Note: a short video using the text of this post follows at the end and was created just for you.
Have you ever considered the moment when the crown of thorns was removed from our Lord's sacred head following His death on the Cross?Just imagine what that moment was like. Such meditations are immeasurably valuable to our souls, because they draw us into closer union with Jesus.
Truly, we are loved and valued by God beyond measure.
Our Blessed Mother urged us to never forget the mysteries of the Incarnation, Passion and Death of her Divine Son. She also urged us to give thanks in compensation for the great number of people who do not. 1
Meditating on the life, Passion, and Death of Jesus is also very beneficial to us as we resist and fight the forces of evil.
Blessed Mother revealed in City of God: The Divine History and Life of the Virgin Mother of God, as manifested to Venerable Mary of Agreda for the Encouragement of Men:
"...I assure thee that the mere memory and contemplation of these mysteries are terrible to hell, torment and drive away the demons, and that they avoid and fly those who thankfully remember the life and passion of my divine Son." 1
When you pray to prepare your heart before Holy Mass, share precious moments of divine intimacy with Jesus by reflecting on the individual moments of His Passion. Unite your own suffering with our Lord's suffering during the scourging at pillar, along the Way of the Cross, or when He was nailed to the Cross. Meditate on His wounds. Unite your heart to the Sacred Heart of Jesus torn open by the lance.
Ask the Lord to direct your thoughts to those moments of His passion which are of most benefit to your soul, or ask Him to teach you something new so your appreciation and thanksgiving will be more satisfactory. Let us consider the moment when the crown of thorns was removed from Jesus' sacred head.
At the time when our Savior's body was to be taken down from the Cross, Joseph of Arimathea felt that our Lady's sorrow would be renewed when Jesus' sacred body would be lowered and touched by His Mother, so he advised St. John to take Her aside and distract her.
St. John responded that as she had been there since the beginning of the Lord's torments "she would not leave him whom She venerated as her God and loved as the Son of her Womb." 2
Despite this, they urged Blessed Mother to retire for a while until Jesus had been lowered from the Cross.
She replied, "My dearest masters, since I was present, when my sweetest Son was nailed to the Cross, fear not to allow me to be present at his taking down; for this act of piety, though it shall affect my heart with new sorrow, will, in its very performance, afford a great relief." 3What incredible love and humility Blessed Mother expressed to her new sons and daughters!
That having been said, they began making arrangements to remove the Sacred Body of our Savior from the Cross.
The first thing they did was remove the crown of thorns from the head of Jesus, exposing the lacerations and deep wounds caused by the crowning.
"They handed it down with great reverence and amid abundant tears, placing it in the hands of the sweetest Mother. She received it prostrate on her knees, in deepest adoration bathed it with her tears, permitting the sharp thorns to wound her virginal countenance in pressing it to her face.
"She asked the eternal Father to inspire due veneration toward the sacred thorns in those Christians, who should obtain possession of them in future times." 4
St. John, the pious women, and the other faithful present adored the crown of thorns in imitation of Blessed Mother.
In a similar way, they adored the nails, and then "the great Lady placed Herself on her knees and held the unfolded cloth in her outstretched arms ready to receive the dead body of her Son...she looked upon Him with supreme worship and reverence, shedding tears of blood." 5
Think about that moment during Holy Communion, as our Lord's Sacred Body reposes on your tongue.Seated on the ground, Blessed Mother held Him in her arms so that the others could also adore their Lord and Savior.
What incredible love; what heroic generosity!
"Her sorrow exceeded all that could ever be felt by mortals..she enlightened all in the understanding of the sacrament now transpiring under their hands." 6
Remember our Lord's crowning with thorns during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and be sure to venerate our Savior as the King of kings. Thank Jesus and our Blessed Mother for their unfathomable love for all mankind and also for you personally. Be sure to love them in return.
Don't just be Catholic. Be PROFOUNDLY Catholic.
God is so in love with you! +
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Sources:
1. City of God: The Divine History and Life of the Virgin Mother of God, as manifested to Venerable Mary of Agreda for the Encouragement of Men (Washington, New Jersey: Ave Maria Institute, 1971), p. 698
2,3. Ibid, p. 706.
4. Ibid, p. 706-707.
5. Ibid, p. 707
6. Ibid, p. 708.
Images taken at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan, U.S.A.
