Considerations on the passion of Jesus Christ - Chapter 2

THE SEPARATE SUFFERINGS THAT JESUS CHRIST ENDURED AT HIS DEATH.

I.

Prophecy of Isaias—Abasement of the Promised Redeemer.

We now come to consider the separate sufferings which Jesus Christ endured in his Passion, and which had been foretold for many ages by the prophets, and especially by Isaias, in the fifty-third chapter of his prophecy. This prophet, as St. Irenæus, St. Justin, St. Cyprian, and others say, spoke so distinctly of the sufferings of our Redeemer that he seems to be another Evangelist. Hence St. Augustine says that the words of Isaias, which refer to the Passion of Jesus Christ, call rather for meditations and tears than for the explanations of sacred writers; and Hugo Grotius records that even the old Hebrews themselves could not deny that Isaias (especially in his fifty-third chapter) spoke of the Messiah promised by God. Some have wished to apply the passages of Isaias to persons named in Scripture and not to Jesus Christ; but Grotius¹ answers that no one can be found to whom these texts may be referred.

Isaias writes: Who hath believed our report; and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?² This was fulfilled, as St. John writes, when the Jews, notwithstanding all the miracles which they had seen wrought by Jesus Christ, which proved him to be truly the Messiah sent by God, would not believe in him: When He did so many miracles before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaias the prophet might be fulfilled, when he said, Lord, who hath believed our report; and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?³ Who will believe, says Isaias, what has been heard by us; and who has recognized the arm, that is, the power of the Lord? In these words he foretold the obstinacy of the Jews in not choosing to believe in Jesus Christ as their Redeemer. They fancied that this Messiah would exhibit upon earth great pomp, and the splendor of his greatness and power; and that, triumphing over all his enemies, he would thus load the people of the Jews with riches and honors; but no, the prophet adds these words to those above named: He shall grow up as a slender plant before Him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground.⁴ The Jews thought that the Saviour would appear like a cedar of Libanus; but Isaias foretold that he would show himself like an humble shrub, or a root which grows in an arid soil, stripped of all beauty and splendor: There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness.⁵

He then goes on to describe the Passion of the Lord: We have seen Him and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of Him.⁶ We desired to recognize him, but we could not, for we have seen nothing but a man despised and vile upon the earth, and a man of sorrows: Despised, and the most abject of men,—a man of sorrows; whereupon we esteemed Him not.⁷

Adam, through his pride in not obeying the divine commands, brought ruin upon all men; therefore the Redeemer, by his humility, chose to bring a remedy to this great evil, and was content to be treated as the lowest and most abject of men; that is, by being reduced to the lowest depths of humiliation. Therefore St. Bernard cried out, “O Thou who art lowest and highest; O Thou humble and lofty; O shame of men and glory of angels! None is loftier than he; none more humble.”⁸ If, then, adds the saint, the Lord, who is higher than all things, has made himself the lowest of all things, every one of us ought to desire that all others should be preferred to him, and fear to be preferred to any.⁹ But I, O my Jesus, fear that any should be preferred to me, and desire to be preferred above all. O Lord, give me humility. Thou, O My Jesus, with such love, hast embraced contempt, to teach me to be humble, and to love a hidden and an abject life; and shall I desire to be esteemed by all, and to display myself in everything? O my Jesus! grant me Thy love; it will make me like to Thee. Let me no more live ungrateful to the love which Thou hast borne to me. Thou art almighty; make me humble, make me holy, make me all Thine own.

II.

Humiliations and Sufferings of Jesus Christ.

Isaias also called Jesus Christ the man of sorrows. It is to Jesus crucified that the words of Jeremias are especially applicable: Thy grief is great as the sea.¹⁰ As all the waters of the rivers meet in the ocean, so in Jesus Christ are united all the pains of the sick, the penitential sufferings of anchorites, and all the pangs and contempts endured by martyrs. He was laden with sorrows both of soul and body. Thou hast brought all Thy waves over me.¹¹ “O my Father!” said our Redeemer by the mouth of David, “Thou hast sent upon me all the waves of Thy wrath;” and therefore, in the hour of death, he said, that he died sunk in a sea of sorrow and shame: I have come unto the depths of the sea, and the storm hath sunk me.¹² The Apostle writes that Almighty God, in commanding his Son to pay for our sins with his blood, desired thus to show how great was his justice: Whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood, to the showing forth of His justice.¹³

To form a conception of what Jesus Christ suffered in his life, and still more in his death, we must consider what the same Apostle says in his letter to the Romans: God sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and by sin condemned sin in the flesh.¹⁴ Jesus Christ being sent by the Father to redeem man, clothed himself with that flesh which was infected with sin; and though he had not contracted the pollution of sin, nevertheless he took upon him the miseries contracted by human nature, as the punishment of sin; and he offered himself to the Eternal Father, to satisfy the divine justice for all the sins of men by his sufferings; he was offered because he himself willed it;¹⁵ and the Eternal Father, as Isaias writes, laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.¹⁶ Behold Jesus, therefore, laden with all the blasphemies, all the sacrileges, trespasses, thefts, cruelties, and abominable deeds which men have committed and will commit. Behold him, in a word, the object of all the divine curses which men have deserved through their sins: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.¹⁷

Therefore St. Thomas writes that both the internal and outward pains of Jesus Christ exceeded all the pains which can be endured in this life.¹⁸ As for the external pains of the body, it is enough to know that Jesus Christ received from the Father a body prepared on purpose for suffering; and on this account he himself said, A body hast Thou prepared for Me.¹⁹ St. Thomas remarks that our Lord suffered pains and torments in all his senses: he suffered in his sense of touch, because all his flesh was torn; he suffered in his taste, with gall and vinegar; he suffered in his hearing, through the blasphemies and mockeries that were offered to him; he suffered in his sight, at beholding his mother, who was present at his death. He suffered also in all his members: his head was tortured with thorns, his hands and feet with nails, his face with buffeting and spitting, and all his body with scourging, in the way that was foretold by Isaias, who said that the Redeemer would appear in his Passion like a leper, who has no sound portion in his body, and strikes horror into every one who sees him, as a man who is all wounds from head to foot. It is enough to say, that by such a sight of Jesus scourged, Pilate hoped to be allowed by the Jews to exempt him from death, when he showed him to the people from the balcony, saying, Behold the Man.²⁰

St. Isidore says that other men, when their pains are great and last long, through the very severity of the pain, lose all power of feeling it.²¹ But in Jesus Christ it was not so; his last sufferings were as bitter as his first, and the first stripes in his scourging were as torturing as the last; for the Passion of our Redeemer was not the work of man, but of the justice of God, who thought fit to chastise his Son with all the severity which the sins of all mankind deserved.

Thou, O my Jesus, Thou hast desired by Thy sufferings to take upon Thee the punishment due to my sins. Thus, if I had less offended Thee, Thou wouldst have suffered less in Thy death. And knowing this, can I live henceforward without loving Thee, and without mourning continually for the offences that I have committed against Thee? O my Jesus, I grieve that I have despised Thee, and I love Thee above everything. Oh, despise me not; receive me, that I may love Thee, since now I love Thee, and desire to love nothing but Thee. Too ungrateful should I be, if, after all the mercies Thou hast shown me, I should henceforth love anything but Thee.

III.

Jesus Christ Suffered Voluntarily for Us.

Observe how it was foretold by Isaias: We have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one stricken by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.²² Jesus, full of love, of his own will, offered himself, without a reply, to accomplish his Father’s will, whose will it was to behold him outraged by executioners at their own pleasure. He was offered because it was His own will, and He opened not His mouth: He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer.²³ As a lamb offers itself to be shorn without complaint, so our loving Redeemer in his Passion caused himself to be shorn, not of his wool, but of his very skin, without opening his mouth.

What obligation did he lie under to offer satisfaction for our sins? Yet he chose to take it upon him, that he might deliver us from eternal damnation; and therefore every one of us ought to give him thanks, and say, Thou host brought forth my soul, that it should not perish; Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.²⁴

And thus Jesus voluntarily, through his own goodness, making himself the debtor for our debts, chose to sacrifice himself altogether, even to death in the pains of the cross, as he himself says in the Gospel of St. John: I lay down My life; no one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.²⁵

IV.

The Sufferings of Jesus were Extreme.

St. Ambrose, writing of the Passion of our Lord says that Jesus Christ has followers, but no equals.²⁶ The saints have endeavored to imitate Jesus Christ in suffering, to render themselves like him; but who ever attained to equalling him in his sufferings? He truly suffered for us, more than all the penitents, all the anchorites, all the martyrs have suffered, because God laid upon him the weight of a rigorous satisfaction to the divine justice for all the sins of men: The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.²⁷ And, as St. Peter writes, Jesus bore all our sins upon the cross, to pay our punishment with his most holy body: He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree.²⁸ St. Thomas writes that Jesus Christ, in redeeming us, not only accomplished the virtue and infinite merit which belonged to his sufferings, but chose to suffer a depth of pain which might be sufficient to satisfy abundantly and rigorously for all the sin, of the human race.²⁹ And St. Bonaventure writes: “He chose to suffer as much pain as if he himself had committed all our sins.”³⁰ God himself thought right to aggravate the pains of Jesus Christ, until they were equal to the entire payment of all our debts; and thus the prophecy of of Isaias was fulfilled: The Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity.³¹

When we read the lives of the martyrs, it seems at first as if some of them had suffered pains more bitter than those of Jesus Christ; but St. Bonaventure says that the pains of no martyr could ever equal in acuteness the pains of our Saviour, which were more acute than all other pains.³² In like manner, St. Thomas writes that the sufferings of Christ were the most severe pains that can be felt in this present life.³³ Upon which St. Laurence Justinian writes that in each of the torments which our Lord endured, on account of the agony and intensity of the suffering, he suffered as much as all the tortures of martyrs.³⁴ And all this was predicted by King David in a few words, when, speaking in the person of Christ, he said, Thy wrath is strong over Me; Thy terrors have troubled Me.³⁵ Thus all the wrath of God, which he had conceived against our sins, poured itself out upon the person of Jesus Christ; and thus we must interpret what the Apostle said, He was made a curse for us;³⁶ that is, the object of all the curses deserved by our sins.

V.

Interior Sufferings of Our Saviour.

Hitherto, also, we have spoken only of the outward bodily pains of Jesus Christ. And who can ever explain and comprehend the inward pains of his soul, which a thousand times exceeded his outward pains? This inward torment was such that in the Garden of Gethsemani it caused a sweat of blood to pour forth from all his body, and compelled him to say that this was enough to slay Him: My soul is sorrowful even unto death.³⁷ And since this anguish was enough to cause death, why did he not die? St. Thomas answers that he did not die because he himself prevented his own death, being ready to preserve his life, in order to give it in a while upon the tree of the cross. This sorrow also, which most deeply afflicted Jesus Christ in the garden, afflicted him also throughout his whole life; since, from the first moment when he began to live, he had ever before his eyes the causes of his inward grief; among which the most afflicting was, the sight of the ingratitude of men towards the love which he showed them in his Passion.

Nevertheless, an angel came to comfort him in the garden, as St. Luke relates.³⁸ Yet Venerable Bede says that this comfort, instead of lightening his pains, increased them.³⁹ The angel, indeed, strengthened him to endure with greater constancy for the salvation of men; upon which Bede remarks that Jesus was then strengthened for suffering, by a representation of the greatness of the fruits of his Passion, without the least diminution of the greatness of his sufferings.⁴⁰ Therefore the Evangelist relates that immediately after the appearance of the angel, Jesus Christ was in an agony, and sweated blood in such abundance that it fell to the ground.⁴¹

St. Bonaventure further relates that the agony of Jesus then reached its height;⁴² so that our afflicted Lord, at the sight of the anguish that he must suffer at the termination of his life now come, was so terrified that he prayed his divine Father that he might be delivered from it: Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.⁴³ Yet he said this, not that he might be delivered from the pains, for he had already offered himself to suffer them,—He was offered, because He Himself willed,⁴⁴—but to teach us to understand the agony which he experienced in enduring this death so bitter to the senses; while in his will, in order to accomplish the will of his Father, in order to obtain for us the salvation he so ardently desired, he immediately added: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.⁴⁵ And he continued thus to pray and to resign himself for the space of three hours: He prayed the third time, saying the same words.⁴⁶

VI.

Patience of Jesus Christ—Fruits of His Death.

But let us follow the prophecy of Isaias. He foretold the blows, the buffetings, the spitting, and the other insults which Jesus Christ endured the night before his death from the hands of the executioners, who kept him in bondage in the palace of Caiphas, in order to take him the next morning to Pilate, and to make him condemn him to death. I have given My body to the strikers, and My cheeks to them that plucked them; I have not turned away My face from them that rebuked Me and spit upon Me.⁴⁷ These insults are described by St. Mark, Who adds that these soldiers, treating Jesus as a false prophet, in order to mock him, covered his face with a cloth, and then striking him with blows and buffetings, bade him prophesy who it was that smote him.⁴⁸

Isaias goes on to speak of the death of Jesus Christ: He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter.⁴⁹ The eunuch of Queen Candace, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, reading this passage, asked of St. Philip, who, by a divine inspiration, had come to join himself with him, of whom these words were to be understood? and the saint then explained to him the whole mystery of the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ; upon which the eunuch, then enlightened by God, desired at once to be baptized.

Isaias then continues, and foretells the great fruits which the world would derive from the death of the Saviour, and says that from it great numbers of saints would be spiritually born: Because His soul hath labored, He shall see and be filled; by His knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and He shall bear their iniquities.⁵⁰

VII.

Prophecies of David—Various Circumstances.

David also predicted other circumstances more in detail respecting the Passion of Jesus Christ. Especially in the twenty-first Psalm he foretold that he should be pierced with nails in his hands and in his feet, so that they should be able to count all his bones.⁵¹ He foretold that before he should be crucified, his garments should be stripped off from him, and divided among the executioners;⁵² speaking of his outer garments alone, because: the inner vestment, which was made without seam, was to be given by lot: They parted My garments amongst them, and upon My vesture they cast lots. This prophecy is recalled both by St. Matthew and St. John.

David also foretold what St. Matthew thus relates respecting the blasphemies and mockeries of the Jews against Jesus Christ while he hung upon the cross: They that passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, Vah, Thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild it, save Thy own self; if Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. In like manner also, the chief priests, with the scribes and ancients, mocking, said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save; if He be the king of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God, let Him now deliver Him if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God.⁵³ All this was in accordance with what David had foretold in the following words: All they that saw Me have laughed Me to scorn; they have spoken with the lips and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let Him deliver Him, let Him save Him, seeing He delighteth in Him.⁵⁴

David further foretold the great pains which Jesus should suffer on the cross in seeing himself abandoned by all, and even by his own disciples, except St. John and the Blessed Virgin; while his beloved Mother, by her presence, did not lessen the sufferings of her Son, but rather increased them through the compassion that he felt for her, in seeing her thus afflicted by his death. Thus our suffering Lord, in the agonies of his bitter death, had none to comfort him. This also was foretold by David: I looked for one that would grieve together with Me, but there was none; and for one that would comfort Me, and I found none.⁵⁵ The greatest suffering, however, of our afflicted Redeemer consisted in his beholding himself abandoned by his Eternal Father, upon which he cried out, according to the prophecy of David, O God, my God, look upon me; why host Thou forsaken me? Far from My salvation are the words of My sins;⁵⁶ as though he had said, “O my Father, the sins of men, which I call my own, because I have taken them upon me, forbid me to be delivered from these sufferings which are ending my life; and why halt Thou, O my God, abandoned me in this my great agony?” To these words of David correspond the words which St. Matthew records as uttered by Jesus upon the cross a little while before his death: Eli, Eli, lamma sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?⁵⁷

VIII.

Jeans Christ is the True Messias—Superabundance of His Merits.

From all this it clearly appears how unjustly the Jews refuse to recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Saviour, because he died so shameful a death. They do not perceive that if, instead of dying as a malefactor upon the cross, Jesus Christ had died a death accounted honorable and glorious by men, he would not have been that Messiah who was promised by God and predicted by the prophets, who, so many ages before, had foretold that our Redeemer should die a death loaded with insults: He shall give His cheek to the smiter, He shall be overwhelmed with insults.⁵⁸ All these humiliations, and all the sufferings of Jesus Christ, already foretold by the prophets, were not understood even by his disciples until after his resurrection and ascension into heaven: These things His disciples did not understand at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him.⁵⁹

In a word, by the Passion of Jesus Christ, which was accompanied by so great sufferings and so great ignominy, that which David wrote was fulfilled: Justice and peace have kissed each other.⁶⁰ They kissed each other, because, by the merits of Jesus Christ, men obtained peace with God, while, at the same time, the divine justice was more than abundantly satisfied by the death of the Redeemer. We say, more than abundantly, because to save us, it was not actually necessary that Jesus Christ should endure so many sufferings and insults. One single drop of blood, one single prayer, would have been sufficient (so to say) to save the whole world; while, in order to strengthen our hopes, and to inflame our love, he thought fit that our redemption should not only be sufficient, but more than abundant, as David foretold: Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plentiful redemption.⁶¹

This had also been clearly announced by Job, when, speaking in the person of Christ, he said, Oh that my sins were weighed, and my calamities which I suffer in a balance! As the sand of the sea, it would appear very heavy.⁶² Here Jesus, by the mouth of Job, calls our sins his sins, because he had bound himself to make satisfaction for us, in order to make his justice ours, as St. Augustine expresses it.⁶³ On this account the gloss upon the text quoted from Job contains this remark: “In the balance of the divine justice the Passion of Christ outweighs the sins of human nature.”⁶⁴ All the lives of men would not have been sufficient to make satisfaction for a single sin; but the pains of Jesus Christ have paid for all our sins: He is the propitiation of our sins.⁶⁵ Therefore, St. Laurence Justinian encourages every sinner who truly repents to hope confidently for pardon through the merits of Jesus Christ, saying to them, “Measure thy sins by the afflictions of Christ the sufferer;”⁶⁶ meaning thereby to say, “O sinner, measure not thy guilt by thy contrition, for all thy works cannot obtain thee pardon; measure it by the pains of Jesus Christ, and from them hope for pardon, for thy Redeemer hath abundantly paid thy debt.”

O Saviour of the world! in Thy flesh, torn with scourgings, with thorns, and with nails, I comprehend the love Thou hast borne me, and my ingratitude in having so injured Thee after such love; but Thy blood is my hope, for, with the price of that blood, Thou hast redeemed me from hell as often as I have deserved it. O God! what would become of me through all eternity, if Thou hadst not determined to save me by Thy death! Miserable man that I am, I have well known that, by losing Thy grace, I condemned myself to live forever in despair, and far from Thee in hell; and yet I have repeatedly dared to turn my back upon Thee. But yet I turn to say, Thy blood is my hope. Oh that I had died, and not offended Thee! O infinite goodness! I deserved to continue blind, and Thou hast enlightened me with new light; I deserved to continue still more hardened, and Thou hast given me tenderness and compunction; wherefore I now abhor the offences I have committed against Thee more than death, and I feel a great desire to love Thee. These graces, which I have received from Thee, assure me that Thou hast now pardoned me, and desirest to save me. O my Jesus! who could cease to love Thee henceforth, or could love anything apart from Thee? I love Thee, O my Jesus, and I trust in Thee; increase in me this confidence and this love, that henceforth I may forget everything, and think of nothing but loving Thee and giving Thee pleasure.

O Mary, Mother of God, obtain for me the grace of being faithful to thy Son and my Redeemer.

1“Quis potest nominari aut Regum aut Prophetarum, in quem hæc congruent? Nemo sane!” – De ver. rel. chr. l. 5, n. 10.

2“Quis credidit auditui nostro? et brachium Domini cui revelatum est?” – Isa. liii. 1.

3“Cum autem tanta signa fecisset coram eis, non credebant in eum; ut sermo Isaiæ Prophetæ impleretur, quem dixit: Domine, quis credidit auditui nostro? et brachium Domini cui revelatum est?” – John, xii. 37.

4“Et ascendet sicut virgultum coram eo, et sicut radix de terra sitienti.” – Isa. liii. 2.

5“Non est species ei neque decor.” – Ibid.

6“Et vidimus cum, et non erat aspectus, et desideravimus eum.” – Ibid.

7“Despectum, et novissimum virorum, virum dolorum, . . . unde nec reputavimus eum.” – Isa. liii. 3.

8“O novissimum et altissimum! o humilem et sublimem! o opprobrium hominum et gloriam angelorum! nemo illo sublimior, neque humilior.” – S. de Pass. D.

9“Desiderabis subjici omnibus, et reformidabis præferri etiam minimo. “ – Ibid.

10“Magna est velut mare contritio tua.” – Lam. ii. 13.

11“Et omnes fluctus tuos induxisti super me.” – Ps. lxxxvii. 8.

12“Veni in altitudinem maris, et tempestas demersit me.” – Ps. lxviii. 3.

13“Quem proposuit Deus propitiationem per fidem in sanguine ipsius, ad ostensionem justitim suæ.” – Rom. iii. 25.

14“Deus Filium suum mittens in similitudinem carnis peccati, et de peccato damnavit peccatum in carne.” – Ibid. viii. 3.

15“Oblatus est, quia ipse voluit.” – Isa. liii. 7.

16“Et posuit Dominus in eo iniquitatem omnium nostrum.” – Ibid. 6.

17“Factus pro nobis maledictum.” – Gal. iii. 13.

18“Uterque autem dolor in Christo fuit maxims inter dolores presentis vita.” – P. 3, q. 46, a. 6.

19“Corpus autem aptasti rnihi.” – Heb. x. 5.

20“Ecce homo!” – John, xix. 5.

21“Præ doloris magnitudine sensum doloris amittunt.”

22“Et nos putavimus eum quasi leprosum, et percussum a Deo, et humiliatum. Ipse autem vulneratus est propter iniquitates nostras, attritus est propter scelera nostra. Disciplina pacis nostræ super eam, et livore ejus sanati sumus. Omnes nos quasi oves erravimus, unusquisque in viam suam declinavit; et posuit Dominus in eo iniquitatem omnium nostrum.” – Isa. liii. 4-6.

23“Oblatus est, quia ipse voluit; et non aperuit os suum. Et quasi agnus coram tondente se, obmutescet.” – Isa. liii. 7.

24“Tu autem eruisti animam rneam ut non periret, projecisti post tergum tuum omnia peccata mea.” – Isa. xxxviii. 17.

25“Ego pono animam meam. . . . Nemo tollit eam a me, sed ego pono eam a meipso.” – John, x. 17.

26“Æmulos habebat, pares non habet.” – In Luc. xxii.

27“Et posuit Dominus in eo iniquitatem omnium nostrum.” – Isa. liii. 6.

28“Peccata nostra ipse pertulit in corpore suo super lignum.” – 1 Pet. ii. 24.

29“Non solum attendit quantam virtutem dolor ejus baberet, sed etiam quantum dolor ejus sufficeret secundum humanam naturam ad tantam satisfactionem.” – P. 3. q 46. a. 6.

30“Tantum noluit doloris sufferre, quantum si ipse omnia peccata fecisset.”

31“Et Dominus voluit conterere eum in infirmitate.” – Isa. liii. 10.

32“Nullus potuit ei æquari vivacitate sensus; dolor illius omnium dolorum fuit acutissimus.” – In Sent. l. 3, d. 16, a. 1, q. 2.

33“Dolor in Christo fuit maximus inter dolores præsentis vita.” – P. 3, q. 46, a. 6.

34“In singulis singula Martyrum sustinebat tormenta.” – De Tr. Chr. Ag. c. 19.

35“Super me confirmatus est furor tuus . . .; in me transierunt iræ tuæ.” – Ps. lxxxvii. 8, 17.

36“Factus pro nobis maledictum.” – Gal. iii. 13.

37“Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem.” – Matt. xxvi. 38.

38“Apparuit autem illi Angelus de cœlo, confortans eum.” – Luke, xxii. 43.

39“Confortatio dolorem non minuit, sed auxit.”

40“Confortatus est ex fructus magnitudine, non subtracta doloris magnitudine.”

41“Et factus in agonia, prolixius orabat. Et factus est sudor ejus sicut guttæ sanguinis decurrentis in terram.” – Luke, xxii. 43, 44.

42“Dolor fuit in summo.”

43“Pater mi! si possibile est, transeat a me calix iste.” – Matt. xxvi. 39.

44“Oblatus est, quia ipse voluit.”

45“Verumtamen, non sicut ego volo, sed sicut tu.” – Matt. xxvi. 44.

46“Et oravit tertio, eundem sermonem dicens.” – Mark, xiv. 39.

47“Corpus meum dedi percutientibus, et genas mess vellentibus; faciem meam non averti ab increpantibus et conspuentibus in me.” – Isa. l. 6.

48“Et cœperunt quidam conspuere eum, et velare faciem ejus, et colaphis eum cadere, et dicere ei: Prophetiza! – Et ministri alapis eum cadebant.” – Mark, xiv. 65.

49“Sicut ovis ad occisionem ducetur.” – Isa. liii. 7.

50“Si posuerit pro peccato animam suam, videbit semen longævum . . .; in scientia sua justificabit ipse justus servus meus multos.” – Isa, liii. 10, 11.

51“Foderunt manus meas et pedes meos; dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea.”

52“Diviserunt sibi vestimenta mea, et super vestem mean miserunt sortem.” – Ps. xxi. 19; Matt. xxvii. 35; John, xix. 23.

53“Prætereuntes autem blasphemabant eum, moventes capita sua et dicentes: Vah, qui destruis templum Dei, et in triduo illud reædificas, salva temetipsum; si Filius Dei es, descende de cruce. Similiter et Principes sacerdotum illudentes cum Scribis et Senioribus dicebant: Alios salvos fecit, seipsum non potest salvum facere; si Rex Israel est, descendat nunc de cruce, et credimus ei. Confidit in Deo; liberet nunc, si vult eum; dixit enim: Quia Filius Dei sum.” – Matt. xxvii. 40-43.

54“Omnes videntes me deriserunt me; locuti sunt labiis et moverunt caput Speravit in Domino, eripiat eum; salvum faciat eum, quoniam vult eum.” – Ps. xxi. 8, 9.

55“Et sustinui qui simul contristaretur, et non fuit; et qui consolaretur, et non inveni.” – Ps. lxviii. 21.

56“Deus meus, respice in me; quare me dereliquisti? longe a salute mea verbs delictorum meorum.” – Ps. xxi. 2.

57“Eli! Eli! lamma sabacthani?–Hoc est: Deus meus! Deus meus! ut quid delerequisti me?” – Matt. xxvii. 46.

58“Dabit percutienti se maxillam, saturabitur opprobriis.” – Lam. iii. 30.

59“Hæc non cognoverunt discipuli ejus primum; sed, quando glorificatus est Jesus, tunc recordati sunt quia hæc erant scripta de eo, et hæc fecerunt ei.” – John, xii. 16.

60“Justitia et Pax osculatæ sunt.” – Ps. lxxxiv. 11.

61“Speret Israel in Domino, quia apud Domlnum misericordia, et copiosa apud eum redemptio.” – Ps. cxxix. 6.

62“Utinam appenderentur peccata mea . . . , et calamitas quam patior, in statera! quasi arena maris hæc gravior appareret.” – Job, vi. 2.

63“Delicta nostra sua delicta fecit, ut justitiam suam nostram justitiam faceret.” – In Ps. xxi. en. 2.

64“In statera divinæ Justitiæ, passio.Christi preponderat peccatis humanæ naturæ.”

65“Ipse est propitiatio pro peccatis nostris, . . . etiam pro totius mundi.” – 1 John, ii. 2.

66“Tua in ejus afflictionibus metire delicta.” – De Tr. Chr. Ag. c. 20.

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Considerations on the passion of Jesus Christ - Chapter 1

THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST IN GENERAL.

I.

Necessity of a Redeemer and His Qualities – The Incarnation of the Word – Errors of the Jews – Prophecies.

Adam sinned and rebelled against God, and, being the first man, and the progenitor of all men, he fell into a state of perdition, together with the whole human race. The injury was done to God; so that neither Adam nor all the rest of mankind, by all the sacrifices that they could have offered, even of their own life, could furnish a worthy satisfaction to the divine majesty which was offended. To appease this there was need that a divine person should satisfy the divine justice. Behold, then, the Son of God, who, moved to compassion for men, and excited by the bowels of his mercy, offered himself to take human flesh, and to die for men, that he might thus give to God a complete satisfaction for all their sins, and obtain for them the divine grace which they had lost.

Our loving Redeemer thus came into this life, and became man, in order that he might find a remedy for all the miseries which sin had brought upon men. At the same time, he chose to lead men to an observance of the divine precepts, and thus to the acquisition of eternal life, not only by his instructions, but also by the example of his own holy life. For this end Jesus Christ renounced all honors, delights, and riches, which he might have enjoyed upon this earth, and which belonged to him as Lord of the world; and he chose for himself a life of humility, poverty, and tribulation, until he died in anguish upon a cross.

The Jews were possessed with a delusion that the Messiah would come upon earth to triumph over all his enemies by force of arms, and that, having conquered them, and acquired the rule of all the earth, he would make his followers rich and glorious. But if the Messiah had been what the Jews imagined him to be, a prince triumphant and honored by all men as the sovereign of all the earth, he would not have been the Redeemer promised by God, and predicted by the prophets. This he himself declared, when he replied to Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world.¹ On this St. Fulgentius writes: “Why, Herod, art thou thus troubled? This king who is born is not come to conquer kings in battle, but wonderfully to subdue them by his death.”²

The Jews had two false notions respecting the Redeemer whom they expected; the first was, the idea that the spiritual and eternal blessings with which the prophets foretold that the Messiah would enrich his people, were earthly and temporal blessings: There shall be faith in thy days; the riches of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord, that shalt be thy treasure.³ These were the blessings promised by the Redeemer: faith, the knowledge of virtue, and holy fear. These were the riches of the salvation which he had promised. Besides this, he promised that he would bring medicine for the penitent, pardon for sinners, and liberty to the captives of the devil: He hath sent Me to bring tidings to those who are meek, that I should heal those who are contrite of heart, and preach pardon to the captives, and liberty to those who are in bondage.⁴ The other delusion of the Jews was, that what was predicted by the prophets respecting the second coming of the Saviour when he should come to judge the world at the end of ages, was to be understood of his first coming. David wrote of the future Messiah, that he would conquer the princes of the earth, and beat down the pride of many, and with the force of his sword would subdue the whole earth: The Lord, upon Thy right hand, shall beat down kings in the day of His wrath; He shall judge among the nations; He shall shatter the heads of many upon the earth.⁵ And the prophet Jeremias wrote: The sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the earth to the other.⁶ But all this is to be understood of the second advent, when he shall come as a judge to condemn the wicked.

When the prophets spoke of the first advent, in which he would accomplish the work of redemption, they most clearly foretold that the Redeemer would live upon this earth a life of poverty and contempt. This was what was written by the prophet Zacharias, when speaking of the life of Jesus Christ: Behold thy king cometh to thee as a just one, and the Saviour; He is poor, and sitteth upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.⁷ All this was specially fulfilled when he entered into Jerusalem sitting upon a young ass, and was honorably received as the desired Messiah, as St. John writes, And Jesus found an ass and sat upon it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion, behold thy king cometh to thee, sitting upon an ass’s colt.⁸ We know, also, that he was poor from the time of his birth, being born in Bethlehem, a place of no celebrity, and in a cave: And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art little among the thousands of Judah; from thee cometh forth to Me He who is the ruler of Israel; and His going forth is from the beginning, and from the days of eternity.⁹ This prophecy, also, is referred to by St. Matthew and St. John.¹⁰ Further, also, the prophet Osee writes: From Egypt I have called My Son;¹¹ which was fulfilled when Jesus Christ was carried as an infant into Egypt, where he remained about seven years, as a stranger in the midst of a barbarous race, far from his kindred and friends, which was sufficient to make his life one of poverty. And so, also, he continued to live the life of the poor when he had returned to Judea. He himself had foretold, by the mouth of David, that throughout all his life he would remain poor and afflicted with toils: I am poor, and in the midst of labors from my youth.¹²

Almighty God could not consider his justice sufficiently satisfied by all the sacrifices that men could offer, even of their own lives; and therefore he ordained that his own Son should take a human body, and become a victim worthy to reconcile him with men, and obtain salvation for them. Sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared for Me.¹³ The only-begotten Son offered himself willingly to be a sacrifice for us, and came down on earth in order that he might accomplish the sacrifice with his death, and thus complete the redemption of man. Then He said, Behold, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me, that I should do Thy will, O God!¹⁴

The Lord said, speaking to sinners, Why should I strike you any more?¹⁵ This God said in order that we should understand, that, however much he might punish those who offended him, their punishments would never be sufficient to make reparation to his offended honor; and therefore he committed it to his own Son to make satisfaction for the sins of men, because his Son alone could give worthy compensation to the divine justice. Therefore he declared, by Isaias, speaking of Jesus being made a victim for our sins, For the wickedness of My people I have stricken him.¹⁶ Nor was he satisfied with a light satisfaction, but chose to see him consumed with torments: The Lord willed to exhaust Him with weakness.¹⁷

O my Jesus, O victim of love, consumed by pangs upon the cross to atone for my sins, I am ready to die with grief when I think that I have so often despised Thee, after Thou hast so much loved me. Oh, suffer it not that I should continue longer ungrateful for Thy goodness. Draw me wholly to Thee; grant it through the merits of that blood which Thou hast poured forth for me.

II.

Figures of the Old Testament – Other Prophecies – Thanks Due to the Father and to the Son.

When the divine Word offered himself to redeem mankind, there were before him two ways of redemption, the one of joy and glory, the other of pains and insults. At the same time, it was his will, not only by his coming to deliver man from eternal death, but also to call forth the love of all the hearts of men, and therefore he rejected the way of joy and glory, and chose that of pains and insults: The joy being set before Him, He endured the cross.¹⁸ In order that he might satisfy the divine justice for us, and, at the same time, inflame us with his holy love, he was willing to endure this burden of all our sins; that, dying upon a cross, he might obtain for us grace and the life of the blessed. This is what Isaias intended to express when he said: He Himself hath borne our pains, and carried our sorrows.¹⁹

Of this there were two express figures in the Old Testament; the first was the annual ceremony of the scape-goat,²⁰ which the high-priest represented as bearing all the sins of the people, and therefore all, loading it with curses, drove it into the desert, to be the object of the wrath of God.²¹ This goat was a figure of our Redeemer, who was willing to load himself with all the curses deserved by us for our sins; being made a curse for us, in order that he might obtain for us the divine blessing. Therefore the Apostle wrote in another place, He made Him to be sin for us, who knew not sin, that we might be made the justice of God in Him.²² That is, as St. Ambrose and St. Anselm explain it, he made him to be sin who was innocence itself; that is, he presented himself to God as if he had been sin itself. In a word, he took upon himself the character of a sinner, and endured the pains due to us sinners, in order to render us just before God. The second type of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ offered to the Eternal Father for us upon the cross was, that brazen serpent²³ fixed to a tree, by looking upon which the Jews who were bitten by fiery serpents were healed. Accordingly, St. John writes: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that every one who believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.²⁴

We must here notice that in the Book of Wisdom, the shameful death of Jesus Christ is clearly foretold. Although the words of the passage referred to may apply to the death of every just man, yet, say Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St. Jerome, and many other holy Fathers, that they principally refer to the death of Christ. It is said: If He is the true Son of God, He will accept Him, and deliver Him.²⁵ These words exactly correspond with what the Jews said when Jesus was upon the cross: He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him, if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God.²⁶ The Wise Man goes on to say, Let us try Him with insults and torments (that is, those of the cross), and let us prove His patience; let us condemn Him to the most shameful death.²⁷ The Jews chose the death of the cross for Jesus Christ, because it is shameful, in order that his name might be forever infamous, and no more held in remembrance, according to the other text of Jeremias: Let us cast wood into His bread, and wipe Him out from the land of the living, and His name shall be remembered no more.²⁸ How, then, can the Jews of the present day say that it is false that Christ was the promised Messiah, because his life was ended by a most shameful death, when the prophets themselves foretold that he should die with a most dishonorable death?

And Jesus accepted such a death. He died to pay the price of our sins; and therefore, as a sinner, he desired to be circumcised; to be redeemed with a price when he was presented in the temple; to receive the baptism of repentance from the Baptist; and lastly, in his Passion, to be nailed upon the cross to atone for our guilty wanderings: to atone for our avarice, by being stripped of his garments; for our pride, by the insults he endured; for our desires of power, by submitting himself to the executioner; for our evil thoughts, by his crown of thorns; for our intemperance, by the gall he tasted; and by the pangs of his body, for our sensual delights. Therefore, we ought continually, with tears of tenderness, to thank the Eternal Father for having given his innocent Son to death, to deliver us from eternal death: He spared not His own Son, but delivered him up for us all; and how shall He not also with Him give us all things?²⁹ Thus said St. Paul; and thus Jesus himself said, in the Gospel of St. John: God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.³⁰ On this account, the holy Church exclaims on Holy Saturday, “Oh, wonderful is it which Thy love has done for us! O inestimable gift of love, that to redeem a servant, Thou shouldst give Thy Son.”³¹ O infinite mercy, O infinite love of our God! O holy faith! How can he who believes and confesses this, live without burning with holy love for a God who is so loving, and so worthy of love?

O eternal God, look not upon me thus overwhelmed with sins; look upon Thy innocent Son hanging upon a cross, who offers Thee the many pangs and insults which he has suffered, that Thou mayst have mercy upon me. O God, most worthy of love, and my true lover, for the love of this Thy Son, so beloved by Thee, have mercy upon me. The mercy I ask is, that Thou shouldst give me Thy holy love. Oh, draw me wholly to Thyself, from the mire of my corruption. Burn up, O Thou consuming fire, all that Thou seest impure in my soul, and that hinders me from being wholly Thine.

Let us give thanks to the Father, and let us give equal thanks to the Son, that he has been willing to take upon him our flesh, and, together with it, our sins, to offer to God, by his Passion, a worthy satisfaction. It is on this account that the Apostle says that Jesus Christ has become our mediator; that is, that he has bound himself to pay our debts: Jesus is made the mediator of a better testament.³² As the mediator between God and man, he has established a covenant with God, by which he has bound himself to satisfy the divine justice for us; and, on the other hand, has promised to us eternal life on the part of God. Therefore, in anticipation of this, the Preacher warns us not to forget the grace of this divine surety, who, to obtain salvation for us, has been willing to sacrifice his life. Forget not the grace of the Surety, for He hath given His soul for thee.³³ It is to give us the better assurance of pardon, says St. Paul, that Jesus Christ with his blood has blotted out the decree of our condemnation, in which the sentence of eternal death stands written against us, and has nailed it to the cross on which he died to satisfy the divine justice for us.³⁴

O my Jesus! by that love which caused Thee to give Thy blood and Thy life upon Calvary for me, make me die to all the affections of this world; make me forget everything, that I may not think of anything but to love Thee and give Thee pleasure! O my God, worthy of infinite love, Thou hast loved me without reserve, I desire to love Thee also without reserve. I love Thee, my greatest good; I love Thee, O my love, my all.

III.

The Death of Jesus Christ is our Salvation. It is an Instruction and an Example; it is a Motive of Confidence and of Love.

In a word, whatever blessing, whatever salvation, whatever hope we have, we have it all in Jesus Christ, and-in his merits; as St. Peter says, There is salvation in none other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men in which we must be saved.³⁵ Thus, there is no hope of salvation for us except through the merits of Jesus Christ; from which St. Thomas and all theologians³⁶ conclude, that, since the promulgation of the Gospel, we are bound to believe explicitly, of necessity, not only by precept, but by the necessity of the truth, that it is only through the means of our Redeemer that we can be saved.

All the foundation, then, of our salvation consists in the redemption of man wrought out by the divine Word upon earth. We must, therefore, reflect that although the actions of Jesus Christ upon earth, being the acts of a divine person, were of an infinite merit, so that the least of them was enough to satisfy the divine justice for all the sins of men, yet nevertheless the death of Jesus Christ is the great sacrifice by which our redemption was completed; so that, in the holy Scriptures, the redemption of man is attributed chiefly to the death suffered by him upon the cross: He humbled Himself, and was made obedient to death, even the death of the cross.³⁷ Wherefore the Apostle writes, that in receiving the Holy Eucharist, we ought to remember the Lord’s death: As often as ye shall eat this bread and drink this cup, ye shall show forth the Lord’s death till He come.³⁸ But why does he mention the death of the Lord, and not his incarnation, birth, or resurrection? He speaks of his death because this was the suffering of greatest pain and greatest shame that Jesus Christ endured, and that completed our redemption.

Hence St. Paul says, I have determined that I would know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.³⁹ The Apostle well knew that Jesus Christ was born in a cave; that, for thirty years, he inhabited a carpenter’s shop; that he had risen from the dead, and had ascended into heaven. Why, then, did he say that he would know nothing but Jesus crucified? Because the death suffered by Jesus Christ on the cross was that which most moved him to love him, and induced him to exercise obedience towards God and love towards his neighbor, which were the virtues most specially inculcated by Jesus Christ from the chair of his cross. St. Thomas, the angelic Doctor, writes: “In whatever temptation we fall, in the cross is our protection; there is obedience to God, love to our neighbor, patience in adversity; whence St. Augustine says, “The cross was not only the instrument of death to the sufferer, but his chair of teaching.”⁴⁰

O devout souls, let us labor to imitate the Spouse of the Canticles, who said, I have sat under the shadow of Him whom I desired.⁴¹ Let us place often before our eyes, especially on Fridays, Jesus dying on the cross; and let us rest there for a while, and contemplate with tender affection his sufferings, and the love which he bore to us, while he continued in agony upon that bed of pain. Let us also say, I have sat under the shadow of Him whom I desired. Oh, how sweet is the repose that is found by souls who love God in the midst of the tumult of this world, and in the temptations of hell, and even in fears of the divine justice. when they contemplate in solitude and silence our loving Redeemer, as he hangs in agony upon the cross, while his divine blood flows forth in drops from all his limbs, stricken and laid open with stripes, and thorns, and nails! Oh, how the desires of worldly honors, of earthly riches, of sensual pleasures, depart from our minds at the sight of Jesus crucified! Then does there breathe from that cross a heavenly gale, which sweetly detaches us from earthly things, and lights up in us a holy desire to suffer and die for love of him who has been willing to suffer and die for love of us.

O God, if Jesus Christ had not been what he really is, the Son of God, and true God, our Creator and supreme Lord, but a mere man, who would not be moved to compassion at the sight of a youth of noble blood, innocent and holy, dying through the strength of his torments upon a shameful tree, to atone for sins not his own, but those of his enemies themselves, and thus to deliver them from the death which was their due? How, then, is it that the affections of all hearts are not drawn to a God who died in a sea of insults and pains for love of his creatures? How can these creatures love anything but God? How can they think of anything but being grateful to him who is their so loving benefactor?

“Oh, if thou knewest the mystery of the cross!”⁴² said St. Andrew to the tyrant who sought to induce him to deny Jesus Christ because Jesus had been crucified as a malefactor. “Oh, if thou couldst understand, O tyrant, the love which Jesus Christ hath borne thee, in being willing to die upon the cross to make satisfaction for thy sins, and to obtain for thee eternal happiness, certainly thou wouldst not labor to persuade me to deny him; but thou thyself wouldst abandon everything that thou hast and hopest for upon this earth, in order to please and satisfy a God who has so loved thee.” What have not so many saints and holy martyrs done, who have left all for Jesus Christ! Oh, shame unto us! how many young virgins have renounced the marriage of the great, royal riches, and all earthly delights, and have willingly sacrificed their life to return some recompense of love for that love which was shown to them by this crucified God! How is it, then, that the Passion of Jesus Christ makes so little impression upon so many Christians? It results from this, that they apply themselves so little to consider what Jesus Christ has suffered for love of us.

O my Redeemer, I have been of the number of these ungrateful ones! Thou hast sacrificed Thy life upon a cross that Thou mightest not see me perish, and have I repeatedly been willing to lose Thee, an infinite good, by losing Thy grace? At this time the devil would have me believe that it is impossible that I should be saved, by bringing my sins to my remembrance; but the sight of Thee crucified, O my Jesus, assures me that Thou wilt not drive me from Thy face, if I repent of having offended Thee, and desire to love Thee. Yea, I repent, and desire to love Thee with all my heart. I detest these accursed pleasures, which have caused me to lose Thy grace. I love Thee, O Thou who art infinitely worthy of love, and I desire ever to love Thee; and the memory of my sins will serve to inflame me the more in the love of Thee, who hast come to seek me when I fled from Thee. No; I desire to be separated from Thee no more, and not to cease to love Thee, O my Jesus.

O Mary, refuge of sinners, thou who hast so much shared in the sufferings of thy Son in his death, pray to him to pardon me, and to give me grace to love him.

1“Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo.” – John, xviii. 36.

2“Quid est quod sic turbans, Herodes? Rex iste, qui natus est, non venit reges pugnando superare, sed moriendo mirabiliter subjugare.” – S. de Epiph. et Inn. nece.

3“Et erit fides in temporibus tuis; divitæ salutis. sapientia et scientia: timor Domini ipse est thesaurus ejus.”

4“Ad annuntiandum mansuetis misit me, ut mederer contritis corde, et predicarem captivis indulgentiam, et clausis apertionem.” – Isa. xxxiii. 6; lxi. 1.

5“Dominus a dextris tuis, confregit in die iræ suæ reges; judicabit in nationibus, implebit ruinas; conquassabit capita in terra multorum.” – Ps. cix. 5.

6“Gladius Domini devorabit ab extremo teræ usque ad extremum ejus.” – Jer. xii. 12.

7“Ecce Rex tuus veniet tibi justus et Salvator; ipse pauper et ascendens super asinam et super pullum filium asinæ.” – Zach. ix. 9.

8“Et invenit Jesus asellum et sedit super eum, sicut scriptum est: Noli timere, filia Sion; ecce Rex tuus venit sedens super pullum asinre.” – John, xii. 14.

9“Et tu, Bethlehem Ephrata, parvulus es in millibus Juda: ex te mihi egredietur, qui sit dominator in Israel; et egressus ejus ab initio, a diebus æternitatis.” – Mich. v. 2.

10Matt. ii. 6; John, vii. 42.

11“Ex Ægypto vocavi Filium meum.” – Os. xi. 1.

12“Pauper sum ego et in laboribus a juventute mea.” – Ps. lxxxvii. 16.

13“Hostiam et oblationem noluisti, corpus autem arasti mihi.” – Heb. x. 5.

14“Tunc dixi: Ecce venio; in capite libri scriptum est de me, ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam.” – Heb. x. 5-7.

15“Super quo percutiam vos ultra?” – Isa. i. 5.

16“Propter scelus populi mei percussi eum.” – Isa. liii. 8.

17“Et Dominus voluit conterere eum in infirmitate.” – Isa. liii. 10.

18“Proposito sibi gaudio. sustinuit crucem.” – Heb. xii. 2.

19“Vere languores nostros ipse tulit, et dolores nostros ipse portavit.” – Isa. liii. 4.

20Lev. xvi. 5.

21“Factus pro nobis maledictum.” – Gal. iii. 13.

22“Eum, qui non noverat peccatum, pro nobis peccatum fecit. ut nos efficeremur justitia Dei in ipso.” – 2 Cor. v. 21.

23Num. xxi. 8.

24“Sicut Moyses exaltavit serpentem in deserto, ita exaltari oportet Filium hominis, ut omnis qui credit in ipsum, non pereat, sed habeat vitam æternam.” – John, iii. 14.

25“Si enim est verus Filius Dei, suscipiet ilium et liberabit eum.” – Wisd ii. 18.

26“Confidit in Deo; liberet nunc, si vult eum; dixit enim: Quia Filius Dei sum.” – Matt. xxvii. 43.

27“Contumelia et tormento interrogemus eum . . . , et probemus patientiam illius; morte turpissima condemnemus eum.” – Wisd. ii. 19.

28“Mittamus lignum in panem ejus, et eradamus eum de terra viventium; et nomen ejus non memoretur amplius.” – Jer. xi. 19.

29“Qui etiam proprio Filio suo non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum; quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit?” – Rom. viii. 32.

30“Sic enim Deus dilexit mundum, ut Filium suum unigenitum daret.” – John, iii. 16.

31“O mira circa nos tum pietatis dignatio! o insestimabilis dilectio charitatis! ut servum redimeres, Filium tradidisti.”

32“Melioris Testamenti sponsor factus est Jesus.” – Heb. vii. 22.

33“Gratiam fidejussoris ne obliviscaris; dedit enim pro te animam suam.” – Ecclus. xxix. 20.

34“Delens quod adversus nos erat chirographum decreti, quod erat contrarium nobis, et ipsum tulit de medio, affigens illud cruci.” – Col. ii. 54.

35“Et non est in alio aliquo salus; nec enim aliud nomen est sub cœlo datum hominibus, in quo oporteat nos salvos fieri.” – Acts. iv. 12.

36Theol. mor. l. 2; tr. 1.

37“Humiliavit semetipsum, factus Obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis.” – Phil. ii. 8.

38“Quotiescumque enim manducabitis panem hunc, et calicem mortem Domini annuntiabitis.” – 1 Cor. xi. 26.

39“Non enim judicavi me scire aliquid inter vos, nisi Jesum Christum, et hunc crucifixum.” – 1 Cor. ii. 2.

40“In quacumque tribulatione invenitur ejus remedium in cruce; ibi est obedientia ad Deum, ibi charitas ad proximum, ibi patientia in adversis. Unde Augustinus: Crux non solum fuit patibulum patientia, sed etiam cathedra docentis.” – In Heb. xii. lect. 1

41“Sub umbra illius, quem desideraveram, sedi.” – Cant. ii. 3.

42“Oh! si scares mysterium crucis!”

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Considerations on the passion of Jesus Christ - Introduction

INTRODUCTION.¹

How pleasing is it to Jesus Christ that we should often remember his Passion, and the shameful death which he suffered for us, can be well understood from his having instituted the most holy Sacrament of the Altar for this very end, that there might ever dwell in us the lively memory of the love which he bore to us in sacrificing himself on the cross for our salvation. Let us, then, recollect that on the night preceding his death he instituted this sacrament of love, and, when he had distributed his body to the disciples, he said to them, and through them to all of us, that in receiving the Holy Communion we should bear in mind what great things he has suffered for us: As often as ye shall eat this bread and drink this cup, ye shall show forth the Lord’s death.² Therefore, in the Mass the Holy Church ordains that after the consecration the celebrant shall say, in the name of Jesus Christ, As often as ye do this, ye shall do it in memory of Me.³ And the angelic St. Thomas writes, “That the memory of the great things that he has done for us might ever remain with us, he left us his own body to be received as our food.”⁴ The saint then goes on to say that through this sacrament is preserved the memory of the boundless love which Jesus Christ has shown us in his Passion.⁵

If we were to endure injuries and stripes for the sake of a friend, and were then to learn that our friend, when he heard any one speak of what we had done, would not pay any heed to it, but turned the conversation, and said, “Let us talk of something else,” what pain we should suffer at the sight of the neglect of the ungrateful man! And, on the other hand, how glad we should be to find that our friend admitted that he was under an eternal obligation to us, that he constantly bore it in mind, and spoke of it with affection and with tears. Therefore the saints, knowing how much it pleases Jesus Christ that we should often call to mind his Passion, have been almost perpetually occupied in meditating on the pains and insults which our loving Redeemer suffered during his whole life, and still more in his death. St. Augustine writes that there is no more profitable occupation for the soul than to meditate daily on the Passion of the Lord.⁶ It was revealed by God to a holy anchorite, that there is no exercise more adapted to inflame the heart with divine love than the thought of the death of Jesus Christ. And to St. Gertrude, as Blosius⁷ records, it was revealed that as often as we look with devotion upon the crucifix, so often does Jesus look upon us with love. Blosius⁸ adds, that to consider or read of any portion of the Passion brings greater profit than any other devout exercise. Therefore St. Bonaventure writes, “O Passion worthy of love, which renders divine him who meditates upon it.”⁹ And, speaking of the wounds of the Crucified, he calls them wounds which pierce the hardest hearts, and inflame the coldest souls with divine love.¹⁰

It is related in the life of the Blessed Bernard of Corlione, a Capuchin, that when his brother religious desired to teach him to read, he went to take advice from Him who was crucified, and that the Lord replied to him, “What is reading? what are books? I who was crucified will be thy book, in which thou mayest read the love I bore thee.” Jesus crucified was also the beloved book of St. Philip Benitius; and when the saint was dying, he desired to have his book given him. Those who stood by, however, did not know what book he wanted; but Brother Ubaldo, his confidential friend, offered to him the image of the Crucified, on which the saint said, “This is my book;” and, kissing the sacred wounds, breathed out his blessed soul.

For myself, in my spiritual works, I have often written of the Passion of Jesus Christ, but yet I think that it will not be unprofitable to devout souls if I here add many other points and reflections which I have read in various books, or which have occurred to myself; and I have determined to commit them to writing, both for the use of others, and especially for my own profit; for finding myself, now that I am putting together this little treatise, near to death, at the age of seventy-seven years, I have been desirous to prolong these considerations, by way of preparing myself for the great day of account. And, in fact, I make my own poor meditations on these very points; often and often reading some portion, in order that, whenever my last hour shall come, I may find myself occupied in keeping before my eyes Jesus crucified, who is my only hope, and thus I hope to breathe out my soul into his hands. Let us, then, begin the proposed reflections.

1In this introduction, the saintly author informs us that when he wrote this treatise he was seventy-seven years of age. This was thirteen years after he had written the Simple Exposition of the Passion. The considerations he wrote less for the use of others than for his own spiritual advantage, being desirous of preparing himself well for death. He sent the little work to a pious person, with a letter dated September 8, 1773, in which he says: “You may use this little book in your prayers when you meditate on the Passion. I am using it myself every day. I desire that you should not allow a day to pass without recalling to your mind, with the aid of this or another book, something of the Passion. The Passion was for the saints a continual subject of meditation.” – Rev. Eugene Grimm C.SS.R.

2“Quotiescumque enim manducabitis panem hunt, et calicem bibetis, mortem Domini annuntiabitis.” – 1 Cor. xi. 26.

3“Hæc quotiescumque feceritis, in mei memoriam facietis.”

4“Ut autem tanti beneficii jugis in nobis maneret memoria, corpus suum in cibum sumendurn dereliquit.” – Opusc. 57.

5“Per quad recolitur memoria illius, quam in sua passione Christus monstravit, excellentissimre charitatis.”

6“Nihil tam salutiferum, quam quotidie cogitare quanta pro nobis pertulit Deus Homo.” – Ad Fr. in er. s. 32.

7Concl. an. p. 2, c. 2.

8Sac. an. p. 3, c. 21.

9“O passio mirabilis, quæ suum meditatorem reddit divinum!”

10“Vulnera, corda saxea vulnerantia, et mentes congelatas inflammantia.” – Stim. div. am. p. 1, c. 1.

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Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ

We have here one of the masterpieces of St. Alphonsus, a book that speaks to all hearts, that reveals to every Christian soul its true wants and the true means to satisfy them. One cannot read this book without becoming better; nor can one grow tired in reading it again and again. It is indeed a very highly-prized and widely-spread work. It was published in 1768. (Tannoia, B. 3, ch. 41, 42.)

The holy bishop, developing the celebrated text of St. Paul on the qualities of true charity, explains in thirteen chapters the principal virtues that we ought to practise and the defects that we ought to avoid in order to render to our Lord love for love. He treats of patience in general (Chap. I.), and in particular in sicknesses, poverty, and contempt (Chap. X.); of meekness (Chaps. II. and VIII.); of purity of intention (Chap. III.); of tepidity, and the remedies against this vice, namely, the desire of perfection, the determination to attain perfection, mental prayer, frequent communion, and prayer (Chap. IV.); of humility (Chap. V.); of ambition and vain-glory (Chap. VI.); of detachment from all things, especially when there is question of following one’s vocation (Chap. VII.); of conformity to the will of God, and of obedience (Chap. IX.); of faith (Chap. XI.); of hope (Chap. XII.); and, finally, of temptations, and spiritual desolation (Chap. XIII.). The work is concluded by a summary of virtues that are to be practised.

— Rev. Eugene Grimm C.SS.R.

Introduction

I. How deserving Jesus Christ is of our Love, on Account of the Love He has shown us in His Passion.

II. How much Jesus Christ deserves to be Loved by us, on Account of the Love He has shown us in Instituting the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

III. The Great Confidence we ought to have in the Love which Jesus Christ has shown us and in all He has done for us.

IV. How much we are obliged to love Jesus Christ.

Chapters

I. He that loves Jesus Christ loves Sufferings.

II. He that loves Jesus Christ loves Meekness.

III. The Soul that loves Jesus Christ does not envy the Great Ones of this World, but only those who are Greater Lovers of Jesus Christ.

IV. He that loves Jesus Christ avoids Lukewarmness, and seeks Perfection; the Means of which are: 1. Desire; 2. Resolution; 3. Mental Prayer; 4. Communion; 5. Prayer.

V. He that loves Jesus Christ is not vain of his own Worth, but humbles himself, and is glad to be humbled by Others.

VI. He that loves Jesus Christ desires Nothing but Jesus Christ.

VII. He that loveth Jesus Christ seeks to detach Himself from every Creature.

VIII. He that loves Jesus Christ is never angry with his Neighbor.

IX. He that loves Jesus Christ only wishes what Jesus Christ wishes.

X. He that loves Jesus Christ bears all Things for Jesus Christ, and especially Illnesses, Poverty, and Contempt.

XI. He that loves Jesus Christ believes all His Words.

XII. He that loves Jesus Christ hopes for all Things from Him.

XIII. He that loves Jesus Christ with a Strong Love does not cease to love Him in the midst of all Sorts of Temptations and Desolations.

Abstract of the Virtues treated of in this book, to be Practised by him who Loves Jesus Christ.

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Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ - Abstract of the Virtues treated of in this book, to be Practised by him who Loves Jesus Christ

I.

We must patiently endure the tribulations of this” life—ill-health, sorrows, poverty, losses, bereavement of kindred, affronts, persecutions, and all that is disagreeable. Let us invariably look on the trials of this world as signs of God’s love towards us, and of his desire to save us in the world to come. And let us, moreover, be fully persuaded that the involuntary mortifications which God himself sends us are far more pleasing to him than those which are the fruit of our own choice.

In sickness let us endeavor to resign ourselves entirely to the will of God; no devout exercise is more acceptable to him than this. If at such times we are unable to meditate, let us fix our eyes on our crucified Lord, and offer him our sufferings in union with all that he endured for us upon the cross. And when we are told that we are about to die, let us accept the tidings with tranquility and in the spirit of sacrifice; that is, with the desire to die, in order to give pleasure to Jesus Christ: it was the like desire that gave all the merit to the death of the martyrs. We should then say: O Lord, behold me here with no other will but Thine own blessed will; I am willing to suffer as much as Thou pleasest; I wish to die whenever Thou wilt. Nor should we then wish to have our life prolonged, in order to do penance for our sins; to accept death with perfect resignation outweighs all other penance.

We must likewise practise conformity to the will of God in bearing poverty and the various inconveniences which accompany it: cold, hunger, fatigue, contempt, and scorn.

Nor should we be less resigned to losses, whether of property or of relatives and friends, on whom our ease and happiness depended. Let us acquire the good habit of saying in every adversity: God hath so willed it, and so I will it likewise. And at the death of our relatives, instead of wasting time in fruitless tears, let us employ it in praying for their souls; and offer to Jesus Christ, in their behalf, the pain of our bereavement.

Let us, moreover, force ourselves to endure scorn and insult with patience and tranquillity. Let us answer terms of outrage and injury with words of gentleness; but as long as we feel ourselves disturbed, the best plan is to keep silence, till the mind grows tranquil. Meanwhile let us not be fretfully speaking to others of the affront we have received, but in silence offer it to Jesus Christ, who endured so much for us.

II.

Behave kindly to all, to Superiors and inferiors, to the high-born and peasant, to relatives and strangers; but more especially to the poor and infirm, and, above all, to those who regard us with an evil eye.

Gentleness in the correction of faults is more efficacious than any other means or reasons that may be employed. Be therefore on your guard against correcting in a fit of passion; for then harshness is sure to be mingled with it, either in word or action. Beware likewise of correcting the person in fault while he is excited; for in like cases the result is exasperation instead of improvement.

III.

Envy not the great ones of this world then riches, honors, dignities, or applause given them by men; but envy rather those who most love Jesus Christ, who undoubtedly enjoy greater happiness than the first monarchs of the earth. Return thanks to the Lord for enlightening you to discover the vanity of all worldly things, for the sake of which so many unhappily perish.

IV.

In all our actions and thoughts let us seek only the pleasure of Almighty God, and not our private satisfaction; and let us therefore lay aside all disquietude when our efforts are attended with failure. And when we succeed, let us be no less cautious against seeking the thanks and approbation of men; should they murmur against us, let us pay no attention to this; our consolation will be to have striven to please God, and not men.

V.

The chief means of perfection are:

1. To avoid all deliberate sin, however small. Should we, however, happen unfortunately to commit a fault, let us refrain from becoming angry and impatient with ourselves: we must, on such occasions, quietly repent of it; and while we make an act of love to Jesus Christ, and beg his help, we must promise him not to repeat the fault.

2. To have an earnest desire to acquire the perfection of the saints, and to suffer all things to please Jesus Christ; and if we have not this desire, to beseech Jesus Christ, through his bounty, to grant it us; since, as long as we do not feel a sincere desire of becoming saints, we shall never make one step forward in the way of perfection.

3. To have a firm resolution of arriving at perfection: whoever is wanting in this resolution, works but languidly, and in the occasion does not overcome his repugnances; whereas a resolute soul, by the divine aid, which never fails her, surmounts every obstacle.

4. To make make daily two hours’ or at least one hour’s mental prayer; and, except in case of urgent necessity, never to relinquish it for the sake of any weariness, dryness, or trouble that we may experience.

5. To frequent Holy Communion several times a week, in obedience to the counsel of our director; for frequent Communion should not be practised against the consent of our director. The same rule holds good with regard to external mortifications, such as fasting, wearing the cilice, taking the discipline, and the rest; mortifications of this kind, when practised without obedience to our spiritual director, will either destroy health or produce vainglory. So that it is necessary for each one to have his own director, so that all maybe regulated in obedience to him.

6. To pray continually, by having recourse to Jesus Christ in all our necessities, by invoking likewise the intercession of our Angel Guardian, of our Holy Patrons, and most particularly of the divine Mother, through whose hands Almighty God bestows all graces upon us. It has already been shown, at the end of Chapter IV., that our welfare entirely depends on prayer. We must especially not pass a day without begging God to grant us the gift of perseverance in his grace; whosoever asks for this perseverance obtains it, but he that does not ask for it obtains it not, and is damned: we must pray, too, that Jesus Christ may grant us his holy love and perfect conformity with his divine will. Neither should we forget to pray for every grace through the merits of Jesus Christ. We must first make these prayers when we rise in the morning, and afterwards repeat them in our meditation, at Holy Communion, at the visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and again in the evening at the examination of conscience. We must particularly cry to God for help in the time of temptation, and more especially in temptations against purity, when we should not cease to call for succor on the holy names of Jesus and Mary. He that prays, conquers; he that prays not, is conquered.

VI.

With respect to humility, not to pride ourselves on riches, honors, high birth, talents, or any other natural advantage, and still less on any spiritual gift, reflecting that all are the gifts of God. To consider ourselves the worst of all, and consequently to delight in being despised by others; and not to act as some do, who declare themselves the worst of men, and at the same time wish to be treated as the best. Moreover, to receive corrections humbly, and without attempts to excuse ourselves, and this even though blamed wrongfully; except when to defend ourselves would be necessary in order to prevent others being scandalized.

Much more ought we to banish all desire of appearing in public, and of being honored by the world. The maxim of St. Francis should never be out of our sight: “We are just what we are before God.” It would be still worse for a religious to covet posts of honor and superiority in his community. The true honor of a religious is to be the most humble of all; and he is the humblest of all who most joyfully embraces humiliations.

VII.

Detach your heart from all creatures. Whoever continues bound by the slightest fondness to things of earth can never rise to a perfect union with God.

To detach ourselves especially from an undue affection for our relatives. It was said by St. Philip Neri, that “whatever affection we bestow on creatures is so much taken from God.”¹ In deciding on a state of life, we must be quite unbiased by the advice of parents, who generally keep their own interests in view, rather than our real welfare.

Cast away all considerations of human respect, and of the vain esteem of men; and, above all, be detached from self-will. We must leave all, in order to gain all. “All for all,”² writes Thomas à Kempis.

VIII.

Not to give way to anger, whatever happens; but if perchance the sparks of passion are suddenly lighted in our breasts, let us call on God, and refrain from acting or speaking till we are sure that our anger is appeased. We shall find it of great service to arm ourselves in prayer against every chance of irritation that may befall us, in order not then to give way to culpable resentment; we should always remember that saying of St. Francis de Sales: “I never remember to have been angry without afterwards regretting it.”

IX.

All sanctity consists in loving God, and all love of God consists in doing his blessed will. We must, therefore, bow with resignation to all the dispositions of divine Providence without reserve; and so cheerfully submit to the adversity as well as prosperity which God sends, to the state of life in which God places us, to the sort of health which God bestows on us: and this should be the grand aim of all our prayers, namely, that God would enable us to fulfil his holy will in all things. And in order to be certain of the divine will, the religious must depend on obedience to his Superior, and those who are in the world to their confessor; for nothing is more certain than that saying of St. Philip Neri: “We shall have no account to render to God of what is done through obedience.” Which is to be understood, of course, as long as there is no evident sin in the command.

X.

There are two remedies against temptations: resignation and prayer. Resignation, for though temptations do not come from God, yet he permits them for our good. Wherefore beware of yielding to vexation, however annoying the temptations may be; be resigned to the will of God, who allows them; and take up the arms of prayer, which are the most powerful and the most certain to overcome our enemies. Bad thoughts, however filthy and abominable, are not sins; it is only the consenting to them which makes the sin. We shall never be overcome as long as we call on the holy names of Jesus and Mary. During the assaults of temptation, it is of service to renew our resolution to suffer death rather than to offend God; it is also a good practice repeatedly to sign ourselves with the sign of the cross, and with holy water; it is of great help, too, to discover the temptation to the confessor. But prayer is the most necessary remedy, and continual cries for help to Jesus and Mary.

XI.

Then as to spiritual desolations, there are two acts in which we ought principally to exercise ourselves: 1st, to humble ourselves, with the sincere avowal that we de serve no better treatment; 2d, to resign ourselves to the will of God, and to abandon ourselves into the arms of his divine goodness. When God favors us with consolations, let us prepare ourselves for coming trials, which generally follow consolations. If it please God to leave us in desolation, let us be humble and fully resigned to his divine will, and we shall thus reap far greater advantage from desolations than from consolations.

XII.

In order to live always well, we must store up deeply in our minds certain general maxims of eternal life, such as the following:

All passes away in this life, whether it be joy or sorrow; but in eternity nothing passes away.

What good is all the greatness of this world at the hour of death?

All that comes from God, whether it be adverse or prosperous, all is good, and is for our welfare.

We must leave all, to gain all.

There is no peace to be found without God.

To love God and save one’s soul is the one thing needful.

We need only be afraid of sin.

If God be lost,all is lost.

He that desires nothing in this world is master of the whole world.

He that prays is saved, and he that prays not is damned.

Let me die, and give God pleasure.

God is cheap at any cost.

Every pain is slight to him who has deserved hell.

He bears all who looks on Jesus crucified.

Everything becomes a pain that is not done for God.

Whoever wishes for God alone is rich in every good.

Happy the man who can say: “My Jesus, I desire Thee alone, and nothing more!”

He that loves God, finds pleasure in everything; he that loves not God, finds no true pleasure in anything.

1Bacci, l. 2, ch. 15.

2“Totum pro toto.” – Imit. Chr. l. 3, c. 37.

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