Thirteenth Station: Jesus' body body is taken down from the cross
and placed in the arms of our mother Mary.
Our
Father....
Hail Mary....
Glory Be to the Father....
The
crowd had gone; the noise had stopped. I stood quietly with John
and Mary, looking up at the disfigured body of my Son. Two men
took the body of Christ from the cross and slumped it into my
arms. The weight of his body was infinite. It crushed and destroyed
any remaining sentiments within me. I cannot remember anything
or anyone else around me at that moment, only the weight of what
had been my Son, and was now the very essence of sin, in my arms.
And yet he was still my Son. It was incomprehensible and I was
now as empty and helpless as my Son. We had made the Way of the
Cross together and had been annihilated together.
“It is completed.” May this be said of you too, my children. May the
graces you have received in this meditation be complete and bear fruit. I would like
to be able to reunite, on the last evening of your life, all of your days in one
splendid book, and give it to my Son. He would receive it in Thanksgiving to the
Father for the sinner who accepted the grace to become a saint. As I received his
Body, may he receive your body, and offer it back to the Father, who cares for his
sons and daughters, here and hereafter.
Prayer: Implore for us the grace of faith, hope
and charity, most merciful Lord, so that we, like you, may stand
without flinching beneath the Cross until our last breath. To your
Son, Jesus, our Saviour, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, all
honour and glory for ever and ever.
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