Our Lady of Sorrows

Our Lady of Sorrows: The Cordovilla Apparitions and the Seven Sorrows of Mary

Cristy Murray and Father Perry Kenaston introduce the podcast “Mary’s Messages: Leading Hearts to Jesus Today” and focus this episode on Our Lady of Sorrows. They recount reported apparitions in Cordovilla (Locusto), Spain, in 1945 involving teenager Marcelina Exposia, who saw Our Lady of Sorrows near a chestnut tree; during a June 4 event witnessed by thousands, Marcelina reportedly crawled on her knees over rough ground without injury, was asked about joining Mary in heaven, and Mary requested a chapel, later built with local bishop approval. Another teen, Afra Blanco, also reported seeing Our Lady of Sorrows and later died in 2008. The hosts review the Seven Sorrows of Mary, discuss devotion tools like the Seven Sorrows chaplet and Stations of the Cross through Mary’s eyes, mention traditional promises of the devotion, encourage prayer and evangelization, and close with prayer and subscription/website information (blessedmarysmessages.com).

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast
00:37 Opening Prayer
00:57 Alaska Banter and Setup
01:52 Cordovilla Apparition Story
05:37 More Visions and Church Built
08:28 The Seven Sorrows Explained
11:15 Chaplet and Meditation Tools
14:25 Entering the Passion with Mary
19:30 Promises of the Devotion
21:23 Evangelization and Invitation Back
23:17 Closing Prayer and Farewell

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Transcript

Restream recording Jul 18, 2026 • 07:09:57 PM 0:00

Welcome to Mary's Messages: Leading Hearts to Jesus Today, the podcast where we listen to the voice of the Blessed Mother and allow her to guide us ever closer to her Son in our modern world. I'm Cristy Murray, along with Father Perry Kenaston, and each week we explore stories of faith, conversations with Catholic voices, and practical spiritual tools to help you encounter Christ more deeply. In a world longing for peace and clarity, Mary continues to speak to her children with love, hope, and a mother's gentle wisdom. Thank you for joining us as we open our hearts to Mary's message and let us lead us to the loving embrace of Jesus. This week, we are going to talk about Our Lady of Sorrows. Father Perry, would you like to get us started with a prayer? In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Gentle woman, quiet light. Morning stars so strong and bright. Gentle mother, peaceful dove. Teach us wisdom, teach us love. And Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. So my friends, we're here on another day and everything and, I don't know where you're gonna be listening to this at, but here in Alaska we have rain. We've had rain for the last two days. We had to get our wetsuits out just in case it got really too bad. Our Lady of Sorrows. Make the sign of the- I was gonna say, we were told to look at the specifications of, Noah's Ark in Genesis 2 I'm afraid we have a problem there too, because they ran out of wood. Oh, no. Yeah, Noah and the, the people that are cutting the trees down, the beavers, they're on strike. Oh. Where are we gonna get our supplies? We can't 3D print now. Well, maybe that's what people need to do, we can 3D print the boat. We could go back to the old days where they had papyrus leaves. Hmm. It's either that or drums. Our Lady of Sorrows in Locusto, Spain, 1945. It was 3:00 in the afternoon, May 27th, 1945, when teenager Marcella Exposia, accompanied by her cousin Augustine, was walking to the village on an errand for her mother. The girls walked through the area known as- Chade villa, where they noticed something strange in the distance. They were about to ignore it, but then a strange force somehow propelled them to a chestnut tree. There, a little above the ground, was a vision of Our Lady of Sorrows. She was easily identified by the black robe and mantle she wore, the stars that sparkled around her, and the stars that embellished her gown. Her hands were joined, and her beautiful face bore every mark of deep pain and overwhelming sadness. Marcelina alone saw the lady, and when the vision disappeared, she ran with her cousin to the village where her message was greeted with great excitement. The second vision. Days later, on the morning of June the fourth, Marcelina returned to the place of the apparition and beheld the Virgin was again. This time the lady spoke, telling her to return to the afternoon, when she would ask the girl to perform a sacrifice in the presence of all who, attended. Accompanied this time by thousands of people, both Spanish and Portuguese, Marcelina walked to the apparition site in an ecstatic condition that drew wide attention. After arriving the site by the chestnut tree, she stopped and beheld the vision in the distance. The lady invited the girl to crawl on her knees to her, a distance of about one hundred feet, and reassured her, "Fear not, nothing will harm you. I will be putting before you a reed mat and herbs so they will not be hurt Upon seeing her daughter in an ecstatic state and crawling on her knees over the rocks and rough ground, Marcelina and mother fainted. The child, however, remained for about 10 minutes before kneeling up by the tree. Then the child saw a beautiful church, and on the altar appeared the Virgin Mary, who invited the child to dip her fingers in the holy water and bless herself. When the child drew near to the Virgin, she was asked if Marcelina would like to join her in heaven. The child answered enthusiastically, "Yes, Mama. Now." The Blessed Mother smiled and kissed the child on the forehead. While doing so, the mantle of the Mother of God softly touched Marcelina's face. The Virgin then requested that a chapel be built to the present place of the apparition When the vision disappeared, Marcelina was no longer ecstatic and began talking with her friends They, on the other hand, paid particular attention to her knees And found no scratches or injuries after seeing her crawl over rough ground While accompanied each time by more and more people, Marcelina had other encounters with the Blessed Mother. She eventually enrolled in a Catholic school Later in Seville on August the 2nd, 1975, became a religious in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Cross, and took the name Sister Mary of Mercy of the Cross. She was a member for many years in the order, which was dedicated to the care of the sick, the orphans, the poor, and the elderly. After a time, she joined a cloistered convent in another place The history of the apparition at Cordovilla now includes another vision. While Marcelina was still experiencing the vision of Our Lady of Sorrows, Afra Blanco, then seventeen old, went to Cordicia with her friends on May thirtieth nineteen forty-five. Like the other pilgrims, Afra wanted to see Marcelina to witness the event and take place in part of the prayers they were doing. Upon arrival, she thought she saw something in the dark in the clouds. The day she again went into the place of the apparition and once a-again saw the dark object. This time it drew nearer until it was clearly recognized as Our Lady of Sorrows. The vision proved to be overwhelming for Afra, who fell deep into a faint Amphora worked for many years in the hospital in Madrid until her death in August the 20th, 2008, at the age of 80, after a long and painful illness. A beautiful church which involved the chestnut tree of the apparition was eventually built. The per-permissions for the consecr-consecration of the church, as well as approval of the expressions of faith, was given by the local bishop So my friends, that's the pattern here, huh? She chooses the people in the simplicity, and that's what this is all about, huh, Our Lady of Sorrows? hopefully what we'll be able to do is recreate the picture here and put it on our notes and everything. Then that way you can see what the seven sorrows are. Do you, Cristy, do you know what the seven sorrows are? I- I forget, and that's usually I ask let me see. I can look it up real quick. But I think you skipped a page on the book 'cause it sounds like, after I received the stigmata, before she went to work at the hospital. Okay. The Seven Sorrows of Mary. The first sorrow is the prophecy of Simeon. So this was, when Mary's 40-day period of purification is almost ended, she goes to Jerusalem to fulfill the Mosaic law for the required offering to the Lord of every firstborn male. so the law of purification does not bind Mary, because she's always a virgin, nor Jesus because of who He is. yet Mary humbly obeys. After the ceremony, Simeon takes Jesus from her arms and acknowledges Him as the Messiah. Only through divine inspiration can Simeon know this. Simeon blesses them and says to Mary, "And you yourself a sword will pierce." So that would be her first sorrow. The second sorrow is the flight to Egypt. The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child and destroy him." So that would be the second sorrow. The third sorrow is when, the search for Jesus, for the child in Jerusalem. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." You imagine your child missing for three days, you don't know where he is. now the fourth sorrow is Mary meets Jesus on his way to the cross. So her sorrow starts getting harder and harder and heavier and heavier. the fourth is as, Jesus carrying the cross himself, a large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. so then the fifth sorrow is when she is standing at the foot of the cross. Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother." And from that hour, the disciple took her into his home. The sixth sorrow is the crucifixion and descent from the cross. After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus, and Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. The seventh sorrow is when, she assisted in the burial of Christ. The woman who had come from Galilee with him, followed behind. And when they had seen the tomb and the way in which his body was laid in it, they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils. So sorrow is from When Jesus was a child until she buried him That's the Seven Sorrows is there a chaplet that we can use? There's a chaplet of Seven Sorrows of Mary. Okay. 'Cause that would be... You know, you got the pictures right there, just like with the, with the others. Mm-hmm with the rosary there's a brochure put out by Marian's Helpers or somebody- Okay that has icons. It looks like Annunciation, and it goes like that. And they're... I find them very interesting, because it helps you to meditate on that particular sorrow- Mm-hmm or that particular section of the rosary and everything else. Yeah. For in- you know, the Annunciation, you see the angel with Mary and everything else. Well, you just focus on that. And then it goes through all the decades and everything else. those things are outstanding just for us to, to meditate on. Mm-hmm. The Flight... Well, as you mentioned, but the other one there is, you know, Joseph, you're totally asleep. Angel gets you up and says, "Hey, listen, come on. You gotta take the donkey and, and go to Egypt." And he says, "Wait a minute. Something's wrong." But he does. You know, and then the other one right there, too. Now, my friends, we all know that Jesus was God. Now I'm gonna address this to you mothers. If you went to the temple, and then you found your son, and then you ask your husband, "Joseph, have you seen Jesus?" now keep in mind, my friends, keep in mind that Jesus was God. And you can just imagine their reaction when both of them decided that they lost Jesus. Remember now, he's God. What do you think they were thinking? Joseph, we really messed this one up. We lost God." But no, I'm sure that they didn't say that. Who knows what they said. Who knows. But remember what happened right after that. It says right there in scripture, it says, He left... He came with them and he was obedient." And that's his teenagers years. For those of you who have teenagers, you could just remember how they're behaving. Now the question would be, for all of us, do... How did Jesus behave during those... There's nothing written, well, there's nothing found that portrays Jesus as a teenager. I think it would be super, super- Great. If somebody were to dig those things up, if they do exist, and find out what Jesus was like during His teenage years. So it would just add more to His life than everything else. I mean, we have His life story and before, but we don't have anything in the middle. Nor do we have anything in the middle about Joseph and Mary, you know? I mean, he died early, you know, in life to a certain extent, but how did they... You know, it's called the Holy Family, so Did they sit around all day and, you know, there was no TV or anything. I'm sure Jesus was right there with Joseph as Joseph was teaching him some skills, just preparing himself, you know? And then one day he just gets up and says, "Bye Mom, bye Dad, see you later," and follows it. what a great story that is, That is tremendous. But again, artists have given us certain things to follow, like these icons here, and like other ones too as well. Well, we even have the stations of the cross during Lent and everything else. But the thing is with the stations of the cross, who's ever leading it should be leading it to the point to where you're actually there at that particular time. You can experience it. You can experience The entire thing that's taking place. You know, when he hung on the cross. You're not in any hurry. You've got a full hour just to meditate on everything, so to speak, you can't be in a rush. Not that people do, but sometimes we get in a hurry. And it's just like with these icons here, saying a rosary. You don't say the rosary. As people have said, you celebrate the rosary. So our Lady of Sorrow, we just picked this one because it's time. There's an awful lot of things out there that need our prayer, not only for the Holy Father, but everything as well, Most we have to do is continue to pray for a world that needs our prayers. And, continue to listen to us. we have this up and running, and at the same time, most we have to do is click into us and see our smiling faces And enjoy what we have to share with you. And when you do, then share that with others. And just relax and enjoy the half hour or so that we're together, so. Cristy, do you have any questions? I do. So this picture that we have here, it depicts the instances, the meaning of the Seven Sorrows. But there's also at the monastery, she has a statue there with seven swords. so that's, like, another depiction as well. And then I'm looking at her book. She appeared several times in many places. So this time she appeared in Spain, and then another time she appeared in Rwanda, and another time she appeared in Italy. And that's the only, apparition that I'm seeing the Lady of Sorrows appeared, like, in three different places, at least for now. So she's sending a powerful message Right? Well, she's- I mean, a private message every time she appears, but to appear as Lady of Sorrow in three distinct place- places Well, there's a method behind all that, and all we have to do is read some of the back literature maybe and find out exactly what, what that, this, you know, the Seven Sorrows here. as I shared a couple minutes ago, study each one. Study each icon. And, you become part of that. And if you're doing a chaplet, that gives you just that much more of a pool, another tool for your toolbox, to say it in such a way that You're just sitting there and meditating on a flight to Egypt or another one like that. But that they are there for us to help and to meditate on. Yeah. you put yourself in the place of Mary, You do suffering with her. and there's also a, I think we used it at the first women's retreat after COVID, it's the stations of the cross through the eyes of Mary. that was really intense 'cause yes, it's one thing like seeing Jesus and you go through the stations and you're there with him, but if you see it through the eyes of Mary, takes it to another level. And like for all the women there, like I think like, and I bought the book for someone too, And she's not even Catholic when I bought her the book, and we were talking about Stations of the Cross, and she said she by the third station she was really just crying reading that book. So that's another resource for everyone as well. Well, you're entering right into the spirituality of, well, I'm right there. and that's the same thing with in reference to, when you're hearing the different readings on Sunday. Don't think about the NFL. Think about what's being read from the lector there. And that's one reason why the lector is so important, because... And hopefully most of them will practice the readings before they actually, read them, so they too can celebrate the word You just don't stand up there and just go like that and say the word of the Lord. No, there's more to it than that. But anyways, you know, when you come to mass, you come to mass to celebrate with everybody, but at the same time it's there to recharge your spiritual batteries. And this is one of them. I'm sure that there's others out there as we go through our series here and everything else. That, and each one in this book here, each one has got a different story of how our lady appeared to certain people. From a poor peasant that- didn't have anything but a cloak, and boom, Our Lady of Guadalupe. Yeah. Can you just imagine yourself being one? Whoa. That would be a great thing to happen. Mary is right here with us, too. We, only thing we have to do is just be open to what she wants us to do. Because whatever we do, she talks directly to Jesus, too, so, it works out for the better Yeah. there's also, the promises. So according to tradition, the seven promises for the devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Mary is, peace in families, enlightenment regarding divine mysteries, consolation and accompaniment in their labors, prayers answered provided they align with God's will, and spiritual defense against the enemy and protection in life, and visible assistance at the hour of death, allowing us to see our mother, and direct eternal happiness for those who promote this devotion with all sins forgiven. I believe there was also one that I heard before, it was... I heard it from, Father Dan Reale's podcast, that he said if you pray to Seven Sorrows, Mary will show you, what's been hidden from you. Either, you know, you think one thing... if you're in doubt of something or someone, you pray to Seven Sorrows, Mary will enlighten you and, show you what's being hidden from you. that's what I got from it. Well, they're right there to help us. Yes. And all's we have to do in faith ask, you know? And, I was talking to somebody the other day and they said, Well, why does God allow this? And why does God allow that?" Well- Scripture is very explicit as regards to how we're supposed to think in a sense about God things. And my friends, you don't have to figure them out. Besides, all those questions that you have, when we return home, they're gonna be instantaneously answered, so you don't have any faith problems or anything. I mean, look at what happened to Thomas. "Hey, unless I see this, this, and this, I ain't gonna believe." And what does he do? Jesus turns around and shows him. Then he says, "My Lord and my God." Well, do you believe because you've seen me or because you've not?" How many people today, I mean, in the In the, readings of today, it says, "Don't forget the poor." And we're not talking about monetary poor, we're talking about the poor in spirit like it says in the Beatitudes. It's right there How many people that you know today have, fallen away from the church? You probably know somebody. Here's a good way of introduction right here, the seven sorrows and the seven promises of everything. We're starting with just a basic question with regards to who is Mary to you? How much do you know about Mary? How do you know much about Jesus? Why did you fall away from the church? And be there for them. 'Cause remember we're their arms and legs, in a physical form, so we just have to be patient with them. And let them tell your story. And if you need to, tell them, say, "You know, can I share a story about a friend that I know? I've known him for years." And I think, it's time for me to share my story with you about how God is working in my life. When's the last time you said that to somebody? "Can I share a story with you?" And this is the one I'm gonna do that, the Seven Sorrows of Mary, And that's what this podcast is all about, is just letting you know that it's okay to email somebody. I mean, if you know of somebody right now, my friends, that's fallen away from the church Don't hesitate to give him a call and invite him back in. That's what we're supposed to do. We're arms and his legs And you'd be surprised what will happen if you just open up a little text box, message it or something. That's what all this stuff is all about right here. This is just another means of evangelization Of reaching out. And continually we're trying to think of other ways that we can bring the message that she wants us to, to share with people through others, We actually have a consecration coming up here soon in 20 minutes, so we're going to wrap this up. and would you like to say our closing prayer, Father? In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we come before you now and we thank you for this time together, and we ask you to share with us your wisdom and understanding of how best to, receive your message, and at the same time to share your message that you've chosen us to deliver. And as always, we remember your promises and also your mother's promises, is that Christ will be right there for us. So we just invest everything into your hands, and we ask you to take care of everybody according to your perfect will. Amen. In Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Amen. In the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you for joining us today on Mary's Message, Leading Hearts to Jesus Today. If this conversation brought you closer to Jesus, I invite you to subscribe, leave us a five-star review, and share this episode with someone who needs a little hope. For links, resources, and ways to stay connected, be sure to check out the show notes below. And if you'd like to go deeper, we now have a website. So head to our website, blessedmarysmessages.com, and subscribe. You can join our community, receive reflections, resources, and Marian inspiration delivered straight to your inbox. And you can reach Father Perry, ask him questions and spiritual direction. May Mary's message echo in your heart and lead you ever closer to the loving embrace of Christ