FRIDAY IN PASSION WEEK
THE SEVEN DOLOURS OF THE
BLESSED VIRGIN
The Station, at Rome, is in the Church of Saint
Stephen, on Monte Celio. By a sort of prophetic presentiment, this Church of
the great Proto-Martyr was chosen as the place where the Faithful were to
assemble on the Friday of Passion Week, which was to be, at a future time, the
Feast consecrated to the Queen of Martyrs.
COLLECT
Mercifully, O Lord, we beseech thee, pour forth
thy grace into our hearts; that repressing our sins by voluntary
mortifications, we may rather suffer for them in this life, than be condemned
to eternal torments for them in the next. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
EPISTLE
Lesson from Jeremias the
Prophet.
Ch XVII
In those days, Jeremias said: O Lord, all that forsake
thee shall be confounded: they that depart from thee, shall be written in the
earth, (as on sand, from which their
names shall soon be effaced,) because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein
of living waters. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed, save me and I shall
be saved: for thou art my praise. Behold they say to me: Where is the word of
the Lord? let it come. And I am not troubled, following thee for my pastor, and
I have not desired the day of man, thou knowest it. That which went out of my
lips, hath been right in thy sight. Be not thou a terror unto me; thou art my
hope in the day of affliction. Let them be confounded that persecute me, and
let me not be confounded: let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring
upon them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction destroy them, O
Lord our God.
 |
Jeremiah (detail) by
Michelangelo
|
Jeremias is one of the most striking figures of the Messias
persecuted by the Jews. It is on this account, that the Church selects from
this Prophet so many of her lessons, during these two weeks that are sacred to
the Passion, In the passage chosen for today's Epistle, we have the complaint
addressed to God, by this just man, against those that persecute him; and it is
in the name of Christ that he speaks. He says: They have forsaken the Lord, the
vein of living waters. How forcibly do these words describe the malice,
both of the Jews that crucified, and of sinners that still crucify, Jesus our
Lord! As to the Jews, they had forgotten the Rock, whence came to them the
living water, which quenched their thirst in the desert: or, if they have not
forgotten the history of this mysterious Rock, they refuse to take it as the
type of the Messias.
And yet. they hear this
Jesus crying out to them in the
streets of Jerusalem, and saying: If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and
drink. His virtues, his teachings, his miracles, the prophecies that are
fulfilled in his person, all claim their confidence in him; they should believe
every word he says. But, they are deaf to his invitation; and how many
Christians imitate them in their obduracy? How many there are, who once drank
at the vein of living waters, and afterwards turned away, to seek to quench
their thirst in the muddy waters of the world, which can only make them thirst
the more! Let them tremble at the punishment that came upon the Jews; for,
unless they return to the Lord their God, they must fall into those devouring
and eternal flames, where even a drop of water is refused. Jesus, by the mouth
of his Prophet, tells the Jews, that the day
of affliction shall overtake them; and when, later on, he comes to them
himself, he forewarns them, that the tribulation
which is to fall on Jerusalem, in punishment for her deicide, shall be so great, that such hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither
shall be. But, if God so rigorously avenged the Blood of his Son against a
City, that was, so long a time, the place of the habitation of his glory, and
against a people that he had preferred to all others, will he spare the
sinner, who, in spite of the Church's entreaties, continues obstinate in his
evil ways? Jerusalem had filled up the measure of her iniquities; we, also,
have a measure of sin, beyond which the Justice of God will not permit us to
go. Let us sin no more; let us fill up that other measure, the measure of good works. Let us pray for those sinners
who are to pass these days of grace without being converted; let us pray, that
this Divine Blood, which is to be so generously given to them, but which they
are about again to trample upon, let us pray that it may again spare them.
GOSPEL
Sequel of the holy Gospel
according to John.
CH. XI
At that time: the chief priests and Pharisees
assembled in council against Jesus, and said: What do we, for this man doth
many miracles? If we let him alone so, all men will believe in him; and the
Romans will come, and take away our place and nation. But one of them, named
Caiphas, being the high- priest that year, said to them: You know nothing,
neither do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man should die
for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this he spoke not of
himself; but being the high-priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not only for
the nation, but to gather in one the children of God, that were dispersed. From
that day therefore they devised to put him to death. Wherefore Jesus walked no
more openly among the Jews, but he went unto a country near the desert, unto a
city that is called Ephrem, and there he abode with his disciples.
Jesus is more than ever in danger of losing his life! The Council of the nation assembles to
devise a plan for his destruction. Listen to these men, slaves of that vilest
of passions, jealousy. They do not deny the miracles of Jesus; therefore,
they are in a condition to pass judgment upon him, and the judgment ought to be
favorable. But they have not assembled to examine if he be or be not the Messias;
it is to discuss the best plan for putting him to death. And what argument will
they bring forward to palliate the evident murder they contemplate? Political
interests, their country's good. They argue thus: "If Jesus be longer
allowed to appear in public and work miracles, Judea will rise up in rebellion
against the Romans, who now govern us, and will proclaim Jesus to be their King;
Rome will never allow us, the weakest of her tributaries, to insult her with
impunity, and, in order to avenge the outrage offered to the Capitol, her
armies will come and exterminate us." Senseless Councillors! If Jesus had come that he might be King after
this, world's fashion, all the powers of the earth could not have prevented it.
Again, how is it that these Chief Priests and Pharisees, who know the Scriptures
by heart, never once think of that prophecy of Daniel, which foretells, that in
seventy weeks of years, after the going forth of the decree for the rebuilding
of the Temple, the Christ shall be slain, and the people that shall deny him,
shall cease to be His: moreover, that, after this crime, a people, led on by a
commander, shall come and destroy Jerusalem; the abomination of desolation
shall enter the Holy Place, the temple shall be destroyed, and the desolation
shall last even to the end: how comes it, that this prophecy is lost sight of?
Surely, if they thought of it, they would not put Christ to death, for by
putting him to death, they ruin their country!
But to return to the
Council. The High-Priest, who governed the Synagogue during the last days of
the Mosaic Law, is a worthless man, by name Caiphas; he presides over the
Council. He puts on the sacred Ephod, and he prophesies his prophecy is from
God, and is true. Let us not be astonished: the veil of the temple is not yet
rent asunder; the covenant between God and Juda is not yet broken.
Caiphas is a
blood-thirsty man, a coward, a sacrilegious wretch; still, he is High-Priest,
and God speaks by his mouth. Let us hearken to this Balaam: Jesus shall die for the nation, and not only
for the nation, but to gather in one the children of God, that were dispersed.
Thus, the Synagogue is near her end, and is compelled to prophesy the birth of
the Church, and that this birth is to be by the shedding of Jesus' Blood. Here
and there, throughout the world, there are Children
of God who serve him, among the Gentiles, as did the Centurion, Cornelius;
but there was no visible bond of union among them. The time is at hand, when
the great and only City of God is to appear on the mountain, and all nations shall flow unto it. As
soon as the Blood of the New Testament shall have been shed, and the Conqueror
of death shall have risen from the grave, the day of Pentecost will convoke,
not the Jews to the Temple of Jerusalem, but all nations to the Church of Jesus
Christ. By that time, Caiphas will have forgotten the prophecy he uttered; he
will have ordered his servants to piece together the Veil of the Holy of
Holies, which was torn in two at the moment of Jesus' death; but this Veil will
serve no purpose, for the Holy of Holies will be no longer there; a clean oblation will be offered up in every
place, the Sacrifice of the New
Law; and scarcely shall the avengers of Jesus' death have appeared on Mount
Olivet, than a voice will be heard in the Sanctuary of the repudiated Temple,
saying: " Let us go out from this place!"
Bow down your heads to God.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we
who seek the honour of thy protection, may be delivered from all evil, and serve
thee with a secure mind. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE SEVEN DOLOURS OF OUR
LADY
This Friday of Passion Week is consecrated, in a special manner, to
the sufferings which the Holy Mother of God endured at the foot of the Cross.
The whole of next week is fully taken up with the celebration of the mysteries
of Jesus' Passion; and, although the remembrance of Mary's share in those
sufferings is often brought before the Faithful during Holy Week, yet, the
thought of what her Son, our Divine Redeemer, goes through for our salvation,
so absorbs our attention and love, that it is not then possible to honour, as
it deserves, the sublime mystery of the Mother's Com-passion.
It was but fitting,
therefore, that one day in the year should be set apart for this sacred duty;
and what day could be more appropriate, than the Friday of this Week, which,
though sacred to the Passion, admits the celebration of Saints' Feasts, as we
have already noticed? As far back as the 15th century, (that is, in the year 1423,)
we find the pious Archbishop of Cologne, Theodoric, prescribing this Feast to
be kept by his people. It was gradually introduced, and with the connivance of
the Holy See, into several other countries; and at length, in the last century,
Pope Benedict the Thirteenth, by a decree dated August 22nd, 1727, ordered it
to be kept in the whole Church, under the name of the Feast of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for, up to
that time, it had gone under various names. We will explain the title thus
given to it, as also the first origin of the devotion of the Seven Dolours,
when our Liturgical Year brings us to
the Third Sunday of September, the second Feast of Mary's Dolours. What the
Church proposes to her children's devotion for this Friday of Passion Week, is
that one special Dolour of Mary, her standing at the Foot of the Cross. Among
the various titles given to this Feast, before it was extended, by the Holy See
to the whole Church, we may mention, Our
Lady of Pity, The Compassion of our Lady, and the one that was so popular
throughout France, Notre Dame de la
Pamoison. These few historical observations prove that this Feast was dear
to the devotion of the people, even before it received the solemn sanction of
the Church.
That we may clearly
understand the object of this Feast, and spend it, as the Church would have us
do, in paying due honour to the Mother of God and of men, we must recall to our
minds this great truth: that God, in the designs of his infinite wisdom, has willed
that Mary should have a share in the work of the world's Redemption. The
mystery of the present Feast is one of the applications of this Divine law, a
law which reveals to us the whole magnificence of God's Plan; it is also, one of the many realizations of the
prophecy, that Satan's pride was to be crushed by a Woman. In the work of our
Redemption, there are three interventions of Mary, that is, she is thrice
called upon to take part in what God himself did. The first of these was in the
Incarnation of the Word, who takes not Flesh in her virginal womb until she has
given her consent to become his Mother; and this she gave by that solemn FIAT
which blessed the world with a Saviour. The second was in the sacrifice which
Jesus consummated on Calvary, where she was present, that she might take part
in the expiatory offering. The third was on the day of Pentecost, when she
received the Holy Ghost, as did the Apostles, in order that she might
effectively labour in the establishment of the Church. We have already explained
on the Feast of the Annunciation, the share Mary had in that wonderful mystery
of the Incarnation, which God wrought for his own glory and for man's
redemption and sanctification. On the Feast of Pentecost we shall speak of the
Church commencing and progressing under the active influence of the Mother of
God. Today we must show what part she took in the mystery of her Son's Passion;
we must tell the sufferings, the Dolours, she endured at the foot of the Cross,
and the claims she thereby won to our filial gratitude.
On the fortieth day
after the Birth of our Emmanuel, we followed, to the Temple, the happy Mother
carrying her Divine Babe in her arms. A venerable old man was there, waiting to
receive her Child; and, when he had him in his arms, he pro- claimed him to be
the Light of the Gentiles, and the, glory
of Israel. But, turning to the Mother, he spoke to her these heart-rending
words: Behold! this Child is set to be a
sign that shall be contradicted, and a sword shall pierce thine own soul.
This prophecy of sorrow for the Mother told us that the holy joys of Christmas
were over, and that the season of trial, for both Jesus and Mary, had begun. It
had, indeed, begun; for, from the night of the Fight into Egypt, up to this
present day, when the malice of the Jews is plotting the great crime, what else
has the life of our Jesus been, but the bearing humiliation, insult,
persecution, and ingratitude? And if so, what has the Mother gone through? what
ceaseless anxiety? what endless anguish of heart? But, let us pass by all her
other sufferings, and come to the morning of the great Friday.
Mary knows, that on the
previous night, her Son has been betrayed by one of his Disciples, that is, by
one that Jesus had numbered among his intimate friends; she herself had often
given him proofs of her maternal affection. After a cruel Agony, her Son has
been manacled as a malefactor, and led by armed men to Caiphas, his worst
enemy. Thence, they have dragged him before the Roman Governor, whose sanction
the Chief Priests and the Scribes must have before they can put Jesus to death.
Mary is in Jerusalem; Magdalene, and the other holy women, the friends of
Jesus, are with her; but they cannot prevent her from hearing the loud shouts
of the people, and if they could, how is such a heart as hers to be slow in its
forebodings? The report spreads rapidly through the City that the Roman
Governor is being urged to sentence Jesus to be crucified. Whilst the entire
populace is on the move towards Calvary, shouting out their blasphemous insults
at her Jesus, will his Mother keep away, she that bore him in her womb, and fed
him at her breast? Shall his enemies be eager to glut their eyes with the cruel
sight, and his own Mother be afraid to be near him?
The air resounded with yells
of the mob. Joseph of Arimathia, the
noble counsellor, was not there, neither was the learned Nicodemus; they
kept at home, grieving over what was done. The crowd that went before and after
the Divine Victim was made up of wretches without hearts, saving only a few who
were seen to weep as they went along; they were women; Jesus saw them, and
spoke to them. And if these women, from mere sentiments of veneration, or, at
most, of gratitude, thus testified their compassion, would Mary do less? could she bear to be elsewhere than
close to her Jesus? Our motive for insisting so much upon this point, is that
we may show our detestation of that school of modern rationalism, which,
regardless of the instincts of a mother's heart and of all tradition, has dared
to call in question the Meeting of Jesus and Mary on the way to Calvary. These
systematic contradicters are too prudent to deny that Mary was present when
Jesus was crucified; the Gospel is too explicit, Mary stood near the Cross. but, they would persuade us, that whilst
the Daughters of Jerusalem courageously
walked after Jesus, Mary went up to
Calvary by some secret path! What a heartless insult to the love of
the incomparable Mother. No, Mary, who is, by excellence, the Valiant Woman?
was with Jesus as he carried his Cross. And who could describe her anguish and
her love, as her eye met that of her Son tottering under his heavy load? Who
could tell the affection, and the resignation, of the look he gave her in
return? Who could depict the eager and respectful tenderness wherewith Magdalene
and the other holy women grouped around this Mother, as she followed her Jesus
up Calvary, there to see him crucified and die? The distance between the Fourth
and Tenth Station of the Dolorous Way is long: it is marked with
Jesus' Blood, and the Mother's tears.
Jesus and Mary have
reached the summit of the hill, that is to be the Altar of the holiest and
crudest Sacrifice: but the divine decree permits not the Mother as yet to
approach her Son. When the Victim is ready, then She that is to offer him shall
come forward. Meanwhile, they nail her Jesus to the Cross; and each blow of the
hammer was a wound to Mary's heart. When, at last, she is permitted to
approach, accompanied by the Beloved Disciple, (who has made amends for his
cowardly flight,) and the disconsolate Magdalene and the other holy women, what
unutterable anguish must have filled the soul of this Mother, when, raising up
her eyes, she sees the mangled Body of her Son, stretched upon the Cross, with
his face all covered with blood, and his head wreathed with a crown of thorns!
Here, then, is this King
of Israel, of whom the Angel had told her such glorious things in his prophecy!
Here is that Son of hers, whom she has loved both as her God and as the fruit
of her own womb! And who are they that have reduced him to this pitiable state?
Men, for whose sakes, rather than for her own, she conceived him, gave him
birth, and nourished him! Oh! if, by one of those miracles, which his Heavenly
Father could so easily work, he might be again restored to her! If that Divine
Justice, which he has taken upon himself to appease, would be satisfied with
what he has already suffered! but no; he must die; he must breathe forth his
blessed Soul after a long and cruel agony.
Mary, then, is at the
foot of the Cross, there to witness the death of her Son. He is soon to be
separated from her. In three hours' time, all that will be left her of this beloved
Jesus will be a lifeless Body, wounded from head to foot. Our words are too cold for such a scene as this: let us listen to those of St. Bernard,
which the Church has inserted in her Matins of this Feast. O Blessed Mother! a sword of sorrow pierced
thy soul, and we may well call thee more than Martyr, for the intensity of thy
compassion surpassed all that a bodily passion could produce. Could any sword
have made thee smart so much as that word which pierced thy heart, reaching unto the division of the soul and
the spirit: 'Woman! behold thy son!' What an exchange! John, for Jesus! the servant, for the Lord! the
disciple, for the Master! the son of Zebedee, for the Son of God! a mere man,
for the very God! How must not thy most
loving heart have been pierced with the sound of these words, when even ours,
that are hard as stone and steel, break down as we think of them! Ah! my
Brethren, be not surprised when you are told that Mary was a Martyr in her
soul. Let him alone be surprised, who has forgotten that St. Paul counts it as
one of the greatest sins of the Gentiles, that they were without affection. Who
could say that of Mary? God forbid it be said of us, the servants of Mary!
Amidst the shouts and insults vociferated by the enemies of Jesus, Mary's quick
ear has heard these words, which tell her, that the only son she is hence forth
to have on earth is one of adoption. Her
maternal joys of Bethlehem and Nazareth are all gone; they make her
present sorrow the bitterer: she was the Mother of a God, and men have taken
him from her! Her last and fondest look at her Jesus, her own dearest Jesus,
tells her that he is suffering a burning thirst, and she cannot give him to
drink! His eyes grow dim; his head droops; all
is consummated!
Mary cannot leave the
Cross; love brought her thither; love keeps her there, whatever may happen! A
soldier advances near that hallowed spot; she sees him lift up his spear, and
thrust it through the breast of the sacred Corpse. Ah, cries out St. Bernard,
that thrust is through thy soul, O Blessed Mother! It could but open his side,
but it pierced thy very soul. His
Soul was not there; thine was, and
could not but be so. No, the undaunted Mother keeps close to the Body of her
Son. She watches them as they take it down from the Cross; and when, at last,
the friends of Jesus, with all the respect due to both Mother and Son, enable
her to embrace it, she raises it upon her lap, and He that once lay upon her
knees receiving the homage of the Eastern Kings, now lays there cold, mangled,
bleeding, dead! And as she looks upon the wounds of this divine Victim, she
gives them the highest honour in the power of creatures, she kisses them, she
bathes them with her tears, she adores them, but oh! with what intensity of
loving grief!
The hour is far advanced;
and before sunset, he, Jesus, the author of life, must be buried. The Mother
puts the whole vehemence of her love into a last kiss, and oppressed with a
bitterness great as is the sea, she makes over this adorable Body to them that
have to embalm and then lay it on the sepulchral slab. The sepulchre is closed;
and Mary, accompanied by John, her adopted son, and Magdalene, and the holy
women, and the two disciples that have presided over the Burial, returns sorrowing
to the deicide City.
Now, in all this, there
is another mystery besides that of Mary's sufferings. Her dolours at the Foot
of the Cross include and imply a truth, which we must not pass by, or we shall
not understand the full beauty of today's Feast. Why would God have her assist
in person at such a scene as this of Calvary? Why was not she, as well as
Joseph, taken out of this world before this terrible day of Jesus' Death?
Because God had assigned her a great office for that day, and it was to be
under the Tree of the Cross that she, the second Eve, was to discharge her
office. As the heavenly Father had waited for her consent before he sent his
Son into the world; so, likewise, he called for her obedience and devotedness,
when the hour came for that Son to be offered up in sacrifice for the world's
Redemption. Was not Jesus hers? her Child? her own and dearest treasure? And
yet, God gave him not to her, until she had assented to become his Mother; in
like manner, he would not take him from her, unless she gave him back.
But, see what this
involved, see what a struggle it entailed upon this most loving Heart! It is
the injustice, the cruelty, of men that rob her of her Son; how can she, his
Mother, ratify, by her consent, the Death of Him, whom she loved with a twofold
love, as her Son, and as her God? But, on the other hand, if Jesus be not put
to death, the human race is left a prey to Satan, sin is not atoned for, and
all the honours and joys of her being Mother of God are of no use or blessing
to us. This Virgin of Nazareth, this noblest heart, this purest creature, whose
affections were never blunted with the selfishness which so easily makes its way
into souls that have been wounded by original sin, what shall she do? Her
devotedness to mankind, her conformity with the will of her Son who so vehemently
desires the world's salvation, lead her, a second time, to pronounce the solemn
Fiat: she consents to the immolation of her Son. It is not God's justice that
takes him from her; it is she herself that gives him up; but, in return, she is
raised to a degree of greatness, which her humility could never have suspected
was to be hers an ineffable union is made to exist between the two offerings,
that of the Incarnate Word and that of Mary; the Blood of the Divine Victim,
and the Tears of the Mother, flow together for the redemption of mankind.
We can now understand
the conduct and the courage of this Mother of Sorrows. Unlike that other
mother, of whom the Scripture speaks, the unhappy Agar, who, after having
sought in vain how she might quench the thirst of her Ismael in the desert,
withdrew from him that she might not see him die; Mary no sooner hears that
Jesus is condemned to death, than she rises, hastens to him, and follows him to
the place where he is to die. And what is her attitude at the foot of his cross?
Does her matchless grief overpower her? Does she swoon? or fall? No: the
Evangelist says: There stood by the
Cross of Jesus, his Mother. The sacrificing Priest stands, when offering at the
altar; Mary stood for such a sacrifice as hers was to be. St. Ambrose, whose
affectionate heart and profound appreciation of the mysteries of religion have
revealed to us so many precious traits of Mary's character, thus speaks of her
position at the foot of the Cross: She stood opposite the Cross, gazing, with
maternal love, on the wounds of her Son; and thus she stood, not waiting for her Jesus to die, but for the world to be
saved.
Thus, this Mother of
Sorrows, when standing on Calvary, blessed us who deserved but maledictions;
she loved us; she sacrificed her Son for our salvation. In spite of all the feelings
of her maternal heart, she gave back to the Eternal Father the divine treasure
he had entrusted to her keeping. The sword pierced through and through her
soul, but we were saved; and she, though a mere creature, co- operated with her
Son in the work of our salvation. Can we wonder, after this, that Jesus chose
this moment for the making her the Mother of men, in the person of John the
Evangelist, who represented us? Never had Mary's Heart loved us as she did then;
from that time forward, therefore, let this second Eve be the true Mother of the living! The Sword, by piercing her Immaculate Heart,
has given us admission there. For time and eternity, Mary will extend to us the
love she has borne for her Son, for she has just heard him saying to her that
we are her children. He is our Lord,
for he has redeemed us; She is our Lady, for she generously co-operated in our
redemption.
Animated by this
confidence, O Mother of Sorrows! we come before thee, on this Feast of thy
Dolours, to offer thee our filial love. Jesus, the Blessed Fruit of thy Womb,
filled thee with joy as thou gavest him birth; we, thy adopted children,
entered into thy Heart by the cruel piercing of the Sword of Suffering. And
yet, O Mary! love us, for thou didst co-operate with our Divine Redeemer in
saving us. How can we not trust in the love of thy generous Heart, when we
know, that, for our salvation, thou didst unite thyself to the Sacrifice of thy
Jesus? What proofs hast thou not unceasingly given us of thy maternal
tenderness, O Queen of Mercy! O Refuge of Sinners! O untiring Advocate for us
in all our miseries! Deign, sweet Mother, to watch over us, during these days
of grace. Give us to feel and relish the Passion of thy Son. It was consummated
in thy presence; thine own share in it was magnificent! Oh! make us enter into
all its mysteries, that so our souls, redeemed by the Blood of thy Son, and
helped by thy Tears, may be thoroughly converted to the Lord, and persevere,
henceforward, faithful in his service.
Let us now recite the
devout Complaint, whereby the Church
unites herself with Mary's Dolours.
SEQUENCE
Near the Cross, whilst on it hung her Son, the
sorrowing Mother stood and wept.
A sword pierced her soul, that sighed, and
mourned, and grieved.
Oh! how sad, and how afflicted, was that Blessed
Mother of an only Son!
The loving Mother sorrowed and mourned at seeing
her divine Son suffer.
Who is there would not weep to see Jesus' Mother
in such suffering?
Who is there could contemplate the Mother and the
Son in sorrow, and not join his own with theirs?
Mary saw her Jesus tormented and scourged for the
sins of his people.
She saw her sweet child abandoned by all, as he
breathed forth his soul and died.
Ah, Mother, Fount of love, make me feel the force
of sorrow; make me weep with thee!
Make this heart of mine burn with the love of Jesus
my God, that so I may content his heart.
Do this, O holy Mother! deeply stamp the wounds of
the Crucified upon my heart. Let me share with thee the sufferings of thy Son,
for it was for me he graciously deigned to be wounded and to suffer.
Make me
lovingly weep with thee: make me compassionate with thee our Crucified Jesus,
as long as life shall last.
This is my desire, to stand nigh the Cross with
thee, and be a sharer in thy grief.
Peerless Virgin of virgins! be not displeased at
my prayer: make me weep with thee.
Make me to carry the death of Jesus; make me a
partner of his Passion, an adorer of his Wounds.
Make me to be wounded with his Wounds; make me to
be inebriated with the Cross and the Blood of thy Son.
And that I may not suffer the eternal flames, let
me be defended by thee, O Virgin, on the Day of Judgment! O Jesus! when my hour
of death comes, let me, by the Mother's aid, come to my crown of victory.
And when my body dies, oh! give to my soul the reward
of heaven's glory. Amen.
Let us recite the
concluding stanzas of the Greek Hymn in honour of the Holy Cross.
HYMN
(Feria IV. medice Septimanae.)
Come, let us devoutly embrace the Cross of our
Lord that is exposed before us, for our fasts have made us pure, The Cross is a
treasure of holiness and power, and by it we give eternal praise to
Christ.
This triple and glorious Cross, contemptible as it
seemed at first, now reaches to the very heavens with its power, ever raising
and lead mg men up to God. By it we give eternal praise to Christ.
Honour to this most sacred Wood, which, as the
Prophet anciently foretold, was to be put in the bread of Christ, by them that
crucified him; to whom be praise above all for ever!
Rain down sweetness, O ye mountains! and ye, O
hills, your gladness! Trees of the field, Cedars of Libanus, exult with joy,
for on this day we venerate the life-giving Cross. Prophets, Martyrs, Apostles,
Spirits of the Just, rejoice!
Look down, O Lord, upon thy people and clergy, who
now devoutly sing thy praise, and for whose sakes thou didst suffer death. Let
not the countless number of our sins outdo thy mercy, but save us, most loving
Jesus, by thy Cross!
O Cross! thou art the sacred armour of my life. My
Lord saved me by his ascending upon thee. From his wounded Side there flowed
Blood and Water, of which being made a partaker, I exult, and give glory to
Christ.
O Cross! thou art the divine sceptre of the King;
thou art the strength of them that wage war; it is our confidence in thee that
makes us put our enemies to flight. Oh! ever grant to us who honour thee,
victory over the Barbarians.
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