Few can commiserate with the griefstricken as fully as the mother of Jesus Christ. She was forced not only to witness the torment and ridicule heaped upon her only child, but to also stand hleplessly by as he died an agonizing death. Many images of Mary depict her with seven knives in her heart, one for each of the seven majo sorrows endured by the Blessed mother in her earthyly life. This novena is invoked by those who survive the death of a loved one and is a request for relief from the anguish and pain brought on by unrelenting grief.  Because she is also the great mother figure, Mary suffers for us as a mother suffers from the hurts her own child endures.

Mother of Sorrows Novena

Most holy and afflicted Virgin, Queen of Martyrs,

You stood beneath the cross, witnessing the agony of your dying Son,

Look with a mother’s tenderness and pity on me, who kneel before you.

I venerate my sorrows and I place my requests with filial confidence

in the scanctuary of your wonderful heart.

Present them, I bessech you, on my behalf, to Jesus Christ,

through the merits of his own most sacred passion and death,

together with your sufferings at the foot of the cross.

Through the united efficacy of both, obtain the granting of my petition.

To whom I shall have recourse in my wants and sorrows,

if not to you, oh Mother of Mercy?

You have drunk so deeply of the chalice of your Son,

you can compassionate our sorrows.

Holy Mary, your soul was piereced by a sword of sorrow

at the sight of the passion of your divine Son.

Intercede for me and obtain from Jesus (mention your request)

if it be for his honor and glory and for my good.  Amen.

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

Pray to Our Mother of Sorrows to obtain solace in times of grief.