Seems to me.........

[BarbTherese]

It seems to me that there is Joy in this Holy Saturday in the stillness and waiting.  Jesus has descended into Sheol -  Hades and Gehenna - with the great abyss in between those two.  Hence it seems to me Satan in Gehenna  now has very clear evidence that it has lost indeed and totally for all eternity............and all those who died free of deadly sin and in Hades (many died very heroically) and before Heaven was opened, now know that they are very soon Heaven bound.  The gates are being opened and for all those in The Old Testament (including St Joseph I have wondered?) who have lingered in Hades.

Stillness and Quiet........... and Joy

Further have I been wondering over this Triduum about Our Lady.  I wonder if a message was taken to her that Jesus, Her Only Son, had been arrested.  She knew what happened to her nephew, John The Baptist, after his arrest, she knew of his terrible murder.  Yet her Son seemed to be following the same path and challenging especially Jewish authority - and now Jesus had been arrested too.  It must have been a terrible time of worry and concern for her over the three years of her Son's very public ministry and His arrest devestating.

She is at the foot of the cross during His shocking sufferings and death.  I am the mother of one biological son and one foster son........I cannot imagine in my wildest dreams how she was able to maintain her station at the foot of that cross without fainting away completely, collapsing.  We are not told that she did, but perhaps she did.

Even if Mary had absolute confidence in the Resurrection of her Son, she was a Mum of an only Son and now He was taken from her here on earth...........what a terrible time of overwhelming grief for her.  She was fully human in every way and (for me) the role model par excellence of womanhood and motherhood.    Her life in the main was mainly a hidden life, yet so much to muse over, to meditate and to wonder, 

[BarbTherese]

 If Our Lady did not collapse completely and faint away at the foot of the cross - it strikes me as an absolutely amazing Grace in every way.........and one that would have brought to her unimaginable pain and suffering. Unimaginable.  A martyrdom in mind, heart and emotions, spirit.

 

Edited March 26, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

[Nihil Obstat]

 

Edited March 27, 2016 by Nihil Obstat