Catholic during the Great Apostasy

The Lord Jesus stayed in a village called Bethany, about two miles from Jerusalem, and according to St Bonaventure it was in the house of Mary and Martha, with whom the Blessed Virgin was also present. On the fifth day of the week, the Lord sent Peter and John to Jerusalem to prepare the Passover there, and when the hour of parting came, He bade farewell to His Mother.

Mary knew well what this farewell was and the most terrible sorrow gripped her soul;

She knew that Jesus would soon fall into the hands of his fiercest enemies and that he would have to die on the cross like a villain. Yet she remained in Bethany and let Jesus go. What she experienced on that night when Jesus was captured in the Garden of Olives, – this remained for ever between her and her Creator, for nothing outwardly transpired; – the Evangelists are silent about it. After the terrible scene in the Garden, a messenger came to Bethany and told of the betrayal of Judas, of the capture and binding of Jesus by the enraged Jews, – then Mary went to Jerusalem, and two Mary’s also followed her.

This simple story paints the supernatural courage of suffering, or the fortitude of Mary’s heart.
Just consider this parting, this farewell to such a Mother, to such a Son as Jesus. For the last time on earth, she held to herself that life which had sprung from her, that youth, that beauty, that strength and that love; she was only to meet him once more alive on the Way of the Cross, and then only his dead body was to be laid in her bosom. Such was their parting in Bethany. They chose Bethany for this moment, so dear to them, where Mary Magdalene lived, miraculously converted, and Lazarus, over whose tomb Jesus wept. They wanted to suffer this parting with the closest, kindest people they had, they wanted to have them witness this rupture of the two most sacred hearts on earth, – this silence of sorrow.

Oh, sometimes Jesus and Mary take refuge in souls dear to them, so that there they may repeat their common Passion in heartfelt remembrance. Let us give fervent thanks to the Lord God, if it is granted to us to be the Bethany that Jesus and Mary chose and favoured, where they stayed as if at home, where Mary showed herself to be so brave and serene. Let us ask ourselves that our hearts may be a Bethany for Jesus and Mary.

We should once and for all take as a principle that all our power is from God. Only a blinded man can err in this by supposing that with his strength he has not fallen on hard times in life.

Our fate on earth is a struggle. The struggle against circumstances, the struggle against people and the struggle against ourselves. These are three honourable fields, but dangerous to our strength, to our fortitude. Circumstances come either directly from God (from fate, as short-sighted people say), or from people, or from ourselves. People are most often what we want them to be, so the field of our struggle, for the most part, is ourselves.

If I am calm in my soul, what will a restless man do to me – he can take away one moment or another of my time – he will not take away my peace of mind. But if there is a storm in me, and another similar nature approaches me, then the battle is ready, and in it the one who has first mastered himself will win.

There are two kinds of valour, or power.
Passive power is based on silent resistance, characterised by perseverance, prepared for everything, practising without struggle, in prayer, in calling for help from above, in calmly foreseeing everything. Such was the power of the followers.

The second valour is in deed, in courage, in initiative, in repulse; it is going for the hit and giving life in the time of need. Such were the martyrs.

In everyday life, we need the fortitude of serenity. “Not in a storm the Lord, but in a breath of quiet air”, says the Scriptures. Sometimes a gentle word in a quiet voice is more courageous than many of the best arguments made in exultation.

And fortitude for the horrible moments of suffering, for the death of loved ones, or for the hundredfold greater perversion of them or of their faults, can only be given by the One who drew His most beloved and holy Mother into co-suffering everything with Himself.

If He does us the honour of carrying a part of His Cross for us too, – let us not be lazy, let us not be fooled by cowardice; what hurts us most is what He suffered first.

Sigh. O Mary, model of strength, I want to imitate you in everything.

Practice: I will overcome, in Mary’s Name, the first impatience or the next one, when the first one fails.

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Meditations for each day of May. Notes from the May conferences by Fr Zygmunt Golian. Added the choicest prayers and songs to the Holy Mother. Cracow 1931. Wydawnictwo Księży Jezuitów, pp. 94-99.