Thirteenth Station

Thirteenth Station - Jesus is laid in the arms of His Blessed Mother

Consider how, after our Lord had expired, two of his disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, took him down from the cross and placed him in the arms of his afflicted mother, who received him with unutterable tenderness.

V. We adore thee O Christ and we bless thee,
R. Because by thy Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

THE multitude have gone home. Calvary is left solitary and still, except that St. John and the holy women are there. Then come Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and take down from the Cross the

body of Jesus, and place it in the arms of Mary.

O Mary, at last you has possession of thy Son. Now, when His enemies can do no more, they leave Him in contempt to thee. As His unexpected friends perform their difficult work, You look on with unspeakable thoughts. Thy heart is pierced with the sword of which Simeon spoke. O Mother most sorrowful; yet in thy sorrow there is a still greater joy. The joy in prospect nerved thee to stand by Him as He hung upon the Cross; much more now, without swooning, without trembling, You did receive Him to thy arms and on thy lap. Now you art supremely happy as having Him, though He comes to thee not as He went from thee. He went from thy home, O Mother of God, in the strength and beauty of His manhood, and He comes back to thee dislocated, torn to pieces, mangled, dead. Yet, O Blessed Mary, you art happier in this hour of woe than on the day of the marriage feast, for then He was leaving thee, and now in the future, as a Risen Savior, He will be separated from thee no more.

Our Father, Hail Mary.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.

R. Have mercy on us.