The temptations of Mary on Calvary

If Mary was ever tempted, as Jesus was tempted in the desert, it was probably in its fiercest form at the foot of the Cross, through a most insidious and painful temptation, because Jesus Himself was the cause of it. She believed in God’s promises and she believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.

She knew that if Jesus had prayed for it, the Father would have sent Him "more than twelve legions of angels" (cf. Mt 26:53). But Jesus did nothing. By freeing Himself from the Cross, He would have also freed her from her terrible pain. But He didn’t.

Yet Mary did not cry out: "Come down from the Cross; save yourself and me with you!" or, "You have saved many others, why can't you now save yourself too, my Son?"

Mary was silent, "giving to the immolation of the victim, born of her flesh, the consent of her love," says a text from Vatican II. She celebrated her Passover with Him.

Father Raniero Cantalamessa (1)

Excerpt from Marie miroir pour l'Église, Edition Saint-Augustin, 2002

(1) Father Raniero Cantalamessa (b. 1934) is a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a Capuchin friar, priest, theologian, historian and has been the preacher for the Pontifical Household since 1980.