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.

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

Last week, I shared how I was planning to honor Our Lady of Sorrows through Art, Music, and Poetry with my children and some friends. 

This week, I am happy to report that our Our Lady of Sorrows AMP Club meet up went beautifully.  It was a time filled with prayer, learning, symbolic nibbles, and fine art.

{Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate ones.  Should you click through them and make any purchases, we may receive small income at no extra cost to you.  Anything we make goes back into training happy hearts in our home and sharing about it here.}

The Setting

As friends arrived, we gathered around a tea table covered in blue (Mary's color) and set with plates, mugs, and printable prayer cards from the Fatima Network which each hid "Mary's tears" underneath (which were really YumEarth Sour Beans).

On the table, our tea time spread included:

• strawberry hearts
• gluten-free pretzel "swords" 
• blueberries (again, Mary's color)
• pink yogurt-covered pretzels
• dried strawberry hearts
  
  
  

• a juice wiggler heart made with organic juice, Knox, and So Delicious Cocowhip with cocktail swords in it.

Nearby, on another table were:

• a Mary vase filled with flowers
• a prayer card with the pieta pictured on it
• an  Our Lady of Sorrows peg doll that we had received in a recent swap 
• some print outs of art depicting Mary's seven sorrows
• and seven tea lights in front of laminated Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-Part Cards.

An Our Lady of Sorrows Poet-Tea with Music and Picture Study

We began our club time by praying grace together and chatting about what the children knew about Our Lady of Sorrows.  I also explained a bit about the devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows and the promises made to those who pray and meditate on Our Lady's seven sorrows.

Together,we prayed using the printable prayer cards I had put at each place setting.  As soon as the children lifted them, they saw "Mary's tears" and wanted to nibble on them right away.  I asked that, instead, the children use restraint.  We prayed an Our Father, and, then, as I announced each of Mary's Seven Sorrows, the children prayed a Hail Mary while I lit a candle.   Then, as I held up the corresponding Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-Part Cards, the children licked a "tear or Mary" and as I read a Scripture quote from the card, they could chew the "tear".  The idea, as I explained, was that we could "taste" the sourness of Mary's sorrow here on earth, but remember the lasting sweetness to come with Jesus in Heaven.

At the conclusion of praying a Hail Mary for each of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, I explained that the Sorrows of Mary have inspired many poems and songs throughout the years, and, perhaps the most famous of these is the Stabat Mater (At the Cross Her Station Keeping).  While the children dug into the tea spread, I read an English version of the Stabat Mater and, then, played an arrangement of the hymn by Vivaldi, a composer we had previously studied.



It was only once the children had almost finished eating that I remembered to take a group picture of them.

And, oh, boys will be boys and girls will be girls.  It was pretty obvious when I took this photo that the children needed some wiggle time, so  I sent them outside for a quick play break while I cleared the table and prepared for our game-like picture study by spreading out  Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-Part Cards on the table.

Then, I called the children back in to play Two-Finger Touch I Spy.

I started the game off by stating, "I spy an image of a sorrow that contains three central figures.  Once a child touched the image I was describing, that child then took the card and offered a new "I Spy" clue.

When all the cards had been picked up, we took out a second set of cards and laid matching pairs face down so the children could play Memory with them.

Then, I read the Seven Sorrows Rhyme from Catholic Tradition and had the children name the sorrow each stanza was about.  We laid the picture cards for these sorrows back on the table, and, then, I had all the children raise a pointed finger up.  On the count of seven, they were asked to quickly lay their pointed fingers on a card that no one else was touching.
After examining the cards they touched, the children were challenged to create a stanza of poetry that evoked emotion or offered details we could imagine to go along with their cards. 

We quickly reviewed:

• what a stanza is
• what poetic language is
• examples of vigorous verbs, specific nouns, and telling adjectives and adverbs
• the ideas of rhyming and free verse poetry
• rhyme schemes
• the words quatrain, rhyming couplet, haiku, etc.  

Then, the children worked on their own or with a partner to compose their own poetry.

Before everyone was done writing, some children got quite eager to share their work, and, when we finally did share, I was impressed with the poems the children authored!

Here are a few of their sample works:

Mixed Media Art for Our Lady's Sorrows

After the children shared their poems, we looked at the printed images of the Seven Sorrows on the smaller feast table, as well as at the artwork on our Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-Part Cards, these line drawings of the Seven Sorrows from the Florida Center for Peace, and some symbolic images in A Year with God: Celebrating the Liturgical Year.  Then, the children were challenged to create an artwork using at least two art media that related to Our Lady and her sorrows.  

Among the materials the children could use for their artwork were:

• Canson mixed media paper
• colored pencils
• Cray-pa oil pastels 
• Kwik Stix Solid Tempera Paint
• chalk pastels 
• Crayola oil pastels

With more time, I might have out out glue, tissue paper, clay, etc. as well, but we were getting close to the end of club time, so I kept supplies simple.

The children were happy with what was out, and created art, which they shared with one another.

Here are a few more of their works:

Then, club concluded with the children's poetry and artwork, as well as laminated prayer cards, being put in their AMP binders.

More

Enjoy glimpses into other Poet-Tea plans and photos.

I pray these ideas may help you to teach your children more about Our Lady of Sorrows during this month dedicated to her.  I also welcome links and ideas for other ways to learn about and honor Our Lady of Sorrows.