The Church in Exile and The Three Days of Darkness
Sep. 28, 2019
At the beginning of the great week, many women of Jerusalem came to bring to Mary mourning clothes, for the coming execution. It was the custom to offer to the mother of one who was about to be tortured, the veil and the clothes that she would wear to accompany him to the immolation.
Upon entering, they see that a dazzling light brightens the small house and that the angels already surrounded the Blessed Virgin. The women did not dare to approach the Mother of the Martyr, but a sobbing voice says to them:
“Fear not, charitable souls… After Calvary the name of Mary shall be: Queen of Martyrs.”
The women filled the whole house of Mary: a dark house, little sumptuous, poor and very humble.
While the mother of the Apostles James and John offered the clothes, the Holy Virgin fell, as if fainting. The women held her up… She accepted the clothes in silence, since she could not speak any more and her tongue was icy. She only answered with her tears. The women, who shared Her torture, knelt with Mary, but for a short time.
On the way back, their only thoughts were on the sorrowful spectacle, and they resolved to also dress in mourning clothes and accompany Christ.
The Flame of the Holy Ghost says that there was just one force capable of sustaining the Mother of Jesus in His Sacrifice: the thought that the children would never forget the meaning of His Martyrdom. This was the support that sustained Her up to the moment of Crucifixion.
But, at the foot of the Cross, Mary understood with what weakness Christians will deny Her Son: this was Her greatest sorrow. From this moment and until Her Assumption into Heaven, Her whole life became a prayer for these children, a continual intercession in their favour, in order to bring back the weak and the lost.
Words of the Flame:
“Rest, My children, in the remembrance of the days of the Cross. These days will pass, and the joy of the Resurrection will reappear upon the earth.”
Rest
(Noted: moans and groans, agony, apparent death of Marie-Julie).
(30 March 1882)
[Source: pp. 41-42, Le ciel en colloque avec Marie-Julie Jahenny, by Fr. Pierre Roberdel].
Note to readers: There is a new link below, called Your Home Oratory, which shows different ways to create prayer areas, holy vignettes, and oratories in your home.
"We declare, say, define and proclaim to every human creature that they by necessity for salvation are entirely subject to the Roman Pontiff ." - Decree of Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam,Nov. 18, 1302,ex cathedra