Quomodo Dominus Jesus mortem suam praedixit matri
The Invitation and the Foreknowledge of Death
Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mother plead with Jesus to celebrate the Passover at home rather than in Jerusalem, but He gently insists it is the Father's will that He go there, and the women understand He is speaking of His coming death.
Here a very beautiful meditation can be interposed, though Scripture does not speak of it. For as the Lord Jesus was dining on Wednesday with his disciples in the house of Martha and Mary, and also with his mother and some other women in another part of the house — Mary Magdalene, who was serving, asked the Lord, saying: Master, are you mindful that you are to celebrate the Passover with us? I beg you not to deny me this.1 When he by no means agreed to this, but said that he would celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem, she withdrew with wondrous weeping and tears, went to the Lady, and having told her these things, begged her to keep him there for the Passover.2 After supper, then, the Lord Jesus went to his mother and sat with her, speaking with her privately, and granting her the comfort of his presence, for he was soon to be taken from her.3 Look now closely at them as they sit together, and how the Lady receives him with reverence and lingers with him lovingly, and likewise how the Lord behaves reverently toward her. While they were thus talking among themselves, Mary Magdalene went to them and, sitting at their feet, said to the Lady: My lady, I invited the Master to celebrate the Passover here; but he seems to want to go to Jerusalem to celebrate it, so that he may be seized there. I beg you not to let him go. At this the mother said: My son, I beg you, let it not be so; let us celebrate the Passover here. For you know that snares have been laid to seize you.4 And the Lord said to her: Dearest mother, it is the Father's will that I celebrate the Passover there, because the time of redemption has come, and now all that has been written about me will be fulfilled, and they will do to me whatever they wish.✦5 But when the women heard this with great sorrow, they understood clearly that he was speaking of his death.
A Mother's Anguish and the Weeping of the Faithful
The Virgin Mother, shaken to her core, can barely speak and asks only that the Father provide; she wishes to delay the Passion and trusts that God might redeem without death, while Jesus and Magdalene weep together, and the text becomes uncertain.
She says, then, the mother, scarcely able to form words to speak: 'Alas, I am completely shaken at that voice, and my heart has abandoned me. Let the Father provide, because I do not know what to say.' I do not want to contradict him, but, if it pleased him, ask him to postpone it for now, and let us celebrate the Passover here with those friends of ours. He himself, if it should please him, will be able to provide some other way of redemption without your death, because all things are possible for him. If, among these words, you were to see the Lord weeping, with restraint yet openly, and Mary Magdalene weeping copiously and with great sobs as if drunk with grief for her master, perhaps you, too, would not be able to hold back your tears. Consider in what state they could have been, when these things were being discussed. For the Lord said gently, 'Eli.' [Uncertain text] [Uncertain text]
Comfort, Obedience, and the Promise of Resurrection
Jesus comforts the weeping women, commanding them to trust that He must fulfill the Father's will, promising He will rise on the third day, and agreeing that they too shall keep the Passover together in Jerusalem.
, see Matthew. Rejoice. Comforting them: Don't weep. You know that I must fulfill the Father's obedience. But trust with certainty, because I will quickly return to you, and on the third day I will rise again, unharmed.✦ Therefore on Mount Zion, according to the Father's will, I will make the Passover. But Mary Magdalene said: Since we cannot keep him here, let us also be in our house in Jerusalem. But I believe that he never had a Passover so bitter. The Lord agreed that they too should make the Passover in the said house.
Read the original Latin
Hic potest interponi meditatio valde pulchra, de qua tamen Scriptura non loquitur. Coenante namque Domino Jesu die Mercurii cum discipulis suis in domo Marife et Marthne, et etiam matre ejus cum mulicribus in alia parte domus; Magdalena ministrans rogavit Dominum, dicens: Magister, sitis memor, quod facielis pascha nobiscum; rogo vos, ut hoc non denegetis mihi. Quo nullatenus acquiescente, sed diccnte quod in Hierusalem faceret pascha; illa recedens miro cum fletu et lacrymis, vadit ad Dominara, et his ei narratis, rogat ut ipsa eum ibi in paschate teneat. Cana igitur facta, vadit Dominus Jesus ad matrem, et sedet cum ea, seorsum colloquens cum ea, et copiam ei su;b prffisentiae praebens, quaminbrevi subtraclurus erat ab ea. Conspice nunc bene ipsos sedentes, et quomodo Domina reverenter eum suscipit, et cum eo affectuose moratur, et similiter quomodo Dominus reverenter se habet ad eam. Ipsis igitursic colloquentibus, Magdalena vadit ad eos, et ad pedes eorum sedens dicit: Domina, ego invitabam magistrum, ut hic faceret pascha; ipse vero videtur velle ire Hierusalem ad paschandum, ut capiatur ibi: rogo vos ut non permittatis eum ire, Ad quem mater; Fili mi, rogo te ut non sic fiat, sed faciamus hic pascha, Scis enim quod insidiae ad te capiendum ordinatae sunt. Et Dominus ad eam: Mater charissima, voluntas Patris est, ut ibi faciam paschq: quia tempus redemptionis advenit, et modo implebuntur omnia, quae de me scripta sunt, et facient in me quidquid volent. At illae cum ingenti dolore haec audierunt, quia bene intellexerunt, quod de morte sua dicebat.
hicit igitur mater vix valens verba formata proferre; FiU mi, tota concussa sum ad vocem istam, et cor meum dereliquit me, Provideat Pater, quia nescio quid dicam. Nolo sibi contradicere; sed, si ipsi placeret, roga eum ut diflerat ad praesens, et faciamus hic pascha cum istis amicis nostris. Ipse vero, si sibi placebit, poterit de alio modo redemptionis sine morte tua providere, quia omnia possibilia sunt ei. 0 si videres inter haec verba Dominum plorantem, modeste tamen et plane, et Magdalenam, tanquam ebriam de magistro suo, largiter et magnis singultibus flentem, forte nec tu posses lacrymas conUnere. Considera in quo statuesse poterant, quando haec tractabantur. Dixit enim Dominus, blande ^ Elyuiu. olT. Pass.
, ud Mat. gaudeant. consolans eas: Nolite flere,- scitis quod obedientiam Patris me implere oportet: sed pro certo confidite, quia cito revertar ad vos, et terlia die resurgam incolumis. In monte igitur Sion secundum voluntatem Patris faciam pascha. Dixit autem Magdalena: Ex quo non possumus eum hic tenere, simus et nos in domo nostra in Hierusalem: sed credo quod nunquam habuit pascha sic amarum. Acquievit Dominus, quod et ipsas in dicta domo facerent pascha
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.22.37;Matt.26.56 — For I tell you, this must be fulfilled in me: "And he was counted with the transgressors." For what is written about me is reaching its completion. Matt.26.56 — But all this has happened so that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled.
- ↩John.14.31 — But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and just as the Father commanded me, so I do. Rise, let us go from here.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin names 'Marife' and 'Marthne' appear to be scribal corruptions of Mary (of Bethany) and Martha; rendered accordingly.
- 2 ↩'Dominara' is rendered as 'the Lady' (the Virgin Mary), consistent with the devotional context.
- 3 ↩The corrupted Latin 'Cana igitur facta' is rendered as 'After supper, then,' reading 'Cana' as a scribal error for a word meaning 'supper/dinner' (cf. cena). 'su;b prffisentiae' is read as a corruption of 'suae praesentiae' (his presence). 'quaminbrevi subtraclurus' is read as 'quam in brevi subtracturus' (soon to be taken away).
- 4 ↩'Ipsis igitursic colloquentibus' read as 'While they were thus talking among themselves.' 'Ad quem mater' rendered as 'At this the mother said.'
- 5 ↩'paschq' read as 'Passover' (pascha). The final clause 'facient in me quidquid volent' rendered as 'they will do to me whatever they wish.'
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