Read St. Mark xv. 35-46.
1. No sooner is the sacrifice consummated and the last drop of the precious blood shed from Our Lord's Sacred Heart, than all is changed. That lifeless body is now treated with the utmost respect and veneration. See how gently and carefully Joseph and Nicodemus wind linen bands around the limbs and lower it to the ground, reverently adoring that body which had only a few hours before been a laughing-stock and object of contempt. Henceforth no more ignominy, no more contempt, no more ill-usage, but the love and adoration of saints and angels to all eternity.
2. Our Lady receives the body of her Son. What were her thoughts as she gazes into the five wounds, and sees how from head to foot it is covered with gaping wounds and bruises, battered out of all shape by the cruelty of man ? O Mother of Sorrows, great as an ocean is thy sorrow ! What can be thy hatred of sin when thou seest what it has wrought in the divine beauty of thy spotless Son ! What a mixture of agonized compassion and mournful sorrow, and hope and consolation, and gratitude and triumphant joy, fills thy sacred soul while thou lookest on the dead body of thy Son !
3. The day on which Jesus died is indeed well called Good Friday. It is the day when Jesus consummated His victory over sin and death. While we mourn over His sufferings and our sins which caused them, we must also rejoice exceedingly at the thought of Satan conquered and heaven opened, and millions of sinners cleansed from sin in His most precious Blood !
Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent,
by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889
1. No sooner is the sacrifice consummated and the last drop of the precious blood shed from Our Lord's Sacred Heart, than all is changed. That lifeless body is now treated with the utmost respect and veneration. See how gently and carefully Joseph and Nicodemus wind linen bands around the limbs and lower it to the ground, reverently adoring that body which had only a few hours before been a laughing-stock and object of contempt. Henceforth no more ignominy, no more contempt, no more ill-usage, but the love and adoration of saints and angels to all eternity.
2. Our Lady receives the body of her Son. What were her thoughts as she gazes into the five wounds, and sees how from head to foot it is covered with gaping wounds and bruises, battered out of all shape by the cruelty of man ? O Mother of Sorrows, great as an ocean is thy sorrow ! What can be thy hatred of sin when thou seest what it has wrought in the divine beauty of thy spotless Son ! What a mixture of agonized compassion and mournful sorrow, and hope and consolation, and gratitude and triumphant joy, fills thy sacred soul while thou lookest on the dead body of thy Son !
3. The day on which Jesus died is indeed well called Good Friday. It is the day when Jesus consummated His victory over sin and death. While we mourn over His sufferings and our sins which caused them, we must also rejoice exceedingly at the thought of Satan conquered and heaven opened, and millions of sinners cleansed from sin in His most precious Blood !
Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent,
by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889
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