The Rosary of Our Lady of Sorrows charts a path trodden by the Mother of God: the Presentation in the Temple, with the prophecy of Simeon, ‘A sword will pierce your own soul also; the Flight into Egypt; the Losing of the child Jesus in Jerusalem; the Meeting on the Via Dolorosa; the Crucifixion; The Taking Down of the body of Jesus from the Cross; and the Burial of Jesus.

St Teresa of Avila wrote: ‘He [Our Lord] told me that immediately after His resurrection He went to see Our Lady because she then had great need and that the pain she experienced so absorbed and transpierced her soul that she did not return immediately to herself to rejoice in that joy. … He also said that He remained a long time with her because it was necessary to console her’.

Therefore we know with absolute certainty that she is able to stand with us in our own sorrows and tragedies with total compassion, because she has been there, and more. She wraps us in her mantle and takes us to herself. May she pray for us, and may God bless you.