Fr. Dehon's meditations on the passion of Jesus
This fruitful and touching mystery reminds us of Bethlehem. The sepulchre is the cradle in which our Lord will be born to His glorious life after having reposed in the sleep of death.
After the descent from the cross the sacred body of the Saviour is given to His mother, who embraces All His friends gather around to offer Him love and respect. The holy Virgin bathes the wounds and painful scars; St. John, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and the holy women embalm the divine body and place it in this sepulchre which the joys of the resurrection will render glorious. During that time the holy soul of the Saviour visits the saints of the Old Law who are awaiting salvation.
Let us apply these points to the friends of the Sacred Heart. St. Paul says, “You are buried together with him in baptism. You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Such is the state of the true disciple of the Sacred Heart. He is dead to this world, to its joys, its pleasures, and its ambitions; he does not even know its evil language; his heart is hidden in the heart of Jesus who is his sepulchre and his paradise. He lives generous!y; he de sires all the love of the Sacred Heart, and knows no other love. That is why he is considered dead in the eyes of this foolish world whose judgments he despises. A spiritual resurrection has already taken place for him in his surrender to the Sacred Heart, but the world does not know it and accounts as dead him who enjoys the fullness of life. This love, buried in the Heart of Jesus, hidden from the eyes of men, and regarding God alone is our intimate life.
(Fr. Dehon,The love of the Sacred Heart II, 1905)
