Fourth Dolor - Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother

Greetings in Jesus and Mary...

We now come to the sorrows in the Immaculate Heart which She had pondered upon since the prophecy of St. Simeon. We are now here. Her life has been an endless heavenward ascent as She always unites her Will to God’s. She is always increasing in holiness because she is always increasing in love. Stronger sanctity can carry heavier crosses…because we become united to God Who can supply all our needs and make our burdens light.

It is this meeting of Jesus and Mary as He carries His Cross on the Way to Calvary that we meditate upon here. This was a difficult sorrow – different from the previous. She saw Him now in the hands of others who could touch Him and come near Him, while She was kept far off. How She longed to wipe the blood from His face with Her veil, to part His tangled hair, to remove that cruel crown, to lift the Cross off His shoulders and see whether her broken heart would not give her superhuman strength to carry it for Him! Oh how Her motherly Heart was so moved, stirred and broken at this present position.
 
When we meditate upon these sufferings of our Good Mother and Queen and upon the love that Jesus had in carrying that Cross for our sins, we cannot shrink from the contemplation of those real realities which the Son of God condescended to undergo for us, and into the horrors of which our own sins drove Him. Many saints claim that this type of contemplation is essential for truly penitent love.  Think of just the one thought of how Mary was to walk the streets over Her own Son’s Precious Blood. That thought alone could make a two hour meditation of prayers and lamentations. No heart but Hers was touched at seeing this Precious Blood, all over the streets, splashed on the steps, under people’s sandals, even on the legs of the horses. SUCH SACRILEGE – SUCH HORROR! It is written in the City of God by Mother Mary Agreda that the angels, after the Crucifixion, went through the streets and collected all the Precious Blood from the stones, sand, streets and deposited it in a holy place. We can only imagine at the request of Our Lady….but again….Her Will was perfectly united to the Will of God....therefore …it was the Will of the Father for this to be done and rightly so!
 
As we remember in the Passion movie, the holy woman Mary Magdalene and Our Lady wiped up the blood of Jesus at the pillar after the scourging. This was a great gesture of Mel Gibson to put this in the movie for it had to be so -- it was the most tender moment for me to shed tears....Oh Precious Blood of my Saviour!
 
Again, we must always remember that the greatest sorrow of Our Lady was not so much that He suffered for our sins in this horrific manner BUT --- THAT MANY SOULS WOULD NEVER CARE---OR WORSE---MOCK HIM OR EVEN HATE HIM.  This brought the most intense sorrow and we must remember that because She was united in the most perfect way to God….it WAS THE SORROW OF JESUS AS WELL. His very sufferings were Her sufferings and seeing Her suffer made Him suffer all the more! They were exchanging Hearts always but especially at this dolor…each looked into the other’s eyes and wept! Wept not for this suffering but more for the reason I just mentioned. Can we deny that She is the Co-Remptorix?  She did not suffer in the same way but in a different way and neither was less intense. This is what makes this dolor so sorrowful. She had to walk and stand and listen to the jeers side by side with those who are perpetrating this evil upon Her Son. Yet, as hard as that is, She has the love of God in Her soul for these poor wretched sinners and would also say….Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
 
Lesson for us to learn in this dolor….We ourselves are a part of our Mother’s dolors, because we were an actual part of our Savior’s Passion. Yet, we must always know that the Love of the Sacred Heart which burns for each one of us is burning also in the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She, as a good Mother, wants us to repent and sin no more. She wants us to contemplate the Passion of Our Lord to appreciate and give thanksgiving to Him for all that He endured for each one of us. If we die without doing that…God have mercy on us!

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