“This place is holy,
it is good to be here.”
Set apart,
consecrated,
an aura rests upon it,
a rarified sense of ‘other.’
Trees of grace
bearing fruit,
wisdom peers from the cave,
into the vastness of the desert.
All things are recapitulated in Christ. All things become one in Him. All things are made new. All through the power of His cross. Time and eternity are juxtaposed in the prayer. Each entity is a pair. There are like verbal crosses. They number five as the wounds of Christ.
Read More"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."
"Pater, in manus tuas, commendo spiritum meum."
"At the ninth hour Jesus called out in a loud voice: It is finished. His head dropped forward and He died."
"It is finished."
"Consummatum est."
"So that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, Jesus said,
‘I thirst’."
"sitio"
"Darkness covered the whole earth."
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
"Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabacthani"
"Deus meus, ut guid dereliquiste me?"
"Standing at the cross of Jesus was his mother.
"Woman behold your son, son behold your mother."
"Mulier, ecce filius tuus, ecce mater tua."
"Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom."
“Amen, I say to you, this day you will be with me in Paradise."
"Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris Paradiso."
"It was the sixth hour and they crucified him."
"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."
"Pater, di mitte illis, non enim sciunt, quid faciunt"
I pray the Last Words of Jesus using the Seven Dolors Rosary. The form of the Seven Dolors Rosary lends itself very well to the prayer. It is the trellis upon which the prayer grows.
Read MorePeople cling to every syllable of word spoken by the dying. These words are remembered, repeated, treasured, and passed down in families. The Gospels have done this for the Church. Those who stood at the foot of the cross and heard the last words of Our Lord clung to them and remembered. Within these last words of Our Lord was a treasure.
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