The Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows

03-03-2024Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

Are you looking for another devotional prayer for your Lenten time of prayer, fasting and sacrifice? Have you considered the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows?

This devotion has a long history; it goes back to the Middle Ages. However, due to the church-approved Marian apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda in the 1980’s, this chaplet has increased in popularity. In her apparitions, Our Lady of Kibeho encouraged people to pray the Chaplet of the Seven sorrow to obtain the favor of repentance.

Father Leszrk Czelusniak, MIC, of the Marian Missionary, interviewed Nathalie, who was one of the visionaries who heard the messages from Mary. In her response Nathalie said:

“The Holy Virgin insisted on the need for prayer. She said that the world is bad. It is necessary to pray, to pray a lot for this world that is bad, to pray for sinners, to pray for their conversion. She insisted a lot on the need for conversion: Convert to God! Convert to God Convert to God!”

In the vision, Our Lady taught the visionaries to pray the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows and asked them to pray it every Tuesday and Friday. They were further asked to obey the Church, to love God in truth and to love their neighbors in humility and simplicity.

The Chaplet reminds those who pray it that Mary plays a key role in our redemption and that she suffered along with her son Jesus. This chaplet is prayed with using a special rosary which is comprised of seven “decades” containing seven beads each.

This Chaplet meditates on the Seven Sorrows of Mary. The First Sorrow is the prophecy of Simeon, where Simeon predicts that a sword of sorrow will pierce Mary’s soul. The Second Sorrow is the flight into Egypt, after Herod ordered the death of all male children two years or younger. The Third Sorrow is the child Jesus being lost for three days and then being found in the temple. The Fourth Sorrow is when Mary meets Jesus carrying his cross. The Fifth Sorrow is a meditation on Mary at the foot of the cross, hearing her son say, “Behold your mother.” The Sixth Sorrow is when Mary receives the body of Jesus after he is taken down from the cross. And the final or Seventh Sorrow is when Mary witnesses the burial of Jesus in the tomb.

This devotion is penitential in its nature. Specific details on the structure for praying this Chaplet can be found at: marian.org/mary/prayers/chaplet-of-the-seven-sorrows

May God bless you richly as you pray, fast, and give alms through this Lenten season!

All the best…in Christ,

Father Wilson