Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Mother of Life

Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Mother of Life

By Marge Hynes, Writer

September is an in-between month. Here in Florida, it doesn’t arrive with that telltale sweater weather or the lovely changing foliage you’d find further north (oh, how I wish). It is still very hot, and it is still hurricane season. The ocean is warm, and we watch the tropics, praying every little swirl on the radar minds its own business.

Naturally, I have always loved Mary under the title Stella Maris—Star of the Sea. It is a comforting image of Our Lady as a steady light when the moody waters that surround our coastline are anything but steady. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux famously tells the person being tossed about by the storms of life to “look at the star, call upon Mary.”

September also belongs to another title of Our Lady. On September 15, the Church celebrates the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. And now, as we approach October and Respect Life Month, we are given yet another: Mary, Mother of Life, which is also this year’s Respect Life theme.

Mary’s Yes Did Not End at the Annunciation

Before she was the mother standing at the foot of the Cross, Mary was just that: Jesus’ mother. She knew the weight of her baby asleep against her chest. She knew the sound of His voice and the expressions that crossed His face. Scripture does not tell us whether Jesus had a favorite meal or whether Mary ever kissed a scraped knee, of course, but Jesus was fully human, and the Holy Family really was a family. For thirty-some years, life in Nazareth was ordinary and hidden before Calvary.

What did Mary remember when she looked at her boy hanging on the Cross? This was the same body she had carried within her own. Did she look at His pierced hands and remember when those same hands were tiny enough to wrap around one of her fingers? Did she recall washing His little feet as she looked at them nailed to the wood? Did she look at the face bloodied beneath the crown of thorns and remember brushing the hair from His forehead?

I don’t know. What I do know is that Mary stayed and endured.

Mary’s fiat is the great yes of the Annunciation. The angel Gabriel appears, Mary asks how this can be, and then she gives the answer that changes the course of human history: “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

When Gabriel left the room, Mary had to keep living out that yes.

Michelle Hamel makes this point in Journeying through Infant Loss with Our Lady of Sorrows: “Mary gave her official fiat at the Annunciation, but she continued to give her ‘yes’ over and over again throughout her entire life.”¹

In Saint John Paul II’s Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), when writing about Mary at Calvary, he says that the yes she spoke at the Annunciation “reaches full maturity on the day of the Cross.”

Mary’s fiat became the very shape and essence of her life. She welcomed Jesus, carried Him, protected Him, raised Him, and stayed with Him through suffering and death.

In this lifelong fiat, her example should be our guiding light when protecting the most vulnerable among us.

The Ones Who Stay

Only last year, I spent some personal time discerning religious life, specifically with the Sisters of Life, a community whose charism is centered on protecting and enhancing the sacredness of every human life. (How fitting, given that I now feel the Lord calling me to motherhood. Jesus is so full of surprises, isn’t He?)

Their vocation is rooted first in prayer and Eucharistic adoration, and then that intimacy with the Lord branches out and becomes tangible. Through their Pregnancy Help Ministry, they accompany women facing unexpected pregnancies and help them find resources for the circumstances they are facing.

We can talk about the dignity of human life in the abstract, but eventually there is a real person sitting in front of us with a real life and real needs. She may be scared. She may need housing, medical care, childcare, employment, legal help, groceries, or just someone who will listen to her.

Will we stay for these women?

Mary could not take the Cross away from Jesus, but she could stand beneath it.

Where Are the Diapers?

The USCCB’s Walking with Moms in Need initiative says that everyone in a parish community should know where to refer a pregnant woman in need.

They even created a Parish Inventory Tool to help Catholics figure out what support exists in their communities. The list goes far beyond pregnancy centers. It includes prenatal and postpartum care, hospitals and health centers, maternity homes, housing programs, food assistance, childcare, job training, counseling, parenting education, legal support, Catholic Charities, and other local services.

And once a parish knows what is available, Walking with Moms in Need recommends looking for the gaps:

What help is missing? What need keeps coming up? What could this particular parish realistically do about it?

In other words, we can know where the diapers are. We can know that information before someone needs it.

The USCCB’s reflection on Mary, Mother of Life follows Mary from the Annunciation to Calvary. At the Cross, Jesus entrusts Mary and Saint John to one another. John then takes Mary into his own home and cares for her as she grows older.

Mary spent her life receiving and caring for life, and later she became the one receiving care. The Church points to this as a reminder that our responsibility for human life extends from conception to natural death.

So, Where Do We Begin?

Saying yes to life begins with our very own fiat.

Not all of us will start a pregnancy center or a nonprofit. But we can be the person who knows where to look, who picks up the phone, and who stays with those in need.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us that He was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned. Both groups ask Him the same question: Lord, when did we see you?

He answers: Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.

Jesus identifies Himself with the person right in front of us who needs care. The woman who needs somewhere safe to live. The baby who needs new clothes. The elderly neighbor who needs a ride. The grieving mother who needs someone to sit with her. This is the Christian life.

So, what can we do?

If someone you know needs help right now: Option Line is available 24/7 by call or text at 1-800-712-4357 and can connect you with pregnancy support near you. Her PLAN also has a searchable directory for pregnancy and postpartum care, housing, food, transportation, childcare, employment, mental health support, and more.

If you want to be ready when someone needs you: Find the pregnancy center closest to you and save the number in your phone. See whether your community has a Gabriel Project or another parish-based ministry. Ask your parish where they would send a woman or family who came to them needing help.

Make it something your family can do together: Put together care packages at home. Let the kids help choose toiletries, socks, snacks, baby supplies, gift cards, or whatever your local organization needs. Drop them off together. Make it something you do once a month. Our children learn how to notice people in need by watching us notice them first.

Give what you have: Call your local pregnancy center, maternity home, food pantry, or family ministry and ask, What do you need this month? Maybe it’s diapers, a car seat, a grocery gift card, a ride to an appointment, résumé help, a freezer meal, or two hours of your Saturday. If you are local to Macon, Georgia, the Kolbe Center is a wonderful place to begin.

Begin in prayer: The Respect Life Month Novena gives us nine days to pray for the protection of human life through specific intentions, reflections, and acts of reparation. Pray it by yourself, around the dinner table, with your spouse, or with a friend. Ask the Lord to show you where your yes is needed.

And then keep going! Mary said yes to life, over and over and over again. This October, live out your hidden yeses.

“Mary, Star of the Sea, light of every ocean,
guide seafarers across all dark and stormy seas
that they may reach the haven of peace and light
prepared in Him who calmed the sea.

As we set forth upon the oceans of the world
and cross the deserts of our time, show us, O Mary,
the fruit of your womb, for without your Son we are lost.”

Read the full Prayer of Saint John Paul II to Our Lady, Star of the Sea.

Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us!

1. Hamel, Michelle, Journeying through Infant Loss with Our Lady of Sorrows, 16. ↩︎

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With over eight years of experience and a Bachelor’s in Creative Writing, Marge Hynes is a dynamic writer whose portfolio spans SEO-driven copywriting, journalism, and marketing—a versatile skill set that allows her to craft compelling content for Paloma & Fig’s projects.

Marge’s Catholic faith serves as the cornerstone of her work. She approaches storytelling with thoughtfulness and a deep appreciation for the Lord’s own creative power. Her love of the written word shines through in every project, helping clients articulate their message with clarity, heart, and purpose.

When she’s not writing, Marge can be found leading praise and worship, diving into theological books, or exploring the great outdoors with her loyal dog, Augustine (Auggie for short).