XVI. Jesus is laid in the tomb

Oh, my buried Jesus,

I kiss the stone that closes you in.

You gloriously did rise again on the third day.

I beg you by your resurrection that I may be raised gloriously on the last day,

to be united with you in heaven,

to praise you and love you forever.

I love you Jesus, and I repent of ever having offended you.

Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me as you will.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Virgin of all virgins blest

Listen to my fond request

Let me share your grief divine

XVI. Jesus is laid in the tomb

I have recently been away on pilgrimage, and when we were praying the stations of the cross this station was reflected upon with the words: And the world lost in sadness and grief, became pregnant with the hope of redemption.

The last station of the cross already is inviting people to look ahead. We can see that the story has not finished. This is a moment of quiet, but there is so much to come.

The journey through the stations of the cross is a challenge to be present to suffering in the world. To notice people where no one else bothers, and take the time to think about them, speak to them and help them. This can be tough, but ultimately, like the 14th station, even in the midst of sadness, the stations point towards hope. Towards the end of the story: resurrection.

XVI. Jesus is laid in the tomb

Illustration: Lodwar Cathedral

XVI. Jesus is laid in the tomb

We adore you O Christ and we praise you

Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus - though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jews - asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission, so they came and took it away. Nicodemus came aswell - the same one who had first come to Jesus at night time - and he brought a mixture of myrhh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, following the Jewish burial custom. At the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried. Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

John 19: 38 - 42

XIII. Jesus is taken down from the Cross

O Mother of Sorrows,

for the love of your son,

accept me as your servant and pray to him for me.

And you, my redeemer,

since you have died for me,

allow me to love you.

I am sorry that I have offended you.

Never let me offend you again.

Grant that I might love you always; and then do with me what you will.

(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be)

By the cross with you to stay

There with you to weep and pray

Is all I ask of you to give

XIII. Jesus is taken down from the Cross

Do you think it was with a sense of relief that Joseph of Arimathea handed the body of Jesus over to Mary? Taking him down from the cross would have been a dangerous mission, but something the secret disciple felt that he had to do. Some of the the Gospels have it that 'he boldly went into the presence of Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus.' Perhaps such boldness was a cover for his trembling heart. He has hidden like everyone else throughout the arrest and crucifixion, but after Jesus' death he finds a sudden courage to make one last gesture of humanity.

Death, sometimes, is an end to inhumanity. That is certainly what this station seems to be about to me. It is filled with tremendous sadness, but also a a heavy hollow hope: nothing worse can happen to him now, he is gone. I am not sure what Mary knew, but that must have been the least of it. No one could have imagined the resurrection.

Rule for 1936

Dorothy Day lived a remarkable life, I have said that before. I like her best because she strikes me as normal, she had a child with her lover before she married, she knew what it was to be forced to consider, and go through with an abortion. She struggled with people she found it hard to like, and found it hard to keep her temper. But, despite or even because of all this normality, she sought for goodness, for holiness. Recently I have been reading her diaries. I cannot get to them much because I am meant to be finishing a busy teaching term well, and writing my dissertation for my MA so evenings and weekends are pretty much spoken for. But, if I wake up in the middle of the night, or early in the morning, it is a bit hard to resist....Here is a short extract, her rule of life, devised after a particularly trying week of people getting on her nerves.

The Catholic Worker will be in the hands of 

St Joseph, and Tamar and I to continue under our novice mistress, the little St. Teresa who alone can teach us how to do the little things and cultivate a spirit of humility. St. Joseph is also taking care of me this year as I asked him to up at Montreal shrine.

'Can you not watch with me one hour?'

I shall remember this wherever I am tired and want to omit prayer, the extra prayers I shall set myself. 

Because after all I am going to try and pray the simplest, humblest way, with no spiritual ambition.

Morning prayers in my room before going to Mass. I always omit them, rushing out of the house just in time as I do. If I were less slothful it would be better. Remember what Leon Bloy said about health in this months Coliseum. Not to try too hard to catch up on lost sleep, but to be sensible about sleep nevertheless.

Around the middle of the day to take, even though it be a snatch, fifteen minutes of absolute quiet, thinking about God and talking to God.

Read the Office as much as I can, if only Prime and Compline, but all whenever possible.

One visit during the day without fail. The rosary daily. I do plenty of spiritual reading to refresh myself and to encourage myself, so I do not have to remind myself of that. The thing to remember is not to read so much and talk so much about God, but to talk to God.

To practise the presence of God.

A nightly examination as to this rule and not just about faults.

To be gentle and charitable in thought, word and deed.

The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day

Robert Ellsberg (Ed.)

Marquette University Press, April 2008

XIII. Jesus is taken down from the Cross

Illustration: Pieta - Michelangelo

XIII. Jesus is taken down from the cross

We adore you O Christ and we praise you

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

It was now evening, and since it was preparation day - that is, the day before the Sabbath -there came Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the council, who himself lived in hope of seeing the Kingdom of God, and he boldly went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate, astonished that he should have died so soon, summoned the Centurion and enquired if he had been dead for some time. Having been assured of this by the Centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph who brought a shroud, took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped him in the shroud and laid him a tomb which had been hewn out of rock. He then rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Joset took note of where he was laid.

Mark 15: 42 - 47

XII. Jesus Dies

My dying Jesus,

I would kiss the cross on which you die for love of me.

Your death is my hope.

Grant that I may love you always

and then do with me as you will

(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be)

XII. Jesus Dies

'Show us that you understand what is costs the human being to love'

'The cross shows us love wounded beyond endurance and love affirmed beyond death. It is God's acknowledgement that humankind too bears the wounds of love, that in making us in God's image God made us for love's wounding. How can this be shown? How can this be offered? Come God, let us make you in our image and see you suffer as we do. Tell us you understand. Show us that you know what a parent feels like when a child is murdered. Let us see how you would feel if you were betrayed by those that you trust and abandoned by your friends. Prove to us that your love would not weaken even if you were stripped, abused and humiliated because you would not meet violence with violence. Show us that you understand what it costs the human being to love. Show us that you wouldn't weaken if you had to suffer as we do. Become for us all the love and all the heartache of all the world, but more than that, become for us all the agony and all the dying of the world. Be vulnerable, like us. And show that love's vulnerability is greater than death's annihilating power. Show us that the forces of negation cannot quench love's presence. Let us test you to the limits of your endurance, and then we will forgive you for making us creatures in the image of your crucified love. And if you survive the test, then will you forgive us?'

Tina Beattie: Eve's Pilgrimage - A Woman's Quest for the City of God

XII. Jesus Dies

XII. Jesus Dies

Illustration: Heather Bloor

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' When some of those who stood by heard this, they said, 'Listen, he is calling on Elijah.' Someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink saying, 'Wait! And see if Elijah will come to take him down.' But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing there in front of him, had seen how he had died, and he said, 'In truth this man was Son of God.'

Mark 15: 33 - 39