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| Jesus arrested |
After
the seizure of our Saviour Jesus, his prophecy at the Supper, that all of the
Apostles would be greatly scandalized in his Person (Matth. 26, 31) was
fulfilled. For when they saw their divine Master taken prisoner, they fell into
great trouble and affliction and took to flight.
At
the flight of the Apostles, they separated from each other, scattering in
different directions; for it would have been difficult for all of them to hide
as they wished, if they had remained together. Only Saint Peter and Saint John
kept each other company to follow their God and Master and see the end of his
misfortune (Matth. 26, 58). They remembered their disobedience in neglecting to
pray and strengthen themselves against temptations, as the Lord had commanded
them. Their love for his sweet conversation and company, for his teaching and
miraculous power, and their conviction that He was true God, urged them to
return and seek Him, and to offer themselves to danger and death like faithful
servants and disciples.
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| Bound with heavy chains |
When
the servants of the high priest laid hands on and bound the Saviour, the most
blessed Mother felt on her own hands the pains caused by the ropes and chains,
as if She Herself was being bound and fettered; in the same manner She felt in
her body the blows and torments further inflicted upon the Lord, for, I have
already said, this favour was granted to his Mother, as we shall see in the
course of the Passion. Thus her sensible participation in his sufferings was
some kind of relief of the pain, which She would have suffered in her loving
soul at the thought of not being with Him in his torments.
The
holy Mary, from the Cenacle (upper room), clearly understood and saw all; not
only her most holy Son in captivity and suffering, but all that happened
inwardly and outwardly to the Apostles. She observed their tribulation and temptations,
their thoughts and resolves, where each one was and what he did. But although
all was known to the most gentle Dove, She allowed Herself no feeling of
indignation against the Apostles, nor did She ever in the least reproach them
for their disloyalty; on the contrary, She was the One, who was principally
instrumental in restoring them to a better mind. From that hour on She
commenced to pray for them. In sweetest charity and with the compassion of a
Mother, She interiorly addressed them: “0 ye simple sheep, chosen by the Lord,
do ye forsake your most loving Pastor, who cares for you and feeds you on the
pastures of eternal life?....”
She
multiplied and intensified her petitions in order to merit for them sufficient
assistance and speedy pardon from her Son, so that they might again return to
their faith and to his friendship in grace. She alone was the powerful and
efficacious instrument of these results. During these hours the great Lady
united within Herself all the faith, all the holiness, all the worship and
divine cult of the Church; for in Her was preserved and enclosed as in the
living and incorruptible ark and as in the temple and sanctuary, the
evangelical law and sacrifice.
