R. Because by Thy holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world.
What a terrifying experience it must have been to have stood beneath the cross on Calvary as the Savior of the world died, the earth quaked, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Then to receive His body....
Our Lady must have thought of the first time she held her Son in her arms when she held His broken body. Then she must have marveled at how God could rest in the fragile flesh of an infant. Now she grieved at the tortured body of that Son who had borne incomprehensible sufferings by taking on the sins of the whole world.
Her own heart had been pierced by the sword of sorrow foretold by Simeon in the temple. Thus her suffering too became a well of love united with that of her Son, earning her the title Co-Redemptrix.
Although her heart must have broken as she pressed the body of her Son to her heart, still in the depths of her heart she uttered still that simple word of love: "Fiat." Whatever she willed, she knew that God's will must be done. She knew that no matter how cruel it seemed, no matter how dark the path that she must tread forward, that the Father's Providence would bring good out of evil.
Now by her prayers she seeks to obtain for us that same grace.
O Mother of sorrow, for the love of this Son, accept me for thy servant, and pray to Him for me. And Thou, my Redeemer, since Thou hast died for me, permit me to love Thee; for I wish but Thee, and nothing more. I love Thee, my Jesus, and I repent of ever having offended Thee. Never permit me to offend Thee again. Grant that I may love Thee always; and then do with me what Thou wilt. (From the Stations of the Cross according to Saint Alphonsus Liguori.)
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