MARY RECEIVES THE BODY OF JESUS.

‘Joseph of Arimathea, who was the disciple of Jesus, though in secret, asked Pilot to let Him take away the body of Jesus. Pilot gave permission and Joseph came and moved the body.

All those who stood at a distance to watch Jesus being crucified had left the scene and gone home. It was almost evening by the time Joseph got the necessary permission to move Jesus’s body.  Mary waited and waited by the cross, not wanting to leave her son without the opportunity of being able to embrace Him once more. One could almost hear Mary say ‘I want to embrace my son one more time and hold His broken body in my arms’. We can also imagine Joseph protesting saying, ‘Mary He is far too heavy,  you cannot do that’, but that would not satisfy Mary as she had memories of Him being a tiny baby with the many times she held Him in her arms and nursed Him to sleep. How cold, awkward and heavy the body was as Joseph and others took Him down from the cross and placed Him on Mary's lap.

That was a challenging and painful moment for Mary and no doubt filled with memories of happier days. Mary would have recalled when Jesus took His first steps, ate the first spoonful of solid food and the happy laughter of children playing in the alleyway with Jesus in the middle of them. Also, she would have remembered when Jesus took an interest in helping Joseph in the carpenter's shop with small deeds to begin with and moving on to using tools of a more sophisticated nature, giving positive help to the elderly man.

Mary would have remembered so much during this precious time; the miracle of the Wedding at Cana when the host ran out of wine. The loss following a visit to the Temple, when as a young teenager, Jesus sat teaching the elders and Mary simply said, ‘Your Father and I sought you sorrowing ‘and she received what appeared to be a curt answer. Jesus was always a puzzle to Mary, but nothing

could have prepared her for meeting Him carrying the Cross, and this moment holding His broken body on her lap. We are well aware that every life has its share of pain and suffering and for Mary her life was no different.

Having spent years living in Rome, The Pieta was one of my places to stop. It was easy to identify with the sufferings of Mary and to be aware of the pain in our world. The experience of The Pieta is ever around us. When we turn on the World News we hear of war and death at this time in the Middle East and if you are like me, you will be left wondering where and what it will lead to. How often do we hear of overcrowded boats struggling with refugees and often ending in loss of life, and disaster with women and small children on board. All this because they are hoping to find a safer place to live. If we are among the sceptics, who do not believe in Climate Change, maybe a rude awakening awaits us. In early March torrential rain brought Nairobi to a standstill when the rain lashed down for 24 hours taking slum houses into the river with loss of life, food and property, together with educational establishments forced to close because of flooding, leaving thousands of Mukuru children without food for days. This is not speculation as I have heard it first hand from Sr. Mary who gave me a vivid picture of the weekend of the 6th 7th and 8th of March 2026.

Only a couple of years ago we were under restriction because of Covid and we all found it challenging, but what about the children of parents ravaged by disease like HIV. My memories of my early days in Nairobi from 1998 onwards when I was regularly accompanying children to the funeral of a parent who had died of HIV. Who will tell children stories of their parents whom they never remember. The sadness and plight of such children is too painful to contemplate. Does Mary in The Pieta offer us any insight into how we might understand and embrace the suffering of our world today. Yes, it does because like Mary compassion requires us to allow the lap of our lives to hold the suffering of others. We are only able to do this  if we act with a heart of love, compassion and understanding and always without judgement of another. The Pieta is a very vivid reminder how much strength there is in LOVE.  When we open our hearts to all those stories, we know or those who lean on us for courage, we are another Mary holding the mangled Body of Jesus covered in His blood.

MARY YOU WERE THERE BEFORE ME; YOU OPENED WIDE YOUR ARMS

TO RECEIVE THE BRUISED BODY OF YOUR SON.

TODAY I THINK OF MOTHERS WHOSE CHILDREN ARE LOST

OR RAVAGED BY DISEASE OR ADDICTION

OR LANGUISHING IN PRISON IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY.

MARY HELP ME TO DRAW INSPIRATION FROM YOUR BROAD SHOULDERS.

KEEP MY HEART OPEN, BRIMMING OVER WITH COMPASSION

AND COURAGE TO EMBRACE THE BROKEN LIVES AROUND ME.

Sr Assumpta 13.03 2026