Fourteenth Day. the Burial of Jesus
It is now the evening of Good Friday, and Mary is sitting at the foot of the cross with her dead Son upon her lap. It is here that mourners for future generations will come to find rest and peace. Here the widow, the orphan, and the lonely will find how good a thing it is to have their hearts crushed with sorrow, because here they will find the loving arms of their new Mother Mary around them, and through their grief they will see God. But now the time has come when Mary must give up her treasure. So giving the signal to Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, they lift the body of the dead Creator and move towards the garden tomb. Mary arranges everything; she adjusts the winding-sheet, and then takes her last look on the lifeless body of Jesus. “Oh, look and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow!” Then her adopted son, John, comes to her, drawing her away, for she is half-dead with the grief and anguish of the past night and day. Through the same gate by which she had left the city of Jerusalem in the morning, she re-entered it that night. Poor Jerusalem, that city of God, how often had Our Lord yearned and wept over it, longing to gather those chosen ones to Himself! But no, they had rejected Him, and now their cup of iniquity is filled. They have crucified their King; their pavements are stained with His blood. Mary knows all this, still there is no room in her heart for bitterness. Oh, what a contrast to our spirit of revenge, sometimes for even a fancied wrong. We learn from this dolor of Mary that there is no darkness like the darkness of a world without Jesus, and if His absence is caused by our own fault, our own sin, then it is the greatest of sorrows. O Mary, my Mother, keep us ever by thy side at the foot of the cross! so that remembering all that thou hast suffered, we will gladly accept all the sorrows that may come. Amen.
Prayer.
O Virgin Mother most sorrowful, I detest my sins because they have offended God, and caused thee so much pain! I am sorry for them, and will be sorry for them as long as I live, and according to the best of my power will do penance for them. Forgive me, dear Lord, for Thy mercy’s sake; pardon me all that is past, and be Thou my keeper for the time to come, that I may nevermore offend Thee. Amen.