"Shall I see You no more?"

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Can you hear your sorrowful mother say "Beloved Son, shall I see you no more?"

We ought not be afraid of entering into the desert of our own sorrow in loss and trial. The Lord is pleased to thus purify and soften us. To those He loves He gives a portion of His cross, therefore within every suffering there is a great blessing. Let us strive to be not attached to our God's sweetness and consolation for it is in fire that gold is purified.

Lord, in your Sorrowful Mother's Immaculate Heart I place myself forever, there to be purified by the fire of Thy love. Do with me what You will, I surrender myself unto Thee. Amen+

Meditation on Our Lady's Sorrows - Day Seven & Final

FRIEDRICH OVERBECK (1789-1869)WATER-COLOUR ON BOARD - Vatican Museum

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The burial of Jesus

"Now there was in the place where He was crucified, a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein no man yet had been laid. There, therefore, because of the parasceve of the Jews, they laid Jesus, because the sepulcher was nigh at hand." John XIX, 41-42.
Meditation: Consider the sighs which burst from Mary's sad heart when she saw her beloved Jesus laid within the tomb. What grief was hers when she saw the stone lifted to cover that sacred tomb! She gazed a last time on the lifeless body of her Son, and could scarce detach her eyes from those gaping wounds. And when the great stone was rolled to the door of the sepulcher, oh, then indeed her heart seemed torn from her body!

Say one Ave Maria [Hail Mary

Today offer to place your heart beside Mary's forever in the tomb of her Son. Amen+

Meditation for the Month of Holy Souls VIII

Body of Jesus is Placed in the Tomb

"Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, Nicodemus also, who had at first come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight. They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. And Joseph rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment." (Mt 27:59; John 19:38-42; Lk 27:55-56)

Meditation

"My beloved Son, shall I see you no more? I look upon your sacred hands, pierced so mercilessly by nails. I remember holding them when you were a baby, how warm they were against my cold skin. I remember how you would reach for me when you were learning to walk. I remember how faulty they were when you were learning to drink from a cup. O, my Son, I remember how you held my face in my your holy hands as you comforted me at the death of Joseph. And now your hands are so cold. You have left with world and left me here. I wish to be with you and yet You will that I remain. Thy will be done. You are God, you are my only Son. You are my life and I give myself to you without reserve. With you here, in this cold tomb, I leave my heart. Farewell. Amen+"

The Burial of Jesus III

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27:46)

After Our Lady said her final farewell to her Divine Son Jesus, St. Bonaventure states: "her sisters veiled her like a widow, almost covering her face." He also says that, "passing by the cross still dripping with the blood of her Son on her return from the tomb, Mary was the first to adore it. 'O holy cross,' she said, 'I kiss you, I adore you! You are no longer and instrument of torture, but a throne of love and an altar of mercy. You have been consecrated by the blood of the divine Lamb, immolated on you for the salvation of the world.'"

She and those others present left the cross and went home. When Mary arrived there, she faced the reality that Jesus was not there. She would face this every day for the remainder of her earthly life. Think about it: she remembered nursing Him as an infant, teaching Him his prayers, all those precious yet ordinary scenes from everyday life, conversations they had, the deep affection between them. She did not have Joseph at her side to comfort her. She was alone, bereft of her immediate family. She was now a part of the household of St. John, and this must have been a comfort, but certainly not the same...no never could this be the same. We can picture Our Lady, her heart full of sadness turn to St. John and ask him, "John, tell me, where is your Master?" Perhaps she turned to St. Mary Magdalen and said, "Tell me, where is your beloved? O God, who has taken Him from us?" Mary wept bitterly, and all who were with her certainly wept with her.

Meditating on this sad time in Our Sorrowful Mother's life, let us say with St. Bonaventure: "And you, my soul, do you not weep also? Let us turn to our Lady and say, 'O my own sweet Lady, I am the one to weep. You are innocent, I am guilty." Beg her to allow you to weep with her. We should weep for our sins, for they are the cause of all this suffering.

Prayer

Most loveable queen, I desire to love you in heaven. There, at your feet, I shall understand better how worthy you are of love and how much you have done to save me; and then I shall love you with even greater love. I shall love you eternally, without fear of ever ceasing to love you. O Mary, with your help, I am certain of being saved. Pray to Jesus for me. Nothing else is needed. Be my salvation. Amen+

(Source: The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus de Ligouri)

The Burial of Jesus II

"You are changed to be cruel toward me"

(Job 30:21)

In grief and sorrow did Mary sit on Calvary, her dead Son in her arms, pressing Him to her heart. The disciples, fearing Mary may perish for sorrow, approached her reluctantly to remove from her our Lord's body to bury Him. With holy fear did they lift Him from her grasp, annoint Him with aromatic herbs and enfold Him in the shroud. This cloth of course is well known as the Shroud of Turin whereupon His sacred image can still be seen.

This mournful procession walks toward the tomb. The disciples carry Jesus on their shoulders. Imagine the multitude of angels which walked beside them, walking among them our Blessed Mother, following her Son to His final resting place. "O, how willingly would Mary have buried herself alive with her Son had this been His will!" This she revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden. But...alas this was not His holy will. She was to live on and be the mother of St. John, and the mother of us all. The body of Jesus was placed in the tomb, annointed with the tears of Mary. Alongside His body were placed the nails of the crucifixion and the crown of thorns.

According to St. Alphonsus de Ligouri: "When it was time to raise the stone to close the entrace, the grief-stricken disciples approached our Blessed Lady and said to her, "It is time now, O Lady, to close the tomb. Forgive us; look at your Son once more, and say goodbye to Him for the last time." Her reply, the author imagines was thus: "O my beloved Son, am I not going to see you any more? Receive, then, my last farewell, as I gaze upon You for the last time, the last farewell of your devoted mother. Receive my heart, which I bury with you." So we can say with confidence, buried in the tomb of Christ, was His holy body, and beside it the soul of Mary.

Prayer

May I spend the remainder of my days, sweet mother, in grieving over your sufferings an dthe sufferings of my Redeemer. These sorrows, I hope, will give me the confidence and strength I will require at the hour of my death, so that I will not despair at the thought of the many sins by which I have offended my Jesus. You must obtain pardon, perserverance, and heaven for me. In heaven I hope to be happy with you; may it be so. Amen. Amen+

The Burial of Jesus

"For where your treasure is, there also shall your heart be" (Luke 12:34)

Any mother at the bedside of her dying child fully compassionates their sorrows and pains. When the time of burial arrives, the finality of separation becomes very acute. The time has come for the final goodbye. Let us now together meditate on this, our Sorrowful Mother's last sorrow, the burial of her Divine Son.

Mary has looked on as her Son was nailed to the cross. She stood before Him as He breathed His last. She gasped with pain as His side was opened by the soldier's lance. She has held His cold and lifeless body in her holy arms and cleansed Him with her own veil. She now must leave Him in a cold, dark tomb and must come to grips with the reality of never seeing Him again in this life.

St. Alphonsus de Ligouri places the following words on our Mother's lips as she speaks to her dead Son: "Yes, for all your noble qualities, your beauty, grace, virtues, your charm - all the special marks of love you have shown me, the special favors you have granted me - all are now changed into so many arrows of grief. The more those features caused me to love you, the more they now cruelly make me feel your loss. My beloved son, in losing you I have lost everything."

Prayer

My sorrowful mother, I will not leave you to weep alone. No, I will weep along with you. This is the grace I ask you to obtain for me: to be able always to bear in mind and to have a tender devotion to the Passion of Jesus and your sorrows. Amen+

(Source: The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus de Ligouri)