MARY AND THE DEATH OF JESUS
2. The Death of Jesus.
With a majesty and dignity befitting a God, Jesus bends His head and expires. At this moment, the earth trembles, the veil of the Temple is torn asunder, the rocks collide against one another, many sepulchers are opened, and through their gaping mouths many dead come back to life to give testimony to the divinity of Our Lord. And in the midst of that tragic and frightful commotion of the whole of Creation Our Blessed Lady, steadfast, serene and courageous, does not grow frightened, does not run away, but embraces the cross and places on the feet of Her dead Son the purest kiss, the sweetest, the tenderest that a mother ever laid on the dead body of her child.
Overwhelmed by sorrow, She had followed all the steps of His agony. And now, on seeing Him dead, far from breaking down and falling crushed under the weight of Her boundless sorrow, She lifts Herself, upheld by grace, and offers Her consent to the frightful sacrifice. Kissing the cross which made Her suffer so much, She offers up to the Eternal Father the immolation of that Divine Victim for the salvation of the sinners of the whole world.
Enter into the sorrow-stricken heart of that Mother, the most sorrowful of all mothers, and you will find there the living altar where the Divine Lamb was immolated at the cost of untold sufferings. And yet that torn heart remains tranquil, fulfilling at every moment the Holy Will which demanded such a sacrifice.
Do not forget. No one is exempt from the cross. Do not persist on turning your back on it. You will merely render it heavier. Embrace your cross. The more painful and heavy it is, the more affectionately accept it. Be generous with the One who on His death sanctified the cross. Die to yourself, fasten yourself to the cross which God bestows on you. Only then will you sanctify yourself. As with the cross is Heaven gained, nor is with cross eternal loss, there is no cross without a Saint, there is no saint without a cross.
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
2. The Death of Jesus.
With a majesty and dignity befitting a God, Jesus bends His head and expires. At this moment, the earth trembles, the veil of the Temple is torn asunder, the rocks collide against one another, many sepulchers are opened, and through their gaping mouths many dead come back to life to give testimony to the divinity of Our Lord. And in the midst of that tragic and frightful commotion of the whole of Creation Our Blessed Lady, steadfast, serene and courageous, does not grow frightened, does not run away, but embraces the cross and places on the feet of Her dead Son the purest kiss, the sweetest, the tenderest that a mother ever laid on the dead body of her child.
Overwhelmed by sorrow, She had followed all the steps of His agony. And now, on seeing Him dead, far from breaking down and falling crushed under the weight of Her boundless sorrow, She lifts Herself, upheld by grace, and offers Her consent to the frightful sacrifice. Kissing the cross which made Her suffer so much, She offers up to the Eternal Father the immolation of that Divine Victim for the salvation of the sinners of the whole world.
Enter into the sorrow-stricken heart of that Mother, the most sorrowful of all mothers, and you will find there the living altar where the Divine Lamb was immolated at the cost of untold sufferings. And yet that torn heart remains tranquil, fulfilling at every moment the Holy Will which demanded such a sacrifice.
Do not forget. No one is exempt from the cross. Do not persist on turning your back on it. You will merely render it heavier. Embrace your cross. The more painful and heavy it is, the more affectionately accept it. Be generous with the One who on His death sanctified the cross. Die to yourself, fasten yourself to the cross which God bestows on you. Only then will you sanctify yourself. As with the cross is Heaven gained, nor is with cross eternal loss, there is no cross without a Saint, there is no saint without a cross.
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
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