At the foot of the cross last night in prayer I was surprised to find myself spraying with a fine haze of blood that came down gently from the dying Saviour above. It reminded me of the part of the mass when the priest sprinkles us with holy water from hyssop: Psalm 51:7 …6Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.… ...or again: Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the Law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people, Exodus 12:22 Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the top and the two sideposts of the doorframe with some of the blood. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. We know Jesus shed His blood to the very last drop because when His heart was pierced it finally came out as water. So there must have been so much blood, I suppose those beneath the Cross might have indeed been sprinkled with it. It seemed so cold there all of a sudden and turning dark. This surprised me I have always thought of it as so hot. When it was in Jerusalem it was always over 40C during the day. However we know that at the time of Jesus the climate was very different much more temperate. Also we know at Christ's death the world turned dark, so maybe that too accounts for it. Mark 15:33 The Death of Jesus 32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” And even those who were crucified with Him berated Him. 33From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 34At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”… As I looked a black cloud appeared before the Cross and a face looked out, the face of Lucifer looking most intently at Jesus as though to figure out what was going on. I could see that for Satan the Passion was a test, that he was trying to Drive Jesus to a certain course of action, to save Himself. Satan was astonished and full of fear that this had not happened. He could not understand it. Romans 8:37-39 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,a]">[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I am always a little sad and perplexed that standing at the Foot of the Cross I never cry. My heart seems so hard; like rock. But love is not about emotions, love is about love and if all I can do is stand and wait with the Sorrowful Virgin , stand and wait is what I will do.
You are truly blessed to have such an experience...do you find that when you have such experiences, that you understand in the moment or do you have to reflect on it in prayer afterwards to really understand what our Lord wishes for you to comprehend.
Saint Teresa of Avila says that the greater the grace the deeper the mark it leaves on our memories and actions. Perhaps this is true of all things in life. The birth of a person's first child for instance is a gift from God whose memory lasts forever and must be often reflected on. I have been thinking of the Cross on and off all day as I did last night. I also think that of meditating we can do so with both the mind and with the heart, but that the deepest is with the heart for the heart thinks in terms of love. My grandmother, for instance had the rosary always as though welded to her hand it was so often there. She thought in terms mostly of love. Some great theologians , on the other hand look only with the head and without the heart. Because of this they become haughty and cold and fall into heresy.They look at Christ nailed to the Cross as thought He were a butterfly staked out for their inspection. My grandmother on the other hand held Him like a little child lovingly in her heart. This is much the better path.
I find sometimes when I truly go deep in my meditation, I have no words.. my heart just internally groans, for the lack of a better description.
Still waters run deep. St Teresa of Avila had a vision of Our Lady after the death of Christ, ,she spoke of her as being frozen to Stone with Sorrow. She saw the Resurrected Christ appear to His Mother and hug her to life with the warmth of His love. Which is why I love the rendition of Our Lady in the film, 'The Passion of the Christ.' She seems so much like this.
After mass this morning at the grotto of the Sacred Heart and thought of His words to St Margaret Mary, 'Behold this Heart that has so loved men'. ...and it occurred to me that this is what the Sacred Heart is... ..a hug of love.
I pray a lot for those who don’t truly know a mother’s love. Whether it be they have no earthly mother or an earthly mother who has abandoned her true calling to her child. Our heavenly mother...how blessed we are to have her. Though it saddens my heart at times that she has spent her heaven so far grieving for all her lost children.
I instantly thought of St longinus he was the first to be sprayed by Christ's blood when he pierced his side his blindness was instantly cured
I notice again and again that there are saints , like St Therese of Liseaux who loast their mother early in life and adopted Mary as their Mother, so touching.
