The month of September has long been dedicated to Mary under her title of Our Lady of Sorrows. Each day of this month is celebrated, in some part of the world, as a major feast of Mary under one of the many titles she bears. On September 8th we celebrate her Nativity and on September 15th we invoke her as Our Lady of Sorrows. In Ireland September 7th is acknowledged as the date of the founding of the Legion of Mary which has had such an important place in our own Diocese of Saint John.
September 13th is the feast of St. John Chrysostom and it was on this date in 1984 when St. John Paul II visited our province and offered Mass for us at Moncton. His motto “Totus Tuus”, taken from a prayer by St. Louis de Montfort declares that he belonged entirely to Mary. But the month takes on special meaning for us all on September 14th, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. From the moment of Jesus Conception in Mary’s womb, to the moment of His death on the Cross and she received His lifeless body in her arms, to the moment she was present at Pentecost, her life has always been centred on Her Son, Jesus. For her faithfulness to Jesus we celebrate her and look to her as an example of discipleship and witnessing to Her Son in the world.