[6]Passion of Christ against satan; Part 31 - Life of Mary
Marida Ignacio
19 thru 25 on the "Life of Mary" series to jump to chapter/part
26 in commemoration of the Passion of our Lord. These parts 26 thru
33 are still from the same book but is more focused on the Passion of
our Lord.
I'll continue with "regular programming" next week, starting right back
on chapter/part 19.
-Marida
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DISCLAIMER: This compilation was based on saints, blesseds,
visionaries (4 in all) accounts of the "Life of Mary" as
"revealed" to them. It is NOT officially approved by the
Church as essential to our faith and belief. It is up to
individual reader's discretion to believe it or not.
This is here for simple contemplation on what "Holy life of
Our Blessed Virgin Mother" was and what virtues we can derive
from it.
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[from the book:
The Life of Mary as Seen by Mystics
Compiled by Raphael Brown
from Chap. 31. The Crucifixion]
[WARNING: all exact qoute with omission of some sections that
are TOO "graphic".]
As Described by the Mother of Sorrows to St. Bridget of Sweden.
"When I came with Him to the place of the Passion, I saw there all the
instruments prepared for His death.
"He was ordered to take off His robe, and He immediately did so. And after
He had undressed Himself, the soldiers said to one another: 'These clothes
belong to us, because He who is condemned to death will not use them again.'
...
"When the first nail was driven into Him, through the shock of the first
blow, I lost consciousness and fell down as though dead. Everything turned
black before my eyes. My hands began to tremble. And my anguish was so
bitter that I could not look up again until He was completely attached to
the Cross.
"When I came to myself and arose again, I saw my Son hanging crucified in
misery. And I, His deeply grieving Mother, felt such a shock through
and through my whole being that I could hardly stand.
"I also heard men saying to one another that my Son was a robber, others
that He was a liar, and other that no one deserved death more than my Son
and when I heard such words, my grief was renewed.
"Now the crown of thorns, which covered half of His forhead was pressing
down onto His head so strongly that His blood was running down over His
face and filling His eyes, hair and beard. His whole head seemed to be
nothing but one stream of blood, and in order to see me, as I stood by
the Cross, He had to press the blood away from His eyes by contracting
His lids and brows.
"Because I was very close to Him during His Passion and did not allow myself
to be separated from Him, for I stood right next to His Cross, and because
the nearer something is to the heart the keener is its stab, so His suffering
was more powerful to me than the others. And when He looked down at me from
the Cross and I looked up at Him, tears streamed from my eyes like blood
from veins. And when He saw me so overwhelmed with grief, my sorrow made
Him suffer so much that all the pains which He felt from His wounds were
surpassed by the sight of the grief in which He beheld me. Therefore I
boldly assert that His suffering became my suffering, because His Heart
was mine. And just as Adam and Eve sold the world for an apple, so in a
certain sense my Son and I redeemed the world with one Heart.
"While He was hanging there, bleeding and pierced with nails, He had
compassion for my suffering as I stood near Him, sobbing. With His blood-
filled eyes He looked down at John and commended me to his care.
"Then after He had entrusted me to the care of His Beloved Disciple, He
saw me and His friends weeping inconsolably, and from the depth of His Heart
He cried out in an overpowering voice, raising His head and His tear-filled
eyes toward Heaven: 'My God, My God, why has Thou abandoned Me?'
"I was never able to forget that cry until my Assumption into Heaven. And
yet He uttered it more out of compassion for me than because of His own
suffering.
"His Heart was still vigorous, for it was of the best and strongest quality.
At His birth He had acquired from my flesh an extraordinary pure body and an
excellent constitution. His skin was so fine and delicate that the
slightest blow caused the blood to flow at once. And His blood was so red
that it could be seen coursing under His clear skin.
"And because His constitution was so very excellent, now death struggled
fiercely with life in His pierced body.
...
"And yet, though He was in the midst of such suffering when He looked down
at His weeping friends who, rather than see Him suffer thus, would have
wished to undergo the same pains themselves, the sorrow which the suffering
of His friends caused Him was far greater than all the bitter pain which
He had to endure in His body and His Heart for He loved them tenderly.
"Then in the excessive anguish of His humanity He cried to His Father:
'Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit!'
"When I, His Most Sorrowful Mother, heard these words, in my keen grief
of heart all my limbs trembled - and indeed as often as I later thought
of that cry, I would hear it again in my ears.
"...Finally, His head dropped and His beard rested on His chest.
"Then my hands became numb. Darkness appeared before my eyes. My face
turned as white as a corpse. My ears could no longer hear and I could not
utter a word. My feet gave way. And I sank to the ground.
"But when I arose again and saw my Son more despised than a person afflicted
with leprosy, I directed my will completely toward Him. Then I fully
understood that everything had happened in accordance with His Will and that
it could not have happened unless He had permitted it. And I thanked Him
for everything. A certain joy was even mingled with my grief, for I
perceived how He, who had never sinned had willed to suffer so much for
sinners, out of His great love.
...
"Then some persons who were present said in a mocking way: 'Mary, your Son
is dead now.'
"Others, who were more considerate, said: 'Woman, now the agony of your Son
has come to an end in eternal glory.'
"And still others said: 'Though He is dead, He will rise again!'
"And while they were saying this, a man came up and drove a spear so
forcefully into His side that it almost came out on the other side. And as
soon as he drew it out, its point was all red with blood. The Heart of my
beloved Son was so violently and mercilessly pierced that the spear split
His Heart into two.
...
"When they lowered the body near the ground one supported it at the head and
the other at the feet. But I, who was His Mother, held Him in the middle.
Then we three carried Him to a stone which I had covered with clean linens.
"All my Son's limbs had become stiff and cold in death, and the blood which
had flowed over them during His Passion adhered to them. But I was indeed
consoled that I could touch His body and take Him onto my lap, examine His
wounds and dry up the blood.
...
"Then they laid Him out on some clean linen, and with my cloth I washed
His wounds and His limbs. And with my fingers I closed His eyes and His
mouth which were open when He died.
"But I did not sew up the cloth, for I knew for sure that He would not
decay in the tomb.
"Then Magdalen and other Holy Women came up, and also there were many holy
angels present, like bright sunbeams, to render honor to their Creator.
"...I also rejoiced in my soul, because I knew that my Son would not die
again, but would live forever. And thus some joy was mingled with my
sorrow.
"Then they placed Him in the tomb.
"Oh, how gladly would I have allowed them to entomb me alive with my Son,
if it had been His will! I can truly say that when my Son was entombed,
there were two Hearts in one sepulcher. Is there not the saying:'where
your treasure is, there is your heart?' Therefore my thoughts and my heart
were always in the Tomb of my Son.
"After all these things had been accomplished, the good John came and led
me to his house.
"So you see, my daughter, what my Son suffered for you.
"Consider therefore how great was my suffering at the Death of my Son, and
it will not be so hard for you to give up the world!"
--
___ ___
(__ \/ ) His Peace through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Marida
* )XxXx/
* | / "Human-kind: Where protection of valuable life starts and
* ) / takes off."
* \/ Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you..."
*