Make a September Prayer Shelf: Our Lady of Sorrows

The month of September is dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary, so my daughter helped me put together a simple visual display to help focus our prayers in the coming weeks.

For the base of our display, I considered using a green cloth, since green is the color of Ordinary Time which is the liturgical season we are currently in. However, my daughter suggested we use dark blue in honor or Mary's traditional color of blue, but in a more somber hue.

That's when the real vs. ideal mode I so often work in kicked in.  Ideal would be a lovely dark blue silk.  Real is that the only dark blue cloth we could find in our home was an old bed sheet. Folded, it worked.

Then, my daughter and I went through several images and prayer aid booklets, and she asked if we could print an image from the Catholic Company website, which she "framed" with cardstock and placed on one of our mini-easels.  

I, then, decided to print out a free Devotion of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary pdf from the Fatima Center to go on our other mini-easel.  This pdf has beautiful prayers, images, and more in it to help us focus this month.

Near one of our easels, we placed the two candles we have decided to keep out all year - a Paschal candle a friend made and gifted us and a blessed white pillar candle from another friend. 

Then, in the middle of our display, we placed a blue candle (for Mary's color).  On one side of this candle, we put a Marian peg doll of Our Lady of Sorrows atop a red origami box stand (recycled from last month's display).

On the other side, we placed the heart box my daughter made last month, but, pierced it with seven cocktail swords.  Inside the box, we wanted to place our laminated Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-part cards, but, since we could not find them, we simply printed and cut a new batch without lamination.  (Again, real vs. ideal.  We always seem to make do with the real here.)

Our simple Seven Sorrows of Mary display will serve as a practical visual reminder for us all month, connecting our family with the current season of the the Church year and directing us toward Jesus, as each of Mary's Seven Sorrows points directly toward a Biblical event in Jesus' life.

We'd love to hear about your favorite Seven Sorrows of Mary images, prayers, and traditions. Please do share about them in a comment here or on our Facebook page.

We'd also appreciate if your continued prayers for a baby we know that has had two unexpected heart surgeries within the past month and is still in recovery.

O God, who willed that,

when you Son was lifted high on the Cross,

his Mother should stand close by

and share his suffering,

grant that Your Church,

participating with the Virgin Mary

in the Passion of Christ

may merit a share in his Resurrection.
Who lived and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Also, dear God,
please offer extra measures of strength

and abundant blessings 

to baby Alex and his family.
Unite their suffering 

with that of Jesus on the Cross

and turn their their suffering into joy.  

May strength, healing, hope, and love be theirs.
Amen.

Thank you for praying this prayer adapted from the Collect with us!

If you'd like more ideas for Our Lady of Sorrows, check out:

Plans to Honor Our Lady of Sorrows through Art, Music, and a Poet-Tea

Honoring Our Lady of Sorrows with a Poet-Tea and Art

Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-Part Cards (A Free Printable - Now Updated)

You might also like to see our other liturgical shelves.