The seven swords that pierced the Immaculate Heart of Our Heavenly Mother are:
1)     Simeon’s Prophecy
2)     The flight into Egypt
3)     The three days loss in the temple
4)     Meeting Jesus with His cross
5)     The crucifixion
6)     Taking Jesus down from the cross
7)     The burial of Jesus

Tradition says that Mary’s heart was pierced seven times with seven swords of sorrow.  This constitutes her seven dolours.  Yet, Archbishop Sheen says that these seven swords were indeed seven thrusts of one double-edged sword—the sword being Jesus Christ Himself—one edge going into His own Sacred Heart first and the other edge going into her Immaculate Heart.  Archbishop Sheen continues saying, an unsuffering Madonna to a suffering Christ would be a loveless Madonna.  Who is there who loves, who does not want to share the sorrows of the beloved?  Mary could not wipe away the tears of her children unless she herself had been their fountain.  She has rightly earned the title Mother of the Afflicted.

St. Paul tells us that we cannot be partakers of His Glory unless we partake in His crucifixion. Being the Mother of God has made Mary no less exempt from this law of sacrifice.