The Thirteenth Station: Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

station 13

‘When evening fell, a wealthy man from Arimathea arrived, Joseph by name. He was another of Jesus’ disciples, and had gone to request the body of Jesus. Thereupon Pilate issued an order for its release.” (Matthew 27:57-58)

“The abandonment at the supreme moment of the crucifixion, what an abyss of love on both sides!

God wears himself out through the infinite thickness of time and space in order to reach the soul and to captivate it. If it allows a pure and utter consent (though brief as a lightening flash) to be torn from it, then God conquers that soul. And when it has become entirely his, he abandons it. He leaves it completely alone, and it has in its turn, but gropingly, to cross the infinite thickness of time and space in search of him whom it loves. It is thus that the soul, starting from the opposite end, makes the same journey that God made toward it. And that is the cross.” (Simone Weil, Waiting for God)

Prayer of Praise:  “I adore you, O Christ, and I bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”

Fourteenth Station