Lamentation Petrus Christus (1450)THE SOLITUDE OF MARY
2. The Holy Burial.
Those pious men, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, together with the holy women and Our Holy Mother prepare to anoint the Holy Body. Watch that operation and see how lovingly and delicately they cleanse those wounds and anoint them with balm and perfume. Perhaps Our lady reserved for Herself the task of washing and anointing the Holy Head . . . She Herself would cover that Divine Face with fine linen. What a sorrow for Her as She cast the last glance on that face She knew so well. How often in ecstasy She had watched it!
The body is now taken to the sepulcher. Join you the sad procession which for the last time accompanies the body of Jesus. How sad it is when we must abandon the dead body of some beloved person! When we take it from home to the last dwelling our hearts well nigh break. How long--and at the same time, how short--is the journey to the cemetery. While on one hand we would like to arrive as soon as possible, and put an end at last to all sad ceremonies, on the other we dread the arrival of that moment of total separation, of the last goodbye. What would be the suffering of the heart of Our Mother at that moment?
The body is laid in the sepulcher; the stone slowly rolls down and hides the holy body. How can we explain what takes place in the soul of Mary? Now She is alone --utterly alone-- without Her Son. She cannot tear Herself away. She cannot possibly live without Him. Do not be in a hurry to move away from there. Linger a little while. Remain before the sepulcher of Jesus in company with that Virgin who is your Mother. Think of the tomb; the end of all earthly things. Jesus wanted to undergo this humiliation that at our death it might be our comfort and example.
But no! Death is not humiliating when it is like the death of Christ. Nor is the sepulcher, even if our body is eaten up by worms, provided we are similar to our Master. Glorious is the death and happy is the sepulcher of the saints!
Remember, moreover, that you daily bear Jesus in your heart and that He wanted His tomb to be new and clean, a spot where no one save Himself had been placed. Ponder over these circumstances and see that your heart must be like that sepulcher of Jesus. Examine if Jesus can find in it those perfumes of virtue symbolized by the ointments which scented His body. He wants them in your heart also. Ask Our Lady to make up for your miserable poverty. Ask Her to teach you how to keep Jesus in your heart all your life long so that you are never deprived of His presence.
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
Those pious men, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, together with the holy women and Our Holy Mother prepare to anoint the Holy Body. Watch that operation and see how lovingly and delicately they cleanse those wounds and anoint them with balm and perfume. Perhaps Our lady reserved for Herself the task of washing and anointing the Holy Head . . . She Herself would cover that Divine Face with fine linen. What a sorrow for Her as She cast the last glance on that face She knew so well. How often in ecstasy She had watched it!
The body is now taken to the sepulcher. Join you the sad procession which for the last time accompanies the body of Jesus. How sad it is when we must abandon the dead body of some beloved person! When we take it from home to the last dwelling our hearts well nigh break. How long--and at the same time, how short--is the journey to the cemetery. While on one hand we would like to arrive as soon as possible, and put an end at last to all sad ceremonies, on the other we dread the arrival of that moment of total separation, of the last goodbye. What would be the suffering of the heart of Our Mother at that moment?
The body is laid in the sepulcher; the stone slowly rolls down and hides the holy body. How can we explain what takes place in the soul of Mary? Now She is alone --utterly alone-- without Her Son. She cannot tear Herself away. She cannot possibly live without Him. Do not be in a hurry to move away from there. Linger a little while. Remain before the sepulcher of Jesus in company with that Virgin who is your Mother. Think of the tomb; the end of all earthly things. Jesus wanted to undergo this humiliation that at our death it might be our comfort and example.
But no! Death is not humiliating when it is like the death of Christ. Nor is the sepulcher, even if our body is eaten up by worms, provided we are similar to our Master. Glorious is the death and happy is the sepulcher of the saints!
Remember, moreover, that you daily bear Jesus in your heart and that He wanted His tomb to be new and clean, a spot where no one save Himself had been placed. Ponder over these circumstances and see that your heart must be like that sepulcher of Jesus. Examine if Jesus can find in it those perfumes of virtue symbolized by the ointments which scented His body. He wants them in your heart also. Ask Our Lady to make up for your miserable poverty. Ask Her to teach you how to keep Jesus in your heart all your life long so that you are never deprived of His presence.
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
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