Seven Sorrows

I'm so glad about the Catholic band, "Seven Sorrows." I just ordered their CD and a T-Shirt. I've heard good things.

If you are wondering how a "glad" guy can celebrate "seven sorrows," either consult your local theologian or look at my meager attempt to explain. here:
http://imsoglad.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_imsoglad_archive.html

Sorrowful Christians? or Joyful?
Is there a legitimate theology of sadness or sorrow among Christians?The word sorrow is used 69 times in the Old and New Testaments. Joy is used 165 times. Many of the references to "sorrow" are actually talking about how one's sorrow will be turned to joy. However it is important to remember that there are many reasons for people in the Old and New Testament to feel sorrow. Most notable of these is the Passion of Christ. Traditionally and scripturally Mary shares this with Jesus in a special way. Christians should also be considered realists. To look at the world and see much abject suffering and not to acknowledge this and incorporate it into Christian theology would be grossly negligent. So, clearly there is a legitimacy to Christian sorrow.Below several links here are images of the sorrowful Christ or sorrowful mother.http://www.mfa.org/artemis/fullrecord.asp?oid=32324&did=500
http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pinfo?Object=45910+0+none
http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/andre/sorrows.html
Also is some discussion of the theology of sorrow:
http://sycophants.info/good-friday.html
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/sorrowsmed.html
http://www.catholictradition.org/7sorrows.htm

And how does this correspond with the joy and gratitude Christians claim?http://www.stlukesrec.org/sermons99/11trin99.htmlSo there are two emotions in the heart of the praying believer. On the one hand, we sorrow, like the Publican, over our sin. On the other hand, we are exhilarated by God's grace and forgiveness in Christ. Which brings us to the challenge posed by Sartre at the introduction. Does the Christian constantly grovel in the dust before God like the actor in The Flies? Is the Christian life primarily sorrow or joy? Gloom or sunshine? A vale of tears, or a feast of jubilation?The answer is yes. Both of them. G. K. Chesterton called this one of the odd, yet delightful paradoxes of Christianity. In his book Orthodoxy he explains how orthodox theology has a mystical talent for combining vices which seem inconsistent with each other. That is why atheists like Sartre are constantly getting it wrong. They'll accuse Christians one day of being too glum, and the next day accuse them of being too jovial. They denounce Christendom as being too pacifistic, and at the same time too bellicose, too worldly and too unworldly.Here I quote Chesterton, "Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious. The Church was positive on both points. . . . It has kept them side by side like two strong colours, red and white, like the red and white upon the shield of St. George. It has always had a healthy hatred of pink."http://www.iconsexplained.com/iec/02087.htm