[In Mary's own words] First they attatched His right hand to the beam, in which a nail hole had been prepared, and they drove the nail through His hand in the part where the bone was firmest. Then they put His other hand in the opposite direction with a rope, as it did not reach the other nail hole, and they nailed it down in the same way. Next they nailed His right foot, and over it the left, so that all the nerves and veins were torn apart and broken. Then they replaced on His holy head the crown of thorns which caused such deep wounds that His blood streamed down, filling His eyes and His ears and matting His whole beard. When the first nail was driven into Him, through the shock of that first blow I lost consciousness and fell down as though dead. Everything turned black before my eyes. My hands began to tremble. And my anguish was so bitter that I could not look up again until He was completely attatched to the cross. When I came to myself and arose again, I saw my Son hanging crucified in misery. And I, His deeply grieving Mother, felt such a shock through my whole being that I could hardly stand . . . [since His heart was hers, that is, they were in complete accord] just as Adam and Eve sold the world for an apple, so in a certain sense my Son and I redeemed the world with one Heart . . . I stood near Him, sobbing. With His blood-filled eyes He looked down at John and commended me to His care . . . Then in the excessive anguish of His humanity He cried to His Father: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit!" When I, His Most Sorrowful Mother heard these words, in my keen grief of heart all my limbs trembled - and indeed as often as I later thought of that cry, I could hear it again in my ears . . . Finally His head dropped, and His beard rested against His chest. [She fainted again, and when she came to she understood that it had all happened because He'd willed it to] And I thanked Him for everything. A certain joy was even mingled with my grief, for I perceived how He, who had never sinned, had willed to suffer so much for sinners, out of His great love . . . [After He was taken down] It would be impossible for anyone to describe how sad I was then. I was like a woman who gives birth to a child: after the birth her whole body is quivering, and although her pain is such that she can hardly breathe, yet in her heart she feels the greatest possible joy, becuase she knows her son which she has borne will never again have to go through that suffering which she has just experienced. Thus, though I felt a grief over the death of my Son that could not be compared to any other, I rejoiced in my soul, because I knew that my Son would not die again but would live forever. And thus some joy was mingled with my sorrow . . . Oh, how gladly would I have allowed them to entomb me alive with my Son, if it had been His will! I can truly say that when my Son was entombed, there were two Hearts in one sepulcher. Is there not the saying: where your treasure is, there is also your heart? Therefore my thoughts and my heart were always in the Tomb of my Son. After all these things had been accomplished, the good John came and led me to his house.
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| Michelangelo's Pieta |
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