Mary prepares to see Jesus crucified, Mary: Day 241

Mary prepares to see Jesus crucified

St. Alphonsus recounts St. Bridget’s vision of the hours during which Mary prepared to watch her Son die.

The Blessed Virgin revealed to St. Bridget that when the time of the passion of our Lord was approaching, her eyes were always filled with tears as she thought of her beloved Son, whom she was about to lose on earth. The prospect of that approaching suffering caused her to be seized with fear, so that a cold sweat covered her whole body. When the appointed day finally came, Jesus went in tears to say goodbye to his mother before he went to his death. St. Bonaventure, contemplating Mary on that night, says: “You spent it without sleep, and while others slept, you remained watching in vigil.”

In the morning the disciples of Jesus Christ came to this afflicted mother, one to bring her one account, the other another. But all were tidings of sorrow, confirming in her the prophecy of Jeremiah: “She weeps bitterly in the night, tears on her cheeks; she has none to comfort her [of] all her friends” (Lam 1:2). Some then came to relate to her the cruel treatment of her Son in the house of Caiaphas. Others came to tell of the insults he had received from Herod. Finally—to come to our point, I omit all the rest—St. John came and announced to Mary that Pilate had already most unjustly condemned Jesus to die on the Cross. I say unjustly, for as St. Leo remarks, “This unjust judge condemned him to death with the same lips with which he had declared him innocent.”

“Afflicted mother,” said St. John, “your Son is already condemned to death. He has already gone out, bearing his cross, on his way to Calvary,” as the saint afterwards reported in his Gospel: “He went out, and bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull” (Jn 19:17). “Come,” said St. John, “if you want to see him, and say a last goodbye, in some street through which he must pass.”
—St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Have I ever had to say a final goodbye to someone I loved dearly? Have I entrusted that loved one into the care of our Blessed Mother?

CLOSING PRAYER
Sorrowful Mother, help me prepare for the last goodbye I must say to each of my loved ones, when I commit them into your tender care.

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