I remember back when I saw Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” when
it was released. Like all of you who
saw this production, I was moved with sorrow and grief at seeing the visual
portrayal of the brutal treatment of Our Lord.
Mel Gibson was able, it seems to me, to vividly portray the sorrowful
and cruel series of events depicting the Passion of Our Lord. In this sense, this movie presentation
helped to portray some of the sorrows that Our Lady was forced to endure in regards
to her Son.
Just as throughout His life, Our Lady followed the cruel
events leading up to His death. One of
the titles that Our Lady has been given is “Our Lady of Sorrows,” or “Sancta
Mater Dolorosa.” One of the devotions
in regards to Our Lady of Sorrows has to do with the “Seven Sorrows of Our
Lady.” These, of course, refer to the
Seven Sorrows Our Lady endured in regards to her Son. The final two sorrows in this devotion, the Sixth and Seventh
Sorrows, we will deal with in this short essay: “Our Lord’s Descent from the Cross;” and the “Burial of
Our Lord.”
Our Lord’s Descent from the Cross
After His Crucifixion, we hear in St. Matthew’s Gospel, the
taking down from the Cross:
“When the even was come, there came a rich man of
Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to
Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.
Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he
wrapped it in a clean linen cloth.”
(St. Matthew 27:57-59)
As mentioned earlier, how can any of us ever imagine the
intense pain that Our Lady felt for her Son during the events of His
Passion? After everything that she had
seen . . . after all the paid that she
had endured . . . . what emotions must she have felt as she saw her Son taken
down from the Cross? Pain. Sorrow.
Grief. Agony. And, yes, most certainly
even Relief. Relief that Her Son’s
torture was finished. Relief that His
pain was over. Our Lady now wanted most to see her Son taken down from the
Cross, taken down from the instrument of His Death. Surely, she did not want to see her Son left up on the Cross to
continue the shame and agony He was forced to endure from those who hated
Him. As with all mothers who love their
children so dearly, she did not want to see her child treated with such contempt
and hatred.
What lesson can we learn that Our Lady has taught us? As Christians, we learn to have compassion
for Our Lord in this world. You see,
Our Lady had no power over the forces that caused her Son’s death. She could not stop the tragic series of
events that led to her Son hanging on that Cross. And yet she could do the one thing that she did His entire
life: try to comfort Him as best as she
could. Mothers tend to do that, don’t
they? So often, our mothers are there
to comfort us when we are hurting the most.
And so often they do not know what to do to relieve us of our pain other
than they do the one thing that they do best:
they embrace us and hold us while we are grieving. They hold us to let us know that we have
someone with us when we hurt. They
embrace us to let us know that we have someone who loves us. This is what Our
Lady did when her Son was brought down from the Cross. She did the thing that came naturally to her
and to all mothers . . . . she embraced her Son even in His death. We too should learn to comfort Our Lord
when He is offended. Like Mary, so
often we will not have the power to stop those in the world from offending Our
Blessed Saviour. But like Mary we can
do what comes natural: show love and
devotion to Our Blessed Saviour. When
we hear of Our Lord being mocked and hated in this world, embrace Our Lord and
show Him your love. This is what Our
Lady did at the foot of the Cross: she
supported her Son when all others had left.
Thus, when we see Our Lord so cruelly treated by those around us in the
world, embrace Our Lord and hold on to Him.
Support Him by showing Him how much you love Him.
The Burial of Christ
From St. John’s Gospel, we hear: “Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes
with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified
there was a garden: and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man
yet laid. There laid they Jesus
therefore because of the Jew’s preparation day; for the sepulcher was nigh at
hand.” (St. John 19:40-42)
Our Lady and the disciples of Our Lord buried Him with much
care and compassion. Keep in mind that
surely each one of them that had gathered there must have been dealing with a
whole host of emotions: grief, agony,
sorrow, confusion, . . . . And yet despite this whole host of emotions
present in each one of them, they buried Our Lord with great compassion and
love. Despite the varied limitations
that were in place, we know that the disciples of Our Blessed Lord prepared a
burial place with much love, dignity and respect to their Blessed Saviour. In their grief, they did their best to give
Him a special resting place.
