September 15, 2020 — Spirit & Verse is a monthly column of original poem-prayers composed by Cameron Bellm, a Seattle-based writer and mother of two whose “Prayer for a Pandemic” went viral, bringing solace and comfort to many struggling during COVID-19.
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows, wrap us in your mantle of tears.
Let us reach out and touch the seven swords in your heart
As we offer to God the ones in our own.
How can we measure the sharpness of Simeon’s prophecy
Or the stab of panic in losing Jesus in the temple?
How can we grasp the agony of meeting Jesus carrying His cross,
Or, deeper still, the desolation of laying Him in the tomb?
In our suffering, may we find comfort in yours,
For what sorrow is there
That cannot be held by a mother who sees her child
Betrayed, mocked, humiliated, killed?
And what strength can be greater
Than that of a mother who knows all the grief to come
And chooses to love, wholeheartedly, still?
Mother of Christ, Mother of us all,
Carry us through our mourning, carry us through to hope,
For sorrow, yes, is unto death, but death is unto life.
Amen.
Previous Spirit & Verse poem-prayers:
A Prayer for the Beginning of the School Year
A Prayer for the Feast of St. Ignatius
Cameron Bellm is a Seattle-based writer of prayers and spiritual essays. After completing her Ph.D. in Russian literature at the University of California, Berkeley, she traded the academic life for the contemplative life, informed by Ignatian spirituality and Catholic social teaching. She and her husband have two young sons, and, blessedly, playing with Legos often nurtures her spiritual life as much as reading the lectionary. She writes at krugthethinker.com and on Instagram, @krugthethinker.