franciscan tradition speaks of seven joys of Our Lady. They are: The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Nativity, The Presentation in the Temple, The Finding in the Temple, The Resurrection, and The Assumption. Four are connected with the birth and infancy of Jesus and one with his adolescence, and two with resurrection from death. In biblical symbols, “seven” stands for “many”. Another version of the Franciscan Crown includes The Adoration of the Magi instead of The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.
It is significant that five joys of Mary were also onerous or painful or even sorrowful events, namely, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation (or Adoration of the Magi), and the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. In these joyful mysteries, or unfolding of events, there was also sorrowful foreboding, and consequences of suffering and loss, even of death in the aftermath of the Magi’s visit.
Also, the other two joys of Mary, namely, the Resurrection of Jesus, and the Assumption and Coronation of Mary, are consequent upon death.
We are to understand, then, that Mary, like her Son, embodied Isaiah’s prophecy of the Servant of Yahweh, “a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering” (Is 53:3). At the Annunciation, Mary declared herself to be the Servant (or handmaid) of the Lord, thereby accepting all the consequences of the Incarnation, both sorrowful and joyful.
The gospels carefully note that neither Jesus nor Mary in their joys and sufferings concentrated their attention exclusively on themselves. Mary wanted to share her joy and her pregnancy with her cousin Elizabeth. Jesus was able to promise paradise to the man dying beside him (Luke 23:43), and to provide for the future welfare of his mother by giving her to John, and John to her (Jn 19:27).
They were never victims of self-pity. Rather, as the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 5:7-9) points out: Jesus through his passion became the source of eternal salvation for all. Our Catholic tradition recognizes that Mary, through her compassion, her suffering with Jesus, became an instrument of salvation for all. Likewise, we all become instruments of salvation for others through joining our sufferings to those of Jesus.
Usually, we finish our rosary with the Hail, Holy Queen.
The man who wrote that prayer was Herman Wolfrad. He was born so crippled that his parents wished he had never been born. The monks at the orphanage of Reichenau took in the deformed boy, and the lad grew up with them.
Herman could never stand up straight, let alone walk. He could hardly sit, even in a special chair. His fingers were twisted like roots, and the roof of his mouth was so deformed that he could hardly be understood.
But he had a good mind and was courageous, and with a big effort he learned music, mathematics, and several languages.
Not for a moment in his life was he without pain. Yet he was friendly and easy to talk to. He was never known to criticise anyone. On the contrary, he was constantly trying to be cheerful and as kind as possible, with the result that everyone loved him.
In spite of his gnarled fingers, Herman learned to write. He left two famous hymns to our Blessed Mother, one of which is the Salve Regina, our Hail, Holy Queen. In our mouths it may sound sentimental. It helps us to pray this prayer with conviction if we keep the author in mind, also if we pray it on behalf of people afflicted like him.
Hail, Queen! Mother of mercy, life, sweetness and our hope, hail!
To you we cry, banished children of Eve.
To you we sigh, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
So then, our advocate, turn those merciful eyes of yours towards us.
And, after this exile, show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Oh clement, Oh loving, Oh sweet virgin Mary.
Herman died on September 24, in the year 1054, after receiving his Saviour in Holy Communion. He was forty-one years of age. He said his last words to a friend crying beside his bed: “Don’t cry for me.”
The Franciscan Crown of Seven Joys, therefore, makes us aware of the inseparable combination of joy and sorrow in the lives of Jesus and Mary, in our own lives, and indeed in the lives of all. This is especially true of life’s greatest moments: birth, marriage, religious profession, ordination, death.
In our recitation of the Seven Joys, together with Mary, the saints, and the whole Church, let us join the joys and sufferings of our lives to those of Jesus the Redeemer, in a true sacrifice which is pleasing to God.
