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Vol. 40, Issue No. 103 |
The Blessed Virgin Mary and theThrough sin death was ushered into the world. All men must die because all men are sinners. Only Jesus and Mary are exempt from this law. And yet God demanded of them to pass through the humiliation of death. But they should not remain in the sepulchre, nor could a flesh so clean from every stain undergo corruption and decay.
Moreover, although Christ died, He was not conquered by death. On the contrary, death was changed into an ushering into life, eternal life, that all who die in Christ should never really die, but just be taken to the life of immortality. It is on account of this that Jesus, the Vanquisher of death, was bound to shine forth in the glorious Resurrection of His Body. He, Who had so often foretold His Death, and so often predicted His Resurrection, had, through His mastery over death and life (which is proper and exclusive of God alone), proven His Divinity and the absolute veracity of His preaching.
All mere human grandeur ends in the sepulchre. The power of man, however great, will disappear one day under a tomb-stone bearing the inscription: "Here lies..." But there was one glorious Sepulchre which after Jesus' triumph over death bore another inscription: "Surrexit, non est hic. He has risen. He is not here." How great, then, is the glory of Christ in His Resurrection. His triumph is unparalleled and unprecedented. He alone could have achieved it.
But this glory of Jesus is also Mary's glory. Nothing that refers to Him is foreign to His Mother. She had been associated with Him on Calvary. The pains of Jesus had been suffered by the Mother. It was only just, then, that His triumphs and joys should be Hers, and not only Hers, but ours also. How should the triumph of the Resurrection of Jesus console us! Vain would our Faith be had He not risen. His enemies would have definitely reported a victory over Him, over His life and His work. But Christ's Resurrection gives us the most solid argument of our Faith, the most solid ground for our hope.
We too must die, but also we must rise. Will ours be a holy death? Will our sepulchre be glorious? Will our resurrection be triumphant? Only you can answer these questions. The outcome depends on you. Ask Jesus and Mary that it may be so. Tell them you expect it so through their merits. Protest to them that you want to associate yourself with their suffering, so that one day you may partake of their triumphs.
This is not an article of faith, nor is it recorded in the Gospel; nevertheless it is certain. Both nature and grace demand this meeting of Mother and Son. Can we doubt that Our Blessed Lady, with a lively and unshakable faith was expecting this meeting? While the Apostles hesitated about the truth of the Resurrection, Mary felt an infallible certainty that the words of Her Son would be fulfilled. She never went to the sepulchre, for She knew that Jesus was not there. Think now of the holy impatience which, especially at the beginning of the third day, would overtake the heart of Mary. Minutes would seem an eternity. Her Mother's heart felt that Her Son was about to come, and a mother's heart is not easily mistaken in what appertains to her son. Remember how the mother of Tobias would go daily to the road and scan the horizon, awaiting the return of her son. If we knew what is a mother's heart, and especially the heart of that Mother, then only could we fathom Her longing and impatience to see Her risen Son. It is a pleasant thought to imagine that Her ardent desires and fervent prayers anticipated the hour of the Resurrection, just as She had done in the case of the Incarnation and at the wedding at Cana, when She put the clock forward and induced Jesus to manifest Himself to the world by a miracle before the appointed time.
The happy moment arrives. Visualize Our Lady still sunk in deep sorrow, still in Her solitude, Her eyes red and swollen from so much weeping, and with no more tears to shed. Then of a sudden there is a flash of Divine light. A glorious body brighter than light, clad in garments whiter than snow appears, and then comes the sound of a sweetest familiar Voice which calls Her "Mother!" How can language express the meeting of Son and Mother in such a moment? Let your own heart lose itself in this ocean of happiness and of genuine glory. Suffering for Him leads to endless enjoyment of Him, whilst the joys and satisfactions of this life are but false and unsatisfying.
Here also the rule of love and suffering should be applied, namely: so much love, so much suffering. Equally also, as the suffering is great, so afterwards will be the joy. How great would then be the joy of Our Heavenly Mother since such was Her love for Her Divine Son. If such was Her suffering at His death, how great would Her joy be on seeing Him now glorious, triumphant, risen, never more to die. Again She would go through every Wound of His glorified Body, adoring them shining so splendidly. Let us also, together with Mary, go over His every wound, and stop at the wounded Side, in that Heart which is a furnace, a volcano of love. Enter there, set yourself on fire, be consumed in a holy love for God.
Let us also rejoice at Christ's glorious triumph and at the joy of our Heavenly Mother. Repeat often the greetings of the Church: "Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia, -- Rejoice, O Queen of Heaven." Ask for a share in Her joy, if not now, some day in Heaven; and do not forget that according to St. Paul we must derive from the Resurrection of Our Lord a real aversion for the things of the earth which neither can nor should fill our hearts; that we must look for the things above; that by living now detached from this life, we must long for the eternal life of Heaven; that the spirit of faith should render all our actions supernatural and thus confer on them a value which they cannot have of themselves; for only in this way they will become our crown in Heaven.
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