The Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

Introduction

O dear Lady, Mother of Sorrows, I want to recall now all those moments in which you have suffered. I pray that this meditation on your sorrows, help me to console, your Son in these hours of His Agony in the Garden, which is yours also. Let me take part in your mutual suffering, so that I can offer it to GOD the FATHER in reparation for the many offenses committed against you and your Son, our LORD JESUS CHRIST who is one with the FATHER and the HOLY SPIRIT. Amen.

First Sorrow of Mary

Mary, you have presented your Son in the Temple and the aged Simeon, a holy man, announced to you that your first-born would become a symbol of opposition and that your soul would be pierced by a sword of pain. This was the first sword to pierce your soul I am presenting this first sorrow for all parents who in many different ways suffer because of their children.

Silence
Our Father… and Seven Hail Mary’s…

O Most Holy God, I adore Thee, through the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and I offer Thee, through the holy hands of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, all the consecrated Hosts on our Altars as a sacrifice of expiation, reparation, and atonement for all the sacrileges, profanations, impieties, blasphemies, and crimes committed against Thee throughout the universe.

V. Blessed be the suffering,
R. of Mary, Our Mother!

Second Sorrow of Mary

Mary, it is difficult to imagine all the feelings that you had, when at the invitation of your spouse, you got up in the middle of the night to flee with your Child, this Child in whom you recognized and adored the Messiah, and the Son of God.

You were left without the securities that the homeland and the homely stove can offer. You fled, and so you associated yourself with those who have no roof above their heads and who live in foreign lands, without a homeland.

Mary, as a mother I pray to you for all those who, as a result of family conflict, have abandoned their family and are now living in the streets; for young people who do not agree with their parents; for the divorced, and for the rejected. Through their sufferings may you lead them to their new home.

Silence
Our Father… and Seven Hail Mary’s…

O Most Holy God, I adore Thee, through the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and I offer Thee, through the holy hands of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, all the consecrated Hosts on our Altars as a sacrifice of expiation, reparation, and atonement for all the sacrileges, profanations, impieties, blasphemies, and crimes committed against Thee throughout the universe.

V. Blessed be the suffering,
R. of Mary, Our Mother!

Third Sorrow of Mary

Mary, for three days you looked for you Son, in sadness. You found Him happy in the Temple. Sadness lasted in your heart for a long time. Your torment was great because you were aware of your responsibility. The Father had entrusted you with His Son, the Messiah, the Savior. That is why your sadness was so great. After finding Jesus you were filled with joy.

O Mary, I pray to you now for the young who have drifted away from their family homes and are suffering because of it. I also pray for those who had to leave their homes because of sickness, and for all those who might be abandoned in hospitals. Especially I pray Mary, for all those young people who have not been given enough love and do not know what it means to have a family home. Search for them. Let them be found so that a new world will be possible.

Silence
Our Father… and Seven Hail Mary’s…

O Most Holy God, I adore Thee, through the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and I offer Thee, through the holy hands of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, all the consecrated Hosts on our Altars as a sacrifice of expiation, reparation, and atonement for all the sacrileges, profanations, impieties, blasphemies, and crimes committed against Thee throughout the universe.

V. Blessed be the suffering,
R. of Mary, Our Mother!

Fourth Sorrow of Mary

Mary, you have met your Son while He was carrying the cross. Who could describe the pain you felt in that moment? I find myself without words … a Most Holy Mother, I pray for those who are left alone in their pain. Visit those in prison and comfort them. Visit the sick. Go to those who are lost. Bring a caress to those who are infected by an incurable disease, just as you caressed your Son for the last time on this earth. Help them to offer their sufferings for the salvation of the world just as you did at your Son’s side.

Silence
Our Father… and Seven Hail Mary’s…

O Most Holy God, I adore Thee, through the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and I offer Thee, through the holy hands of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, all the consecrated Hosts on our Altars as a sacrifice of expiation, reparation, and atonement for all the sacrileges, profanations, impieties, blasphemies, and crimes committed against Thee throughout the universe.

V. Blessed be the suffering,
R. of Mary, Our Mother!

Fifth Sorrow of Mary

Mary, you were standing under your Son’s cross. You accompanied Him in anguish and stood under the Cross and that pain could not be consoled. Mary, your faith was great in your suffering. With courage you stood beneath the cross. Your pain did not close your heart to new responsibilities. Through your Son’s wish you became the Mother of all of us.

Mary, I pray for all those who are close to those who are suffering. Help them so that they can nurse them with love. Encourage those who are exhausted because of caring for their sick ones. Especially bless all mothers with sick children. May their standing next to their crosses be their salvation. Unite with your motherly suffering the exhausting efforts of those who are called to care for their dear ones who are sick for long periods of time, or even for a lifetime.

Silence
Our Father… and Seven Hail Mary’s…

O Most Holy God, I adore Thee, through the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and I offer Thee, through the holy hands of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, all the consecrated Hosts on our Altars as a sacrifice of expiation, reparation, and atonement for all the sacrileges, profanations, impieties, blasphemies, and crimes committed against Thee throughout the universe.

V. Blessed be the suffering,
R. of Mary, Our Mother!

Sixth Sorrow of Mary

With your grief filled soul you accept the lifeless body of your Son holding Him upon your motherly lap. Your pain continues after He died, but still you hold Him close to your heart as if to warm Him.

Mary, I devote myself to you. I give you my pain and the pain of all people. I offer to you all the lonely, the deserted, the rejected and those in broken relations. I offer to you all the world. May all be held upon your motherly lap. May the world become your family, and all of us your brothers and sisters.

Silence
Our Father… and Seven Hail Mary’s…

O Most Holy God, I adore Thee, through the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and I offer Thee, through the holy hands of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, all the consecrated Hosts on our Altars as a sacrifice of expiation, reparation, and atonement for all the sacrileges, profanations, impieties, blasphemies, and crimes committed against Thee throughout the universe.

V. Blessed be the suffering,
R. of Mary, Our Mother!

Seventh Sorrow of Mary

Mary, you accompanied Jesus to His grave. You have sobbed and cried over Him like one cries for an only son. There are sad people in the world today because they have lost their dear ones. Comfort those who seek comfort in the faith.

Many are without faith and hope, and they get lost in the problems of this world, losing hope and the joy of life. Mary, seek for them faith. May they find the right path. Mary, seek for them faith. May they find the right path. May all evil be destroyed, so that new life can spring forth just as it grew from your suffering and from your Son’s grave.

Silence
Our Father… and Seven Hail Mary’s…

O Most Holy God, I adore Thee, through the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and I offer Thee, through the holy hands of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, all the consecrated Hosts on our Altars as a sacrifice of expiation, reparation, and atonement for all the sacrileges, profanations, impieties, blasphemies, and crimes committed against Thee throughout the universe.

V. Blessed be the suffering,
R. of Mary, Our Mother!

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is repaid by so much forgetfulness, negligence, and contempt, behold us prostrate before Your altar, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries, to which Your loving Heart is subjected. Mindful that we, ourselves, have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Your pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those who straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their infidelity to follow You, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the vows of their Baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Your law.

We are now resolved to expiate each and every outrage committed against You; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holy days, and the blasphemies uttered against You and Your Saints. We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Your Vicar on earth and Your priests are Subjected to, for the profanations by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of Your Divine love; and lastly for the public crimes of nations, who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which You have founded.

Would that, O Divine Jesus, we were able to wash away these abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Your Divine honor, the satisfaction You once made to Your Eternal Father on the Cross and which You continue to renew daily upon our altars. We offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Your Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense as far as we can with the help of Your grace, for all neglect of Your great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth we will live a life of unwavering faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel, especially that of charity.

O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to You, so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where You with the Father and the Holy Spirit live and reign one God, world without end. (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical, Miserentissimus Redemptor)

If time permits, the leader (or each one Silently) can pray:

Jesus, I beg You for a drop of Your most Precious Blood in this hour of Your most bitter agony for [insert intention]
-for the Holy Church
-for our Holy Father
-for our bishops
-for the sanctification of priests
-for vocations to the priesthood and religious life
-for the conversion of sinners
-for our country
-for an end of abortion and contraception
-for an end of divorce
-for sanctification of family life
-for all who are dying
-for the Poor Souls in purgatory
( … for personal intentions)
Prayers for the intention of the Holy Father

Holy, holy, holy …

*Meditations taken from
The Agony of Jesus, by St. Padre Pio, Tan Books.