FOURTEENTH STATION
JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to Matthew – Chapter 27.
Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the sepulcher.

Meditation
Jesus, disgraced and mistreated, is honorably buried in a new tomb. Nicodemus brings a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds in weight, which give off a precious scent. In the Son’s self-offering, as at his anointing in Bethany, we see an “excess” that evokes God’s generous and super-abundant love. God offer himself unstintingly. If God’s measure is superabundance, then we for our part should consider nothing too much for God…Amid the decay of ideologies, our faith needs once more to be the fragrance that returns us to the path of life. At the very moment of his burial, Jesus’ words are fulfilled: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (Jn 12:24). Jesus\ is the grain of wheat that dies. From that lifeless grain of wheat comes forth the great multiplication of bread that will endure until the end of the world. Jesus is the Bread of Life that can satisfy superabundantly the hunger of all humanity and provide its deepest nourishment. Through his cross and resurrection, the eternal Word of God became flesh and bread for us. The mystery of the Eucharist already shines forth in the burial of Jesus.

Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, in your burial you have taken on the death of the grain of wheat. You have become the lifeless grain of wheat that produces abundant fruit for every age and for all eternity. From the tomb shines forth in every generation the promise of the grain of wheat that give rise to the true manna, the Bread of Life, in which you offer us your very self. The eternal Word, through his incarnation and death, has become a Word that is close to us: you put yourself into our hands and into our hearts, so that your Word can grow within us and bear fruit. Though the death of the grain of wheat you give us yourself, so that we too can dare to lose our life in order to find it; so that we too can trust the promise of the grain of wheat…Like the grain of wheat that rises from the earth, putting forth its stalk and then its ear, you could not remain enclosed in the tomb; the tomb is empty because he – the Father – “did not abandon you to the nether world, nor let y our flesh see corruption” (Acts 2:31, Ps 16:10). No, you did not see corruption. You have risen and have made a place for our transfigured flesh in the very heart of God. Help us to rejoice in this hope and to bring it joyfully to the world. Help us to become witnesses of your resurrection

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

Stabat Mater: While my body here decays, may my soul your goodness praise, safe in paradise with you. Amen.