Ave Maria Meditations
The Sixth Sorrow: Jesus is taken down from the Cross: They took therefore the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths (Jn 19:40)
I pity you, oh my afflicted mother, on account of the sixth sword which pierced your heart, when you did see the kind heart of your Son pierced through and through after his death – a death endured for those ungrateful men, who, even after his death, were not satisfied with the tortures they had inflicted upon him. By this cruel sorrow, then, which was wholly yours, I pray you to obtain for me the grace to abide in the heart of Jesus, who was wounded and opened for me; in that heart, I say, which is the beautiful abode of love, where all the souls who love God repose; and that living there, I will never love or think of any thing but God. Most holy Virgin, you can do it; from you I hope for it.
PRAYER
Oh afflicted Virgin! Oh soul great in virtues and great also in sorrows! For both arise from that great fire of love Thou has for God. Thou “whose Heart can love nothing but God.” Mother, have pity on me, for I have not loved God, and I have so much offended Him. Thy sorrows give me great confidence to hope for pardon. But this is not enough. I wish to love my Lord, and who can better obtain this for me than Thou – Thou who art the Mother of fair love? Ah Mary, Thou dost console all, comfort me also. Amen.
