Fourteenth Station: Taken Down, Laid in the Tomb

V/. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi.
R/. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

[V. We adore you, o Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.]

From the Gospel according to Saint Mark. 15:46

Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.

MEDITATION

Tragedies make us ponder. A tsunami tells us that life is serious. Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain pilgrim places. When death strikes near, another world draws close. We then shed our illusions and have a grasp of the deeper reality. People in ancient India prayed: “Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.”

After Jesus left this world, Christians began to look back and interpret his life and mission. They carried his message to the ends of the earth. And this message itself is Jesus Christ, who is “the power of God and the wisdom of God”. It says that the reality is Christ and that our ultimate destiny is to be with him.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, enable us, as we press forward on life’s weary way, to have a glimpse of our ultimate destiny. And when at last we cross over, we will know that “death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more.” God will wipe away all tears from our eyes.

It is this Good News that we are eager to announce “in every way”, even in places where Christ has not been heard of. For this we work hard. We work “night and day” and wear ourselves out. Lord make us effective carriers of your Good News.

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; and in my flesh I shall see God.”

--Thomas Menamparampil SDB
Via Crucis at the Colosseum
Rome
Good Friday 2009