“And when it was evening, there came a certain rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate, and asked the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded that the body should be delivered. And Joseph taking the body, wrapped it up in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new monument, which he had hewed out in a rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the monument, and went his way. And there was there Mary Magdalen, and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre.”
After the Passion, St. Matthew then moves to the burial of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea is described as a man of great dignity and office, which he uses to approach Pilate: “He shall serve among great men, and appear before the governor” (Ecclesiasticus 39:4), which would have been unthinkable for someone as poor and destitute as the Apostles: “The poor man shall be hateful even to his own neighbour: but the friends of the rich are many” (Proverbs 14:20). While the virtue of poverty is one of the evangelical counsels and untethers the soul from worldly affairs and desires: “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me” (Matthew 19:21), using one’s office or riches in the service of God is of beautiful merit, for in acknowledging the goods to be from God and belonging to Him, it is wonderful to use them as such for the good of others: “He made him master of his house, and ruler of all his possession” (Psalm 104:21). As such, Joseph of Arimathea is greatly extolled for his righteousness by God in this place, for he risked life, station, and reputation for the body of Jesus, and so too, Theophila, let nothing hinder you from the holy sacrifice of the mass, for the source of all goodness is within, and union with your Beloved awaits in the reception of Holy Communion: “I held him: and I will not let him go” (Canticle 3:4). Pilate delivers the body to Joseph, and the Lord is wrapped in clean linen, which is both simple and pure, and so too the simple, pure heart is the true dwelling place of Jesus: “Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8), that is, looking upon His humanity with extraordinary love, the love contained in His divinity will absorb your soul like a drop of water in an ocean. Jesus is then laid in a tomb belonging to another, showing that even in death, He lived for the sake of others, which was hewn in rock, which was to show later that His followers could not have rooted through and removed the body. In a spiritual sense, this is to let those noble in the love of God take His words and lay them in your heart, that whatever is hardened against Him may be softened by the sweet words of the Gospel: “Well ordered words are as a honeycomb: sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24). Just as you would be horrified, Theophila, to let the Sacred Host drop to the ground, have an equal horror of letting the words of Scripture fall emptily before you, rather than finding a sanctuary in your heart: “But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:2), for the words of the Gospel are a chariot, driven by the horses of your will and divine action, upon the four wheels of the historical books, wisdom literature, Prophets, and epistles, that are all blazing with love and will carry you away into heavenly joys: “Behold a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (4 Kings 2:11). Thus does St. Paul say of bishops, yet this extends to all the faithful, that they should be persons “Embracing that faithful word which is according to doctrine” (Titus 1:9). A great stone, then, is to cover the intimate relationship between you and Jesus with caution and prudence, that nothing else may enter the sanctuary of your heart, but rather, that He alone there may take His repose: “My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up” (Canticle 4:12). One point of beauty to this is that wherever Jesus is, there is cleanliness, freshness, and greatness, for His magnificent love cleanses your heart from all that is less than perfect love: “Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels” (Psalm 50:12), is a drink of flowing water rather than stagnating in yourself or in things: “He that believeth in me, as the scripture saith, ‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:38), and greatness of soul, for in being freed from all that would soil, tear apart, or weigh down your soul, it may instead fly to loving and being loved, moving from act of love to act of love as a dove flying rather than trudging slowly through the desert (Numbers 33). Those who clung to the Lord most fastidiously then remain at His tomb, not departing to other business, but holding their devotion to their Savior at His tomb. The graces during the hour after receiving Him are wondrous, Theophila, because in that time you are most closely linked to Jesus, and it is a beautiful time to pray, to sit in adoration, or to take up some spiritual reading, to see what your Beloved has to say to you as He dwells in a particular way in your heart: “Behold my beloved speaketh to me” (Canticle 2:10). Thus, while many run to converse or to get to their days, it is a lovely devotion to remain for a time in awe of the mystery taking place within you, that the Most Holy Trinity and you are united and bound in love, that in you is glory, goodness, beauty and all the other divine attributes, all given to you as free gifts, therefore it is wonderful to sing “Unto the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he hath graced us in his beloved son” (Ephesians 1:6).