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Thirteenth Station: Jesus is Placed in the Arms of his Mother

(Michelangelo's Pietà, St. Peters Basilica, 1499)

Thirteenth Station: Jesus is Placed in the Arms of his Mother

Leader: O holy Christ, we worship you, we adore you;
People: Your blessed mother wept over your lifeless frame for all of us.

It must have been Mary's first inclination to want to hold Jesus as they took him down from the cross. Some of the people leaving the scene must have been holding their own children as they left--babies in arms, toddlers on hips, older children being steered away by the shoulders or pulled by the hand, asking their parents questions their parents wondered how to answer. Some were tired and cranky. As she held Jesus' still body, his skin starting to cool, his limbs still floppy and not yet in rigor mortis, Mary thought of those days when she held this man in her arms as a babe, or when she did household chores with him on her hip. She thought of his never ending questions as a boy. So long ago--so long ago, it seemed.

Perhaps she asked God to take the life within her and give it to her son to restore him. Perhaps she thought of her own pain in birthing him, and found that pain to be minuscule compared to the pain she was feeling now.

Mary studied his lifeless hands and face. She saw the scars from the childhood bumps and bruises and all the things she could not protect him from as a mother, even through the gashes and wounds of his recent beating. For some reason they stood out more noticeably to her, when the rest of the world only saw his most recent wounds. The holes in his hands were almost unnoticeable to her, but she gazed lovingly on the birthmark she used to notice bathing him as a baby. She only saw the marks of their common life together--and for some reason, when she closed her eyes, as unlikely as it seemed, she could still hear the angel Gabriel's words about her son, and a part of her could still not give up on them. How, she thought to herself, could part of her "not give up" when she was holding her dead son? She pondered these things in her heart, just as she did that day when she and Joseph found him in the temple--but she kept them to herself.

Leader: Mary wept openly, her lifeless son in her arms,
People: No human comfort could possibly have consoled her.

Leader: Let us pray.
(a brief period of silence is observed.)

Lord God, our truest parent--
The wounds the world inflicts upon us are ignored by you--
yet every hair you placed upon our head is known to you.
You see only our divine spark, and you love it as a doting mother loves her firstborn.
Even when we are spiritually dead to the world,
you do not give up on us.
You gave a piece of your own being to us in the form of Jesus,
and allowed the world to put a piece of yourself to death.
Teach us to see others
with eyes that see the divine spark in them,
and ignore the gashes and bruises the world places upon them.

People: Amen.

Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy immortal one,
Have mercy on us.

Plumeria Tattoos

Cool Plumeria Tattoos............

A 21st Century Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

This morning, as I was working on my Lenten devotional book, we were asked to reflect on Joel 2:13: "Rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord our God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relents of evil."

As I sat and reflected, the iconic image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus popped in my head.

I have to admit, I have always been fascinated by Sacred Heart images because, frankly, they are an iconic rendition of anatomic hearts, as opposed to Valentine's Day hearts. (not quite anatomically correct, but "correct enough.") Anatomic hearts placed outside the chests of Jesus and Mary. As I reflected on the passage, I came to realize what we are asked to do when we try to emulate the love of Jesus is literally, to wear our spiritual hearts outside of our chests, where they can be pierced, torn, and crushed, without the protection of a bony rib cage. We are asked to do, what, at first glance, appears blatantly fatal.

But when we think about the icon that has developed over the years, ever since Margaret Mary Alacoque had her first vision of the Sacred Heart in 1673, perhaps it is not as fatal as it seems. Yes, the traditional Sacred Heart icon has a wound from the lance used at the Crucifixion, and is often shown bound by a crown of thorns. But what always strikes me is that it is often surrounded by fire or radiance that emanates from one of the great vessels of the heart, and the heart is not consumed by it. It reminds me that yes, our own most secret heart--our own sliver of the Sacred Heart of Jesus--can be pierced, squeezed, and bound, but cannot be consumed or destroyed.

I am in a unique position to think about the Sacred heart, because I have literally held (and removed) hearts from autopsies in my own hands, and sliced them into pieces to examine them. I have held still lifeless hearts scarred from myocardial infarctions, crushed from cardiac tamponade, and literally torn open from ventricular blowouts. I have touched the gray stony hearts affected by amyloidosis and hearts rendered flabby and useless from cardiomyopathy. I have cradled hearts in my hands repaired by bypass, and dissected malformed hearts from infants who died of congenital heart defects. I've run probes through hearts with patent foramen ovale and atrial or ventricular septal defects. I have had an intimacy with the anatomic heart that few are allowed to experience.

Yet I so often find myself incredibly unwilling to allow others to touch my beating, radiant secret heart impregnated with the love of Christ's own sacred heart--even barely allow it to be seen. But the longer I ponder it, I come to realize it is exactly what separates me from Jesus, and it is what I must learn to do to love more fully.

There's no doubt--the times I have exposed the love of my own sacred heart has been a mixed bag. Sometimes there are incredible joys associated with it. But other times have been excruciatingly painful and have caused me to withdraw, to shrink back, to say "never again." Yet it always seems that the more I become enmeshed in my prayer life, "never again," turns to "Ok, I'll give this one more shot." When I look back, I realize the end result is a more firmly "muscled love" and a glint to the radiance I didn't see before.

It made me realize that I need to think more often about the Sacred Heart of Jesus and how to bind it to my own a little more often. The traditional prayers for this, however, seem long and a tad ponderous--so I decided to craft a slightly more contemporary (and shorter) version.

A 21st Century Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
by Kirkepiscatoid

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy;

Heart of Christ, hear our prayer,
Heart of Christ, graciously hear us.

Heart of Heaven, have mercy on us.
Heart of the World, have mercy on us.
Heart of All that is Holy, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, wellspring of all goodness, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, radiant with holiness, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, transplanted in all of us, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of Mary, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, who lived and walked and ministered, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, who lifted up the lowly and poor in spirit, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, who forgave your tormentors, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, who died on the cross, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, who transcended death and lives among us, have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, heart of our common life, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, heart of our own capacity to love, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, heart of the Eucharist, grant us peace.

Almighty and ever-living God, look upon our secret hearts and show us the heart of your beloved Son within them, and help us see the mirror of His incarnation within us. Grant us courage to show our hearts to those who live and walk among us, and the vision to see His incarnation in others. Free us from the slavery of the fear of exposing the heart of our holiness in our daily walk through the world. Let the radiance of our own sacred hearts be a beacon to guide others to you. We ask this in the name of your beloved Son, who lives and reigns forever and ever; Amen.

Sinner #9 and Fake websites

Hi again everyone....

Thousand apologies to the frequent visitors who come in here regularly and only to be disappointed by the lack of updates since the last time. 2010 has been a very slow year for Immortal Tattoos, Singapore and to add more pressure on us, there have been at least 3 FAKE blogspots carrying the works done by us. All of which is from some Indonesian guy/girl/faggot who has lots of free time in his/her/its hands.

Legal action to close down the fake sites is on the way and hopefully it will be over and done with soon. I am pretty sure that Indonesian guy/girl/faggot will be reading this. And I would like to say, "Just don't let me find out where exactly you are, cuz if I do, I will rip you apart."

Moving along from there, I have been very lazy doing new projects as well. But fret not !! I am back and I need more Sinners !! -XVI- is still ongoing, so boys and girls, get your Ink on !!

To spice things up even more, Immortal Tattoos, Singapore, will be doing tattoos at NO COST to One Lucky Male and One Lucky Female EVERY MONTH !! - Limited to 20CM x 15CM in Size- So, if you are interested - EMAIL US !! But of cuz, please note that only Great Designs or Ideas will be chosen.

And here is another update of of my Sinner...

Sinner # 9 -XVI-

Twelfth Station--Jesus Dies on the Cross

("Jesus Dies on the Cross", by Mark Wolfe, Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church 2007 Stations of the Cross Exhibit, Charleston, WV)

Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

Leader: O holy Christ, we worship you, we adore you;
People: You displayed perfect obedience to God even unto death.

What little Jesus said in his last hours spoke volumes. He cried out to God in his anguish, much as we have done ourselves when we feel forsaken, alone, and separated from God. He called for his mother. He entreated the disciple whom he loved to take Mary as his own mother. He promised a criminal a home in heaven alongside of him. But it is also what he did not speak that the few people with him at the end must have heard. He could have asked for God to deliver him, but he did not. He could have mustered the forces of heaven and earth to shower plagues and strike down those who opposed him, but instead the sky simply grew darker, as if it would die itself. He could have cursed his accusers and tormentors with the full weight of God's holy wrath, but instead he forgave those who participated in his crucifixion.

Finally, he cried out, "It is finished," and breathed his last.
(a period of silence is kept.)

The air suddenly became electric with confusion. Those remaining at the scene were somehow astonished that he was really dead. There was no doubt. His chest no longer moved. When he was pierced with a spear, both water and blood flowed, and his body displayed no reaction. Those who had believed in him felt foolish, spurned, abandoned. Had they believed in nothing real, nothing of substance? Was belief in an Almighty simply a cruel joke, a fairy tale spun to placate the world's fear of death?

Only one spot on Golgotha remained free of fear and confusion--the spot where a lone centurion stood, distant and silent. Up to that moment, he had believed in many gods--Jupiter and Venus, Pluto, Mars, and Bacchus. As he stared at Jesus' lifeless frame, he said to no one in particular, "Truly this man was God's son."



Leader: As Jesus died, an eerie darkness silhouetted him,
People: And the grip of death clutched the hearts of those who remained.

Leader: Let us pray.
(a brief period of silence is observed.)

Almighty God, the bearer of true Light,
we are no strangers to the razor sharp daggers
of the fear of our own deaths.
They stab our hearts while we lie upon our beds
in the middle of the night,
or in the shaking chills of fever and sickness.
The seven words of our deepest fears cry out,
"Maybe this life is all there is."
Give us the courage, dear Lord,
to pierce the marrow of those seven words
with the six courageous words of the centurion--
"Truly this man was God's son."


People: Amen.

Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy immortal one,
Have mercy on us.