XIII                                   

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