Apr. 11 - Holy Saturday - consoling Mary

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MariaChristi

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today on this Holy Saturday, how can we not think of Mary? How can we not want to stay close to her today especially when Mary went through so much suffering with her Son, having seen Him Crucified, and having seen His Heart physically pierced and emptied – as hers was – spiritually.

Below are some words from St. Teresa of Avila regarding Mary. I highlighted in bold particular words regarding Jesus’ appearance to His Mother after He rose from the dead. St. Teresa of Avila “had a special intuition of the presence of Mary in the paschal mystery of her Son, on the pain of her desolation and the joy in the Lord’s resurrection.”
…Teresa loved to contemplate Mary’s fortitude and her communion with Christ at the foot of the Cross. In Concepts of the Love of God she describes the Virgin’s attitude: “She was up, and not sleeping, but suffering in her most holy soul, dying a cruel death”. She had entered mystically into the sorrow of the Virgin when the Lord was placed in her arms “as it is portrayed in the fifth sorrow” and had experience at Easter in Salamanca in 1571 of desolation and anguish (a dark night of the spirit) which made her remember the loneliness of the Virgin at the foot of the Cross. On this same occasion the Lord said to her, “On My resurrection I went to our Lady who was in great need… and I stayed long with her for she was in very great need of consolation”…

…When it was given to her to know the mystery of the Trinity she perceived the closeness of Mary as model and mother of the spiritual life.

…We can state that among the characteristic virtues of the Virgin which Saint Teresa proposed for imitation there is one that contains all the others. Mary is the first Christian, the disciple of the Lord, the follower of Christ even to the foot of the Cross.
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For more see: http://www.ocd.pcn.net/mad_en1.htm

How often God reveals to His Saints the importance of His Mother and His great Love for her! By Gods Grace, may we continually ask God for the graces we need to groe closer to Him as the Saints have done through Mary"s Immaculate Heart. Mary is human as we are, and she understand by the Love and Wisdom God has given her, how weak and needy we are and greatly desires us to follow Jesus, as she did on this earth. Let us open our hearts to Jesus through Mary, receiving all from Him as Mary di both the sufferings and the joy!

Totus tuus!
 
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Dear Cath, SPONP4US, and Stephie,

Thank you all for your “hearts” which encourage us — knowing there are others who love Jesus through Mary and desire to comfort her for all Her Love of Him and us for His sake.

In the quote posted on some words from St. Teresa of Avila, I noticed a title of one of St. Teresa’s works that I was unfamiliar with and began to search on the internet to find out more. The first thing I discovered was a different translation of the title itself. The copy I found was translated by Rev. John Dalton from Spanish into English, under the title – “Conceptions on Divine Love”. I’m on Chapter 3, having begun to read it this morning, and have yet to find a reference to Our Lady, but I will persevere – for words from any saint but especially St. Teresa of Avila have great value.

Although St. Teresa has yet to mention Mary, in the first 3 chapters of this work, she is writing on the Old Testament book “Canticle of Canticles” (sometimes called the Song of Solomon) and so she is sharing her insights on God’s Word and His Love with her sisters.

The first line of the article from which I quoted in this morning’s post indicates one reason for my wanting to read more:
St Teresa’s whole Marian experience is found scattered throughout her writings, from which we can put together a lovely mosaic of Mary.
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It has been a blessed day. It began with a desire to comfort Mary with Jesus, and the day is coming to a close with my being very much comforted by the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary through the writing of dear St. Teresa of Avila. God is full of surprises!
 
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From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday

Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.
 
For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.
See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.
 
The Gospels mention various appearances of the risen Christ, but not a meeting between Jesus and his Mother. This silence must not lead to the conclusion that after the Resurrection Christ did not appear to Mary; rather it invites us to seek the reasons why the Evangelists made such a choice… If the authors of the New Testament do not speak of the Mother’s encounter with her risen Son, this can perhaps be attributed to the fact that such a witness would have been considered too biased by those who denied the Lord’s Resurrection, and therefore not worthy of belief.

How could the Blessed Virgin, present in the first community of disciples (cf. Acts 1:14), be excluded from those who met her divine Son after he had risen from the dead?

Indeed, it is legitimate to think that the Mother was probably the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared. Could not Mary’s absence from the group of women who went to the tomb at dawn indicate that she had already met Jesus? This inference would also be confirmed by the fact that the first witnesses of the Resurrection, by Jesus’ will, were the women who had remained faithful at the foot of the Cross and therefore were more steadfast in faith.

The unique and special character of the Blessed Virgin’s presence at Calvary and her perfect union with the Son in his suffering on the Cross seem to postulate a very particular sharing on her part in the mystery of the Resurrection.

Pope Saint John Paul II

General Audience of Wednesday, May 21, 1997

Read more on mariedenazareth.com:​

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
 
Dear hazcompat,

Thanks for posting these words of Pope St. JPII. How truly he pondered the Gospels and how his love and true devotion to the Blessed Virgin shone through his life and his words.

Totus tuus!
 
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