The most AMAZING
things happen when you hand your life over to God completely and make
every effort to love Him will all your heart.
A previous post considered meditating on the moment when the Crown of Thorns was removed from our Lord’s Sacred Head
following His death on the Cross: Meditating on Our Savior's Crown of Thorns
As a Holy Week meditation in anticipation of Good Friday, one that is also very profitable for our souls at any other time, let us once again reflect on the
moment when the Crown of Thorns on Jesus' Head was passed down to His most Holy Mother.
From 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:
"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." 1
Don’t ever just be Catholic; be PROFOUNDLY Catholic!
"A house founded on the Cross will fear neither wind, nor rain, nor storm." ~ Saint John Vianney, On Suffering
The most AMAZING things happen when you hand your life over to God completely and make every effort to love Him will all your heart.
The most AMAZING things happen when you hand your life over to God completely and make every effort to love Him will all your heart.
Jesus is so pleased that you take time to meditate on His Passion and on your redemption. He thirsts for your love in return! To deepen your understanding of His great love for you, Jesus has decided to present Himself to you as an Infant and as a small Child wearing the Crown of
Thorns.
Just imagine that sight.
Can your heart even bear it?
Jesus has presented Himself to you this way for a reason.
But He waits a few days before explaining (smile).
Today, He decides to take you on a journey through time and space, and the first stop is the foot of His Cross after His death by Crucifixion.
There, you witness the moment together with Jesus when the Crown of Thorns was removed from His Sacred Head, before His Body was removed from the Cross.
After Blessed Mother pressed the Crown of Thorns to Her face, Jesus once again shows Himself to you as an Infant, and once again, the Divine Child is wearing the Crown of Thorns.
After Blessed Mother pressed the Crown of Thorns to Her face, Jesus once again shows Himself to you as an Infant, and once again, the Divine Child is wearing the Crown of Thorns.
Jesus explains without making a sound: Each time Blessed Mother caressed the Divine Child, she also pressed His Crown of
Thorns against her holy face.
The prophesy of Simeon is woven
into what the Lord reveals to your soul, as are all the events of the Virgin Mary's life
including the times she held and kissed Jesus and all the many ways she loved and cared for her Divine Son.
This pressing of the Crown of Thorns
to Blessed Mother’s face throughout Jesus’ lifetime is a metaphor for her
unconditional "Yes!" to God and her choice to live a
holy and sacrificial life, even after our Lord's Death, for the benefit of all her children including you and me.
Jesus asks that we also be willing to press His
Crown of Thorns to our faces throughout our lives by giving God our "Yes!" and by loving much as we live, serve, and
patiently suffer in imitation of Jesus and Blessed Mother.
Join all the people throughout all time
who have accepted Christ’s Crown of Thorns, whether it was/is/will be the entire Crown,
some thorns, or one thorn.
He wants us to be counted among them.
He wants us to be counted among them.
God is at work in you! + + +
© Joseph Karl Publishing/Michele Bondi Bottesi
Removing the Crown of Thorns from the Sacred Head of Jesus
___________
Sources:
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), pp. 706-707.
Images taken at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Slovak Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
