gather: Our Lady of Sorrows

Barley wreaths and wholeness

She hath taken sorrow and grief from my heart:
and she hath soothed my heart by her sweetness.

St. Bonaventure, excerpt from the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary (13th c.)

For the past few years, I’ve hosted a Liturgical Life group. We’re a diverse gathering - of all ages, from a variety of denominations, learning alongside each other and working to graft the traditions of the liturgical calendar into our own varied circumstances.

When a dear subscriber in our HF community here mentioned¹ that she would love to encounter more Marian feasts, the beautifully complicated feast/memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows drew me in. Though I had honored this day in the past, I’d never done a full deep-dive into it…the harvest traditions, the complex theology, its incredible resonance in our own lived reality.

So, not only was it a true delight to get to explore this feast with you all: this has been, perhaps, one of my most personal posts because it gently illuminated my own struggles with sorrow and joy over the years. (It took me a long time to learn, and I’m still practicing daily: if we wait to allow ourselves to experience joy until all our circumstances are sorrow-free, we’ll be waiting forever).

God calls us to wholeness, not fractured, partial life: and that wholeness is what Our Lady of Sorrows points toward.

This past weekend, our liturgical life group celebrated OLOS together, and that time spent in community felt like a balm! Between a Slovakian-themed potluck dinner on a gorgeous September day, running through the barley, and weaving wreaths and bouquets with grain and flowers (to hide and then look for at Christmas - giving us such a tangible connection between sorrow and joy!), it was a beautiful gathering.

I brought you all along with me, of course, and captured some sweet photos for you! Here are some more details about how we celebrated…