Thirteenth Station, Way of the Cross 2010

JOSEPH FÜHRICH (1800-1876)
WAY OF THE CROSS 1844-46
CHURCH OF ST JOHN NEPOMUK - VIENNA

THIRTEENTH STATION
Jesus is taken down from the cross and placed in the arms of his Mother

V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

There was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Now the hour of Jesus has been completed and Jesus is taken down from the cross. Ready to receive him are the arms of his Mother. After having tasted the loneliness of death to the bitter end, Jesus immediately rediscovers – in his lifeless body – the strongest and sweetest of his human bonds, the warmth of his Mother’s affection. The greatest artists – we need but think for example of Michelangelo’s Pietà – have been able to intuit and express the depth and indestructible strength of this bond.

As we remember that Mary, standing at the foot of the cross, also became the mother of each one of us, we ask her to put into our hearts the feelings that unite her to Jesus. To be authentic Christians, to follow Jesus truly, we need to be bound to him with all that is within us: our minds, our will, our hearts, our daily choices great and small.

Only in this way can God stand at the centre of our lives. Only in this way can he be something more than a source of consolation which is ever close when needed, but without interfering with the concrete interests governing our daily lives and decisions.

Pater noster, qui es in cælis:
sanctificetur nomen tuum;
adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua, sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne nos inducas in tentationem;
sed libera nos a malo.