Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

of promise is ever true: I am with the one who is in tribulation.

H. There stood by the Cross, Mary His Mother.

And, doubtless, she their Queen makes answer to the blessed angels and gives them a charge in turn concerning her Divine Son: Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord-sing to the Lord a new song. And perchance in this hour, with quite a new fervour, and a new meaning, and a new grace, she breaks forth into her own even-song which Holy Church re-echoes still: "My soul magnifieth the Lord, my spirit exulteth in God, my Jesus. For He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His Name.

me.

[ocr errors]

Holy, thrice holy is His Name. For I have believed, and those things (have been) accomplished which He spoke to He promised me, when He was a Child by my side, that I should be with Him to the end. The Lord is faithful in all His words and holy in all His works. He hath done great things for me. All generations shall call me blessed.... 'Omnis consummationis vidi finem'. I have witnessed to the end, to the very end, the consummation of all holiness, the consummation of perfect charity, the consummation of the everlasting Sacrifice, the consummation of redemption."

I. There stood by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother.

And as her Divine Son last night allowed His Human Heart to feel most strongly human desires, and to cry out in anguish: Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me, it may be that from time to time, as she looks on Him Whom they have pierced, her Mother's yearnings grow strong, and she asks once more with most reverential love: My Son, why hast Thou done this to me? and she is full of desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ her Son.

But the blessed angels remind her that she has now other children so precious that her Son gave His Blood for them, and that she must live for them; and they remind her too how her Divine Son has provided for her bereavement by instituting the Most Holy Eucharist, that He may

be with her all her days, and abide with her children to the end of time.

J. There stood by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother.

Her Divine Son last night rose up in the height of His own Agony, to go to watch over His disciples. Will she not do the like? She too can forget her bereavement, to think of her new first-born to look up into the face of St. Dismas, and speak a word of comfort to him; to pray that the Death of her Son may bring more and more grace to him before he breathes out his soul.

"Mother of God, and Mother of sinners, pray for us also, now and at the hour of our death."

K. There stood by the Cross of Jesus, Mary His Mother. The Venerable Abbess d'Agreda saw in her contemplations that our Blessed Lady, while standing with her eyes fixed upon the Body of her Divine Son, is solicitous about His speedy burial; anxious to have the Sacred Body in her keeping, and out of the reach of His enemies. The tomb of her ancestors is on the other side of the city, beyond the Prætorium, at Gethsemani, beside the Grotto of the Agony. How shall she safely transfer her treasure thither? Who will take out the terrible nails for her? Who will bring down the Body from the Cross and lay it in her arms? In her anxiety, she turns, as usual, to the Blessed Angels, to ask them to befriend her. They, we are told, make known to her that, by the law, the dead Body belongs to the Roman Governor, that without his permission no one can lay it in the tomb.

This is sad news for her. For, if this be so, this Most Sacred Body, intimately united with the Divine Nature, may still be profaned. Most humbly she begs of the Eternal Father to hasten to her aid, and her humble prayer penetrates the clouds; and the response in her heart is: Mother of God, ask, for I must not turn away thy face (3 Kings li.). And she understands that when Jesus said the word, It is consummated, one part of His meaning was that the power of His enemies to harm Him was at an end.

Her Heart is consoled, and with all the energy of her love, she repeats the prayer of her Son: O Eternal Father, glorify Thy Son. May all the works of the Lord bless the Lord.

SCENE II.

THE NINTH HOUR. THE MOURNING OF CREATION.

STATION I.

And behold, the veil of the Temple was rent in two, from the top even to the bottom, and the earth quaked and the rocks were rent (St. Matt. xxvii. 51).

A. Our Lady's prayer is heard. The Eternal Father begins to glorify His well-beloved Son. And the works of the Lord begin to bless the Lord. As the sun in the heavens gave its signs of mourning, so now the earth makes its

lament for the Death of Jesus and the sins of men.

It is the ninth hour when He bows His Head and gives up the ghost. It is the hour of the evening sacrifice. This is what thou shalt sacrifice upon the altar: two lambs of a year old, every day continually. One lamb in the morning, and another in the evening (Exodus xxix.).

It is the hour for the lamb to be sacrificed in the

Temple on Mount Moriah. And lo! from the Temple gates, across the deserted streets, comes to Golgotha the sound of the trumpets calling the people to the evening sacrifice. It is all too late. The evening sacrifice is consummated. The Lamb of God has been offered and immolated. All ancient types and shadows are things passed away and obsolete.

Vetustatem novitas,
Umbram fugat veritas,
Noctem lux eliminat.

The people have

New things the old and obsolete replace,

Before the truth the shadows hide their face,
The glorious light drives night away.

assisted at the reality; they have no heart to go and witness the unmeaning types. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the

solemn feast. The Lord hath cast off His altar, and cursed His sanctuary (Lament. ii.).

B. The earth quaked.

The trumpets sound the call to the Temple; and lo! the only response is the rumbling of the earthquake. And the veil of the Temple, so sacred in the past, is rent in two from the top even to the bottom.

C. The veil of the Temple was rent in two.

Through the voice of His creation our Lord's silent lips are from the Cross repeating the sentence which in sorrow of Heart He spoke by the last of His Prophets: To you, O Priests, that despise My Name, I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will not receive a gift from your hand (Malach. i.).

The answer to this trumpet-call has long ago been given in prophecy: After sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain and the people that deny Him shall not be His. And in the half of the week, the victim and the sacrifice shall fail, and there shall be in the Temple the abomination of desolation; and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation and to the end (Daniel ix.).

D. The veil of the Temple was rent in two.

But are there no glad tidings, in this hour, in the voice of creation? When Jesus was born, the Angel was sent to the shepherds to say to them: I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people. Even so it is now. The earthquake brings heavy news to the rejected Priests of Jerusalem, but good tidings of great joy to all the people. For the veil of the Temple now rent in twain as a thing worn out and worthless, is to make known that the ancient barrier between God and man is gone; that henceforth not one High Priest alone, but every Christian man and woman and child will be allowed to say: I will go in to the altar of God to God Who giveth joy to my youth.

E. The veil of the Temple was rent in two.

And the rent brings good tidings of great joy to all the people. For the hour is now come which our Blessed Lord

foretold when He sat weary by the well. Woman, believe Me that the hour cometh when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father. There is no longer to be a monopoly for Jerusalem. For in every place there is Sacrifice, and there is offered to My Name a clean oblation (Malach. i.).

F. The veil of the Temple is rent in two.

Another holy Father suggests that the veil in front of the hidden Sanctum Sanctorum is rent, as a pledge that henceforth our good God will make known to us all the mysteries of His law. The uncertain and hidden things of Thy wisdom Thou hast made manifest to me (Psalm 1.). All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children (Isaias liv.).

Oh, how enviable is our condition under the law of love compared with the state of the Jews under the old covenant!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all that He hath done for thee.

How lovely are Thy tabernacles, now, O Lord of hosts, when we compare them with the coldness and severity of the Temple on Mount Moriah.

In the old days, all Mount Sinai was in a smoke, because the Lord was come down upon it in fire; and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace, and all the mount was terrible. And behold thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash, and a very thick cloud to cover the mountain. And the edict was promulgated: Take heed ye go not up into the mount, and that ye touch not the borders thereof; every one that toucheth the mount, dying, he shall die (Exodus xix.).

In our days of privilege, not only is there no forbiddance to come to the altar where our Lord has His abode, but from His tabernacle He is ever inviting us: Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you (St. Matt. xi.).

Nay, what is wonderful beyond all thought, He lays a commandment upon us: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son

« EdellinenJatka »