Good Friday
'Stabat Mater dolorosa
Iuxta Crucem lacrimosa
Dum pendebat filius'
At the cross her station keeping
Stood the mournful mother weeping
Close to Jesus to the last.
The 13th century Stabat Mater Dolorosa is one of the greatest of all Latin hymns. It has been set to music by composers ranging from Palestrina in the 16th century to Dvořák in the 19,th Poulenc and Szymanowski in the 20,thand Muñiz and Jenkins in the 21st. The hymn meditates on the sorrows of Mary, Mother of Jesus. It recalls the sorrows prophesied by Simeon at the presentation in the Temple. Each verse recounts the sorry scene as Mary stood at the foot of her Son's cross--the "sign that is spoken against" that she heard of in Simeon's prophecy years earlier.
'Cuius animam gementem,
Contristatam et colentem,
Pertransivit gladius.'
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
All His bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword had passed.
Place yourself there. Go to Calvary and enter into the scene John described. Jesus, hanging on the cross as life ebbs from his body. Mary, His Holy Mother, watching as Simeon's words echo in her ears. The beloved disciple helpless and hopeless at the loss of all he had found in Jesus. How does Jesus' voice sound? Is it strong? Or does he struggle to speak in a hoarse whisper? Is Mary standing erect and stoic? Or is she collapsing under the unique and terrible grief of a mother watching her son die? What of John? Does he remain standing in the same place? Or does he move closer to the woman who is now his mother?
Recall that Jesus said: "Behold your mother." He did not say "my mother." He said "your mother." In this charge and in his words to Mary, "Woman behold your son," Jesus confirmed Mary's role as the new Eve, mother to us all, a mother whose obedience reversed Eve's disobedience, a reversal effected when she said:
"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord;
may it be done unto me
according to your word."
'Pro peccatis suae gentis
Vidit Iesum in tormentis,
Et flagellis subditum.'
For His people's sins rejected,
Saw her Jesus unprotected,
All with bloody scourges rent.
Remain there contemplating the scene. Gaze up at Jesus suspended between heaven and earth. He is close to death, exhausted by the struggle, haggard, dehydrated, pale from blood loss.
At the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius instructs us in what is known as the triple colloquy: Imagine Christ our Lord on the cross. Ask yourself how, Jesus is come to make Himself man, and so to die for my sins. Likewise, looking at myself ask:
What have I done for Christ?
What am I doing for Christ?
What ought I to do for Christ?
However, today, as we commemorate Christ's passion and death, there is another colloquy:
What has Christ done for me?
What is Christ doing for me?
What will Christ do for me?
While we could probably come to some sort of agreement on the first question, the answers to: what is Christ doing for me and what will Christ do for me, will be unique to each of us. Perhaps we will never be able to fully articulate those answers. They may have to remain fragments we can experience only in silent prayer rather than as words we can share.
'Fac, ut ardeat cor meum,
In amando Christum Deum,
Ut sibi complaceam.'
Unto Christ with pure emotion,
Raise my contrite heart's devotion,
To read love in every wound.
We are sinners loved passionately and completely by God. We are loved by God who sent His only Son born of Mary, she who stood at the foot of the cross. We are loved by God who sent His only Son to die for our sins and the sins of all the world.
Three and one-half months ago we gathered to celebrate Jesus' birth. Were we not gathered here today to commemorate his passion and death, what we call the Christmas story would make no sense. Were we not here today, the story of Jesus' birth would be nothing more than a charming fable without meaning. The trumpet fanfare of Christmas Eve is a faint memory. But it foretold what Christ did for us.
"We adore thee O Christ and we bless thee,
Because by thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world."\
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Just finished the liturgy at the Abbey of Regina Laudis. It is quite strenuous. Fortunately I had a younger priest-friend here with me . . . wayyyy younger. He carried the cross used for the veneration. The cross is not large but it is extremely heavy. Last night he helped with the foot washing. I washed the feet of the first six and he did the second six. My legs were thanking me.
Spring is hitting New England. Took the enclosed photos over the past two days. Forecast for Holy Saturday is not the greatest. Hoping that it does not rain while we are lighting the fire from which the paschal candle is lit.
The magnolias are coming into blossom. There is really nothing more to add.
+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
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