Opening Prayer
Eternal Father, as we commemorate the calling of St. Matthew, we acknowledge the “deep debt of our sins” which necessitates the collection of such a bitter price. We recognize that our transgressions are the mountain of malice that crushed the shoulders of thy Divine Son and pierced the heart of His Mother.
O Mary, Mother of the Crucified, we beg of thee—as did the saintly Pope Pius IX—to implore for us “tears of contrition.” As thou didst possess a supernatural conception of the nature of sin, grant us the grace to recognize our own role as the crucifiers of thy Son, that we may effect a sincere purpose of amendment before the hour of our death.
Amen.
Matthew 26:64
64Jesus saith to him: Thou hast said it. Nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
St. Matthew
The transformation of St. Matthew from a tax collector to an Apostle is the archetype of the “sincere purpose of amendment.” He left the office where debts are collected to follow Him who paid the ultimate debt. This relates directly to Mary’s “supernatural conception of the nature of sin.” As she watched her Son crushed by human malice, she saw not merely a physical execution, but the hideousness and wickedness of sin as God perceives it. She beheld the “collection of debt” written in His Precious Blood, seeing the sins of the whole world pressing upon His shoulders like a mountain, causing her an unspeakable, divine grief.
For those who maintain a compassionate remembrance of her dolors, Our Lord revealed to St. Elizabeth of Hungary four special favors:
- The gift of true sorrow for sins before death.
- Divine protection in all tribulations, especially in the final struggle.
- The memory of the Passion imprinted on the soul with a celestial reward.
- The supreme privilege of being “committed to Mary’s own hands, to be disposed of according to her pleasure.”
“Hail Mary, full of sorrows, the Crucified is with thee; thou art pitiable amongst women, and pitiable is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of the Crucified, implore for us, the crucifiers of thy Son, tears of contrition, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
— The Sorrowful Hail Mary (1847)
Mary and the Magisterium
Mary is the “Mother of the Dying” and the “Consoler of the Suffering Souls.” This devotion serves as a “shipwreck rescue” for the sinner. The account of Dominica Clara of the Holy Cross reveals a soul in Purgatory saved solely through the seven Hail Marys offered in honor of the Seven Sorrows. Mary’s presence at the death of her Son merited her the right to rescue her children from the “shipwreck” of their own wayward lives, recalling them to contrition in their final moments and mitigating the temporal punishments of the next life.
- How can you move beyond an abstract understanding of sin to "recognize the debt" as the actual cause of the Sorrowful Mother’s lacerating grief?
- What specific "purpose of amendment" is required to ensure that you no longer contribute to the mountain of sin that Mary beheld on Calvary?
Closing Prayer
Mary, Mother of the Crucified, implore for us tears of contrition.
Amen.
