The Piercing of the Side of Jesus,
and
His descent from the Cross
by Saint Alphonsus Liguori
"O, all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if
there be any sorrow like to my sorrow." Devout
souls, listen to what the sorrowful
Mary says this day:
"My beloved children, I do not wish you to console me; no, for my soul
is no longer susceptible of consolation in this world after the death of my dear Jesus. If
you wish to please me, this is what I ask of you; behold me, and see if there ever has
been in the world a grief like mine, in seeing Him Who was all my Love torn from me with
such cruelty."
But, my sovereign Lady,
since thou wilt not
be
consoled, and hast so great a thirst for sufferings,
I must tell thee that, even with the death of thy
Son, thy
sorrows
have not ended.
On this day thou
wilt be
wounded by another sword of sorrow, a cruel lance will pierce the
side
of thy Son
already dead, and thou
hast to receive Him
in thine
arms after He
is taken down from
the Cross. And now we are to consider the Sixth Dolor
which afflicted this poor Mother.
Attend and
weep.
Hitherto the dolors of Mary
tortured her
one-by-one; on this day they are all, as it were,
united
to assail her.
It is enough to tell a mother that her son is dead, to excite all her love. Some persons, that they may lessen a
mother's grief, remind her of the
displeasure at one time caused by her
departed child. But I, my Queen,
did I thus wish to lighten thy
grief for the death
of Jesus, of what
displeasure
that He ever caused thee
could I remind thee? No, indeed. He always
loved
thee, always
obeyed
thee, and always
respected
thee. Now thou
hast lost Him, Who
can ever tell thy grief?
Do thou explain it, thou
who hast experienced it. A devout
author says, that when our beloved Redeemer
was dead, the first care of the great Mother was to accompany
in spirit the most Holy
Soul of her Son, and
present
it to
the Eternal Father. "I present Thee, O my God," Mary must then have said, "the Immaculate Soul of Thine and my Son; He has now
obeyed Thee unto death; do Thou, then, receive it in Thine arms.
Thy justice is now satisfied, Thy will is accomplished; behold, the great sacrifice to Thy
eternal glory is consummated." Then, turning towards the lifeless members
of her Jesus,
"O wounds," she
said, "O wounds of love, I adore
you, and in you do I rejoice; for by your means salvation is given to the world. You will
remain open in the body of my Son, and be the refuge of those who have recourse to you. O,
how many, through you, will receive the pardon of their sins, and by you be inflamed with
love for the supreme good!"
The Lance - Piercing the side of Jesus - by RUBENS,
Pieter Pauwel - from Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp . .
. .
(It has been confirmed by extensive experimentation that the blow of the lance, which was
given to the right side of Jesus, reached the right auricle of the heart, perforating the
pericardium. "But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that He was already
dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear opened His side,
and immediately there came out blood and water." (John 19:33-34). The body of one
who had been executed could be legally delivered to the family, but only after the
executioner made sure the body was dead. This action which seems so strange was merely the
carrying out of a legal regulation. The Jews might also have made out that You were
not dead, but have fainted; Your resurrection needed this testimony. Thank you, soldier;
thank you, Longinus; one day to come, you would be privileged by God to die a Christian
martyr.)
That the joy of the following Paschal Sabbath might not
be
disturbed, the Jews
desired that
the body of Jesus should be
taken down from the Cross; but as this could
not be done unless the criminals were dead,
men came with iron bars
to break
Our Lord's legs, as they had already done
those of the two thieves who were
crucified
with Him. Mary
was still weeping over the death of her
Son, when she
saw these armed men
advancing towards her Jesus.
At this sight she first
trembled
with fear, and then exclaimed: "Ah, my Son is already dead; cease to outrage Him; torment me no more, who
am His poor Mother." She
implored them, writes Saint Bonaventure, "not
to break His legs." But while she
thus spoke, O God!
She saw a soldier (Longinus)
brandish a
lance (in mercy
to Her), and
pierce
the side of Jesus: "One of the soldiers with a spear opened His side, and immediately
there came out blood and water." At the
stroke of the spear the Cross
shook, and, as it was afterwards revealed to
Saint Bridget, the heart of
Jesus was divided in two. There came out blood and water;
for only those few drops of blood
remained,
and even those our Savior was pleased
to
shed, that we might understand that He
had no more blood to
give us. The injury of that stroke
was inflicted on Jesus,
but Mary
suffered
its pain.
"Christ,"
says the devout Lanspergius, "shared this
wound with His Mother; He received the insult, His Mother endured its agony."
The holy fathers
maintain that this was
literally the sword foretold to the Blessed Virgin by Saint Simeon: a
sword, not a material one, but one of grief, which
transpierced
her blessed
soul in the heart of Jesus, where it always dwelt. Thus, amongst
others, Saint Bernard says: "The lance
which opened His side passed through the soul of the Blessed Virgin, which could never
leave her Son's heart." The divine Mother
herself
revealed the same thing to Saint
Bridget: "When the spear was drawn out, the point
appeared red with blood: then, seeing the heart of my most dear Son pierced, it seemed to
me as if my own heart was also pierced." An
angel told
the same Saint, "that such were the
sufferings of Mary, that it was only by a miraculous interposition on the part of God,
that she did not die." In her
other dolors she
at least had her Son
to compassionate her;
but now she has not even Him to
pity
her.
The afflicted Mother,
fearing that other injuries might still be
inflicted
on her Son,
entreated Joseph of Arimathea to obtain the
body
of her Jesus
from Pilate, that at least in death she
might guard and
protect it from
further outrage. Joseph
went,
and represented to Pilate the grief and
desires of this afflicted Mother.
Saint Anselm
believes that
compassion
for the Mother
softened
the heart of Pilate, and
moved
him
to grant her
the body of the Savior.
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Descent from the Cross -
by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn -
from the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
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Jesus was then taken down from the
Cross. O most sacred Virgin, after thou
hast given thy Son
to the world, with so great love, for our salvation, behold the world now restores Him
to thee; but, O God,
in what state dost thou
receive
Him?
"O
world," said Mary, "how dost thou return Him to me? My Son was white and ruddy; but thou
returnest Him to me blackened with bruises, and red-yes! But with the wounds which thou
hast inflicted upon Him. He was all fair and beautiful; but now there is no more beauty in
Him; He is all disfigured. His aspect enamoured all; now He excites horror in all who
behold Him."
"O, how many swords,"
says Saint Bonaventure, "pierced the poor
Mother's soul" when she
received
the body of her Son from the
Cross!
Let us only consider the anguish it would
cause any mother to receive into her arms the body of her lifeless son. It was
revealed to Saint Bridget, that three
ladders were placed against the Cross
to take down the Sacred Body; the holy
disciples first
drew out the
nails
from the hands and
feet, and, according to Metaphrastes,
gave them to Mary. Then one supported the
upper
part of the body of Jesus,
and the other the lower, and thus
descended
it
from
the Cross. Bernardine de Bustis
describes the afflicted Mother as
standing, and
extending
her
arms to meet her dear Son;
she
embraced Him, and then sat at the foot of the
Cross. His
mouth
was open, His eyes were dim; she then examined His
mangled flesh and uncovered
bones; she took off the crown, and saw the sad
injuries which the thorns had
inflicted
on that sacred head; she
saw the holes in His
hands
and feet, and thus addressed Him:
"Ah, Son, to what has Thy love for men brought Thee; and
what evil hadst Thou done them, that they should thus cruelly have tormented Thee?"
"Thou wast my father" (continues
Bernardine
de Bustis, in Mary's name), "Thou wast my brother, my spouse, my delight, my glory; Thou wast my
all. My Son, see my affliction, look at me, console me; but no, Thou no longer lookest at
me. Speak, say but a word, and console me; but Thou speakest no more, for Thou art dead."
Then, turning to those barbarous instruments of torture,
she
said, "O cruel thorns, O cruel nails, O merciless spear, how, how could you
thus torture your Creator? But why do I speak of thorns or nails?""Alas! Sinners,"
she
exclaimed,
"it is you who have thus cruelly treated my Son."
Thus did Mary
speak
and complain of us. But what would she
now say, were she still susceptible of suffering? What would be her grief
to see that men, notwithstanding that her Son has
died
for them, still continue to
torment
and crucify Him
by their sins! Let us, at least, cease to torment this afflicted
Mother; and if we have hitherto grieved her
by our sins, let us now do all that she desires.
She says, "Return,
ye transgressors, to the heart." Sinners,
return to the wounded heart
of my Jesus;
return as penitents, and He will welcome you. "Flee
from Him to Him," she
continues to say with the Abbot Guarric; "from
the Judge to the Redeemer, from the tribunal to the cross." Our Blessed Lady herself revealed to Saint
Bridget, that "she closed the eyes of her Son,
when He was taken down from the Cross, but she could not close His arms;" Jesus Christ
giving us
thereby to understand that He
desired
to remain with His arms
extended
to receive
all penitent sinners
who
return to Him. "O world,"
continues Mary, "behold,
then, thy time is the time of lovers." "Now
that my Son has died to save thee, it is no longer for thee a time of fear, but one of
love - a time to love Him, Who to show thee the love He bore thee was pleased to suffer so
much." "The heart of Jesus,"
says Saint Bernard, "was wounded, that
through the visible wound, the invisible wound of love might be seen."
"If, then," concludes Mary, in the words of Blessed Raymond
Jordano, "my Son by excess of love was pleased
that His side should be opened, that He might give thee His heart, it is right, O may,
that thou in return shouldst also give Him thine." And if you desire, O
children of Mary, to find a place in the heart of Jesus,
without fear of
being rejected,
"go" says Ubertino da Casale,
"go with Mary; for she will obtain the grace for you."
Of this you have a proof in the following beautiful example.
Example
The disciple relates, that there was a poor sinner
who, among other crimes which he had committed, had
killed his father and a brother, and
therefore was a fugitive. One day in Lent,
hearing a sermon on the
 Divine Mercy, he went to confess
his sins to the preacher
himself. The confessor, on hearing the enormous crimes which he had
committed, sent him to
an altar of Mary in Sorrow, that she
might obtain him contrition, and the
pardon of his sins.
The sinner
obeyed,
and began to pray; when, behold, he suddenly dropped down dead from excess of
grief.
On the following day, when the priest recommended the
deceased to the
prayers of the people, a white dove appeared
in the church, and let a card drop at
his feet. The priest
took it up, and found the following words written upon it:
"The soul of the deceased, on leaving his body, went
straight to heaven. Continue thou to preach the infinite mercy of God."
Prayer
O afflicted Virgin!
O soul great in virtue but great also in sorrow,
for the one and the other took their rise in that immense love with which thy heart was
inflamed towards God,
for thou couldst love Him alone;
ah, Mother, pity me, for instead of loving God I have greatly offended Him.
Thy sorrows encourage me to hope for pardon.
But this is not enough;
I wish to love my Lord; and who can better obtain me this love than thou,
who art the Mother of fair love?
Ah, Mary, thou comfortest all; console me also.
Amen.
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