"NEAR MY SON AND MY SONS"

"To the Priests, My Beloved Sons" Good Friday, April 13, 1979

"Today my place is here: near my Son who is suffering.

The will of the Father so disposed that I would not be near Jesus during his interior agony in Gethsemane, because they very absence of his Mother would make his abandonment more complete. ‘If it is possible, let this chalice pass from me.’ But in my soul, during the night, I remained every near my Son.

Through prayer and suffering, I truly shared in all his agony in order to comfort and help Him, by uniting my yes to his in saying: ‘Father, not my will but yours be done.’ And when the angel was sent to Him from heaven to comfort Him, he passed by me also, in order that I might place in his chalice all the love of my motherly heart.

Today my place is here: near my Son who is dying.

The meeting takes place on the road to Calvary, after Jesus has been betrayed, denied and abandoned by his own. Of the twelve, there remains only one, whom I take by the hand to encourage him and to give him strength to remain with us. The condemnation is written on the scourged body of Jesus and the thorns cover his eyes with blood.

It is here that I meet my Son: I am at his side to help Him die. I feel the nails which pierce his flesh, the tearing of his body hung on the gibbet, his labored breathing; I hear his voice as it grows weaker with words of prayer and pardon, and He appears to me to be dying.

But I continue to live, beneath the Cross, with a pierced heart and a wounded soul, still miraculously alive because, as a Mother. I must help my Son to die. No one will ever understand the hidden mystery of this moment.

Today my place is here: near my buried Son.

And now my sorrow bursts forth as a flooding river bursts through all its embankments. My tears bathe his face, my laments cradle his body and with my hands I close the deep wounds, while my Immaculate Heart becomes his first sepulchre.

Then when night casts a veil over all things, the vigil begins for the Mother. I am here, recollected in the faith which has never deserted me, in the hope which completely illumines me and in prayer which has become continual and unceasing as though to mark the passing of time which for me no longer has either day or night.

The fervent prayer of the Mother penetrates heaven and is accepted by the Father who, to shorten my anguished wait, anticipates the moment of the resurrection of the Son.

My place is here: near my risen Son.

When Jesus comes to me in the light of his glorified body, receives me in his divine arms and bends down to kiss the wounds of my great sorrow, I understand that my mission on his behalf has been accomplished.

I am beginning my maternal mission for you, for the Church which has been born of his great suffering and mine.

Today my place is again here: near all my sons.

Till the end of the world, I will always be close to you, sons begotten of the death of my only Son.

Above all, I am with you during these moments of darkness and suffering, when you are being called to live out what Jesus endured during his redemptive passion.

I am always near you to help you to suffer, to die and to rise again, until the plan of the Father be fulfilled and, with Jesus, you too may rejoice in the glory of his kingdom of life."

Jesus Christ, only Saviour of the world,

Yesterday, today and forever