Chapter 65: Of holy Mary Magdalene s great sorrow of heart at the Passion of the Lord

ALL praise and glory be to You, O most sweet Jesus Christ, for the exceeding holiness of Mary Magdalene, and for her devout lamentation at Your most sacred and most bitter Passion. For her it was not enough to have attended You in Your life on earth, and to have followed You through towns and villages witnessing the signs and miracles, worthy of all praise and honour, which You did work by Your Divine power; but in Your Passion she never left You, but followed You weeping to the Cross's foot, and was with holy Mary Your Mother, and the many other devout and holy women, who with bitter tears compassionated You as You went on Your way to Calvary, sorrowing for the burden of the Cross which You had to bear, and for the cruel death to which, all-innocent as You were, You had been condemned. So long therefore as You were in sight, she followed Your Cross weeping, sobbing, and lamenting; she marked Your every step, and passed along wringing her hands, beating her breast, and wiping her eyes, while copious floods of tears poured down her cheeks; for she felt that in no better way could she show her love, no otherwise could she be of any use, than by showing the deepest sorrow of heart, by weeping bitterly all day and all night, and by never forgetting the pain and the anguish which You had to endure. She felt every Wound of Yours as if it had been her own, and the more she loved You the more vehement was her grief, the more copious were her tears. When she saw You stripped naked and nailed to the Cross, she stood with Your Mother at its foot, as close to it as she dared; and in spite of the intense anguish of her grief, for nothing in the world would she leave Your Cross; to You and to Your Mother she clung most faithfully until Your death. When she heard Your loud cry, and saw You die upon the Cross, so overwhelmed was she with grief that her soul fainted within her. Nourishment she could not take; sleep forsook her eyes. Tears were her only meat; to live longer deprived of You seemed to her a lot too hard to bear. Had she not been in all things submissive to Your Will, she could after Your death have endured life no longer. Her constant lamentations show that without You this life had no joy for her.

But, Mary, for the sake of your loved One as He hangs upon the Cross, refrain yourself this once, I pray you, for a while, and support the Mother of Jesus and her sisters in their hour of grievous need. Think not of forsaking the Mother; think not of leaving the side of the most sorrowful Virgin Mother of Jesus, as if you could no longer bear to look upon grief so intense, or to hear moans so piteous. Grieve with those who grieve, weep with those that weep, that so in the glory of the Resurrection you may rejoice with them that rejoice.

O good and most loving Jesus, Mary did as You had bidden her. As You saidst to her, and commanded her before Your Death, she kept what was left of the ointment in order that she might therewith anoint Your Body for Its burial. She did not sell it, as Judas would have had her, for she did not forget Your words; but she kept it in the alabaster box, and bought yet more of it, so making preparation for Your needs. Of a truth a friend is proved in distress; true love is shown in the action which it prompts. And so it was that this holy and most faithful Mary proved how she loved You in life by the depth of her grief, and by the loving care for You which she showed in all that she did for You after death in the matter of Your burial. Not a single thing did she leave undone of all that was needed for the reverent burial of Your sacred Body. She swathed It, she anointed It, she covered It up, she bound It round, she sewed up the linen cloths, she reverently placed upon Your sacred Head a napkin as Its fitting covering. All the while that she was doing this she wept unceasingly: her only comfort was the thought that she was found meet to join Your other followers in attending upon You and upon Your Mother, and that she was able to see all things about You rightly done. When at length Your most sacred Body had been laid in the Tomb, and the entrance to it had been firmly closed and sealed, there was a fresh outburst of grief and lamentation; for she thought that never again in this life would she see You, with Whom she had but a short while since enjoyed such fellowship of spiritual life and joy. Nor, even when the Tomb had been closed, could she at once leave the place where her earthly Treasure lay hid: till sundown she sat there mourning in company with many other faithful women, till at length tears failed them; and even then they poured forth from the recesses of their hearts sighs of love, even as it is written of them: " The women sitting over against the Tomb wept and sorrowed for the Lord."[2]

Oh that to me also it might be given in such wise to compassionate You, O my Lord Jesus Christ, when I meditate on Your Passion, as did devout Mary Magdalene on that Good Friday when she saw You crucified, dead, and buried, and of all men, as it were, set at nought, mocked, and blasphemed. But, thanks be to You, O most patient Jesus, this untrue report concerning You was but short-lived; for after three days You did conquer, and did confound Your enemies by rising again victorious over death. Of a truth, Lord, those words of Yours were fulfilled which You spoke beforehand concerning Mary Magdalene, in the presence of Your disciples, in praise of her good deeds, saying: " Amen, I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall he preached in the whole world, that also which she has done shall be told for a memory of her." Of a truth Your whole house is filled with the odour of the ointment; that is to say the whole Church of the faithful, spread abroad throughout the world, is instructed by the teaching of the Apostles, and is animated by Divine truth. For the renown of Mary's great sanctity is set forth in the writings of apostles and evangelists, and is consequently proclaimed far and wide by Doctors and preachers; and year by year her glorious festival is celebrated and honoured in Holy Church with special devotion by all the Clergy and by the people of either sex, upon the day on which her most blessed soul passed from this world to dwell with You, our Lord Jesus Christ, in Your everlasting tabernacles. Amen.