Good Friday - at the Cross

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

By God’s Grace, may we stand with Mary at the Cross of Jesus and listen to His words with attention and devotion. May we hear deeply, and keep His words, pondering them in our hearts, especially: “Behold your Mother”.

 

[Googler]

Virgin Immaculate, my Mother, do not abandon me. See how my poor heart is filled with tears. I do not want to offend my God! Amen.

The Blessed Virgin Mary continued to climb the mount to Calvary, following behind Jesus painfully and sorrowfully, yet suffering silently. She could see Him staggering and falling with the cross some more, and she witnessed her Son being beaten by soldiers who pulled His hair to force Him to stand up. Despite His innocence, when Jesus reached the top of Calvary, He was ordered to confess in front of the crowd so they could laugh at Him. Mary deeply felt her Son’s pain and humiliation, particularly when His tormentors forced Him to strip off what was left of His clothing. The Blessed Virgin felt sick at heart seeing these tyrants crucifying her Son naked, shaming Him terribly merely to amuse the jeering crowd. (Jesus and Mary felt more disgrace than normal people did because they were without sin and holy.)
The Blessed Virgin Mary felt pain beyond bearing when Jesus was stretched out on the Cross. His murderers sang merrily as they approached Him with hammers and nails. They sat on Him heavily so that He could not move when they spiked Him to the wood. As they hammered the nails through His hands and feet, Mary felt the blows in her heart; the nails pierced her flesh as they tore into her Son’s body. She felt her life fading away.
As the soldiers lifted the Cross to drop it into the hole they had dug, they deliberately jerked it, causing the force of His body weight to tear through the flesh and expose His bone. The pain shot through His body like liquid fire.
Jesus endured three excruciating hours skewered on the Cross, yet the physical pain was nothing compared to the agonizing heartache He was forced to bear seeing His mother suffering below Him. Mercifully, He finally died.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Permit me not to be separated from you.
From the wicked foe defend me.
At the hour of my death call me.
And bid me come to you.
That with your saints I may praise you.
Forever and ever, Amen.

We thank you, Beloved Mother, for your courage as you stood beneath your dying Child to comfort Him on the Cross. As our Savior drew His last breath, you became a wonderful Mother to all of us; you became the Blessed Mother of the world. We know that you love us more than our own earthly parents do. We implore you to be our advocate before the Throne of Mercy and Grace so that we can truly become your children. We thank you for Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, and we thank Jesus for giving you to us. Please pray for us, Mother. Amen.

 

[MariaChristi]

Virgin Immaculate, my Mother, do not abandon me. See how my poor heart is filled with tears. I do not want to offend my God! Amen.

The Blessed Virgin Mary continued to climb the mount to Calvary, following behind Jesus painfully and sorrowfully, yet suffering silently. She could see Him staggering and falling with the cross some more, and she witnessed her Son being beaten by soldiers who pulled His hair to force Him to stand up. Despite His innocence, when Jesus reached the top of Calvary, He was ordered to confess in front of the crowd so they could laugh at Him. Mary deeply felt her Son’s pain and humiliation, particularly when His tormentors forced Him to strip off what was left of His clothing. The Blessed Virgin felt sick at heart seeing these tyrants crucifying her Son naked, shaming Him terribly merely to amuse the jeering crowd. (Jesus and Mary felt more disgrace than normal people did because they were without sin and holy.)
The Blessed Virgin Mary felt pain beyond bearing when Jesus was stretched out on the Cross. His murderers sang merrily as they approached Him with hammers and nails. They sat on Him heavily so that He could not move when they spiked Him to the wood. As they hammered the nails through His hands and feet, Mary felt the blows in her heart; the nails pierced her flesh as they tore into her Son’s body. She felt her life fading away.
As the soldiers lifted the Cross to drop it into the hole they had dug, they deliberately jerked it, causing the force of His body weight to tear through the flesh and expose His bone. The pain shot through His body like liquid fire.
Jesus endured three excruciating hours skewered on the Cross, yet the physical pain was nothing compared to the agonizing heartache He was forced to bear seeing His mother suffering below Him. Mercifully, He finally died.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Permit me not to be separated from you.
From the wicked foe defend me.
At the hour of my death call me.
And bid me come to you.
That with your saints I may praise you.
Forever and ever, Amen.

We thank you, Beloved Mother, for your courage as you stood beneath your dying Child to comfort Him on the Cross. As our Savior drew His last breath, you became a wonderful Mother to all of us; you became the Blessed Mother of the world. We know that you love us more than our own earthly parents do. We implore you to be our advocate before the Throne of Mercy and Grace so that we can truly become your children. We thank you for Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, and we thank Jesus for giving you to us. Please pray for us, Mother. Amen.

Dear Brother,

Thanks for your reply and for your love of Jesus and Mary. Sometime before Good Friday but certainly during Holy Week I was remembering again, Mary’s words to St. Juan Diego: “Am I not your Mother? Are you not in the crossing of my arms?” . By God’s Grace, it was more of a sharing in her love for the whole Body of Christ – Head and members — and my own call to unite myself to Mary and her holding all — now in my heart.

It is difficult to explain, but in listening to Jesus’ words to Mary and then to John: “Woman, behold your Son”… and then “Behold your Mother”, there was something new. Today on this Holy Saturday, the First Saturday of April I continue to ponder.

 

[Googler]

Thank you, sister.
The closer one approaches her, the more abundantly one draws from the graces of knowledge and of love, of a generous love toward God, Who for our sake mounted the Cross.

 

[MariaChristi]

Thank you, sister.
The closer one approaches her, the more abundantly one draws from the graces of knowledge and of love, of a generous love toward God, Who for our sake mounted the Cross.

Dear Brother,

It seems my experience has been first coming to know, love and serve Jesus – Then Jesus gave His Mother to me in a special way. The closer I came to her the more I began to appreciate, the Holy Spirit and the mystery of the Incarnation. It was through the words of Pope Emeritus, in his last volume of Jesus of Nazareth, The Infancy Narratives that I began to hear more deeply Jesus’ words to Mary and Joseph: “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s House?” The Pope suggests in those words, Jesus was inviting them into His relationship with the Father.

Each soul is unique and so God may lead us in slightly different ways, growing in stages, along the path to holiness. I agree wholeheartedly with you, and with all the saints: the closer we come to Mary, the more we see God in faith. As St. Louis de Montfort wrote, “We say ‘Mary’ and she says, ‘God’…”

In the end God becomes All in all.

Blessed morning of the Resurrection to you, dear Brother, and to all our brothers and sisters!

 

[Googler]

God’s house/relationship is where we should take heed to accept the invitation to dwell.

Dear sister, I pray you will be faithful unto death and the Master give you the crown of life.

Lord Jesus, You want us to live Marian lives by the practice of devotion to Your Mother, make us more aware than we have been, dear Lord, to not only Your presence in our lives but hers too, so that following in Your footsteps under her Motherly gaze, we may be protected from evil in this life and enter that happiness reserved for those who have been faithful to Jesus and lived Marian lives in this world. Amen.

V. Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia:
R. For he whom thou hast deserved to bear, alleluia,

V. Hath risen, as he said, alleluia.
R. Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. Because the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray. O God, who by the Resurrection of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has vouchsafed to make glad the whole world, grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, his Mother, we may attain the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

[MariaChristi]

God’s house/relationship is where we should take heed to accept the invitation to dwell.

Dear sister, I pray you will be faithful unto death and the Master give you the crown of life.

Lord Jesus, You want us to live Marian lives by the practice of devotion to Your Mother, make us more aware than we have been, dear Lord, to not only Your presence in our lives but hers too, so that following in Your footsteps under her Motherly gaze, we may be protected from evil in this life and enter that happiness reserved for those who have been faithful to Jesus and lived Marian lives in this world. Amen.

V. Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia:
R. For he whom thou hast deserved to bear, alleluia,

V. Hath risen, as he said, alleluia.
R. Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. Because the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray. O God, who by the Resurrection of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has vouchsafed to make glad the whole world, grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, his Mother, we may attain the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

My dear brother,

Thanks so much for your prayers. Yes, by the power of the Holy Spirit, may we open our hearts to receive as Mary did, all the Grace pouring from His Heart on the Cross. Through her hands may we continue to receive His Grace (which is a sharing in His Divine Life) and live His Life in this world. May we be able to say with St. Paul, “It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me.”

Mary, Mother of the Church intercede for us.