Friday, September 15, we celebrate the Memorial of our Lady of Sorrows. A prayer service will be held at St. Matthias. Dinner will be served at 6 pm and prayer begins in the church at 6:50 pm. I would like to thank St. Matthias parishioners who are making this celebration special.
 
Let us remember that the devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows goes back to the Middle Ages, but has gained new popularity following the Church-approved Marian apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda in the 1980s.

It was on March 27, 1982, when Virgin Mary taught Marie Claire, the visionary, and prayed with her the chaplet of Seven Sorrows of Mary.  Marie Claire lists the benefits of reciting the Rosary of Seven Sorrows: it helps us to repent and to accept suffering as we meditate on the suffering of Mary and Jesus, it improves our moral life, and it protects us from the devil’s attacks.
 
The Virgin Mary asked to pray it every Tuesday and Friday. She spoke of the need for mortification, a spirit of penitence and sacrifice. She also spoke of the need for suffering, to bear our sufferings every day. She said, “No one enters heaven without suffering.” The Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows reminds us that Mary plays a key role in our Redemption and that she suffered along with her Son Jesus to save us.