So, every week I am hoping to write two posts. One will be a prayer or poem that either I have written or someone else has written, but which is especially meaningful to me. The other will be an opinion piece.
If the prayer is unattributed, it means that it's original. And no, I don't care one bit if you steal, re-post, or reproduce it. I have had it written in my personal "Book of Hours" for a while now. The reference at the beginning is to an opinion of mine and many Church fathers that Mary did not have the same degree of pain in childbirth, since she was free of original sin. I find it to be helpful in my prayers and meditations, but it is not the established dogma of the Church...yet. You can feel free to agree or disagree.
O Mary, because you were free of original sin you were spared the usual pain of childbirth, but what terrible pain, what ultimate suffering you experienced at the birth of the Church on the Cross! No one can comprehend your pain, no one can conceive your depth of anguish, as you watched Your Son beaten, whipped, and then nailed to the wood of the Cross!
O Mary, Sorrowful Mother, look down on my little part of the Church, this community entrusted to the care of Your priest. How often do we everyday torture the Body of your Son with complaints and murmuring! How often have I spoken when I should have been silent; how often do I speak harshly when I ought to console. And so I ask you, intercede for me with your Son, that we may yet bring forth the Gospel of Christ into the world, even as I am an unworthy vessel to do so. Amen.
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