The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-04-22
THE CALVARY OF MARY.

In order to feel pity, to be able, to
console others, ii is necessary to. have
suffered: and in order to be capable of
| understanding the measure Of human
F! suffering, one must have tasted it in
! many forms-one must have drained
the bitter cup of sorrow to the dregs.
Above all other creatures. the Blessed
! Virgin drained that cup to bitterness.
Predestined to the most high to be-
come the CONSIDER of the afflicted, it
had also been ordained that, from the
! moment of the birth of our Lord in
the stable of Bethlehem to his last
| breath upon the cross. she should share
| in his every sorrow and disappointment
and humiliation; should follow him to
! Calvary. should stand beside him there,
! suffering. dying: participating in his
every anguish, his every pain. She was
! destined to be the queen of saints; but
she was to attain that height of glory
only after by her own sorrows, and
/ her share in those of mankind, merited
| the title of queen of martyrs.
AS the rose attains it's perfect beauty
i'm the midst of thorns, so the Mother
of Christ, born without sin, was adj
vanced to the highest perfection
through tribulation. And as the thorns
which surround the queen of flowers
age, so did the thorns of suffering pen
citrate more deeply the virginia. heart
of the mother, whose whole life, from
the infancy of her divine son, was but
a sorrowful preparation for the Calvary
which was also to be her own.
From bodily pain we believe her to.
have been exempted but there is no.
comparison between the suffering of
the body and that of the soul. 1t was.
the contemplation of this truth that
caused Arnauld de Chartres to declare.
that at the moment when the lamb of
God was offered on the cross. there
were in reality two affairs, two sacri-
fices-the one of the body of Jesus, the
other of the soul of Mary While
Jesus inundated his flesh and blood by
death. Mary inundated her heart ands
soul through grief and compassion. The
martyrs suffered by sacrificing their
own lives. but Mary suffered infinitely
more in sacrificing that of her son,
which was far dearer to her than her
own.
Not only did she suffer in her soul all
that Jesus enduTed.in his body. but the
sight OF his torments was far more
terrible to her than if they had been
inflicted upon herself The blows. the
spittle, the taunts, the jeers, the thorns.
the nails, the cross-every torment
which Jesus suffered was repeated in
Mary's heart. penetrating to the depths
of her Immaculate soul, the dazzling
purity of its whiteness REDEEMED to
crimson by the bloody torrents of Cal
vary.
And yet do we hear of a single com
plant, a single remonstrance. as hav-
ing fallen from her lips? AS she stood
there at the foot Of the cross through
the dreadful three hours agony. the
earthquake the thunder and lightning,
the dark sned skies. with the sight of
his quivering flesh, torn and bleeding
before her eyes, the sound of his la
bored breathing in her ears. she uttered
no complaint, no protestation. She
could not reach him to wipe the beads
of anguish from that pallid brow: she
could not strengthen him with the
clasp of his hands in her own. No:
His palms were each pierced through
and through by single nail to the
arms of the cross. She could not kiss
his sacred feet; for they were fastened
one above the other with a still more
cruel nail to the rugged beam. She
could only wait and pray until the end:
and she neither wept aloud nor uttered
a single cry of sorrow.
Oh, what lesson-of dignity. of
sublime suffering, of patience, of resig-
nation, of silent supplication, She did
not fly to the cross; shall we fly 1t. for
whom il means redemption and saliva
ton, Happy the Christian who. far
from wishing to shut out the bitter
sight of the crucifixion. turning toward
the sorroWful mother. places himself by
her side, eager TO share in the Calvary
Of Mary.-Ave Maria.