Considerations on the passion of Jesus Christ - Chapter 4

THE INSULTS OFFERED TO JESUS CHRIST WHILE HE WAS HANGING UPON THE CROSS.

I.

Agony of Jesus on the Cross.

Pride, as we have said, was the cause of the sin of Adam, and, consequently, of the ruin of the human race. On this account Jesus Christ came to repair this ruin by his own humiliation; not refusing to embrace the shame of all the insults that his enemies offered him, as he had himself predicted by David: Since for thy sake I have endured reproach, confusion hath covered My face.¹ The whole life of our Redeemer was filled with shame and insults which he received from men; and he did not refuse to accept them, even to the extent of death itself, in order to deliver us from eternal shame: Who, having joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame.²

O God, who would not mourn with pity, and love Jesus Christ, if he would consider that he suffered for the three hours during which his crucifixion lasted, and he was in agonies upon the cross? Every one of his limbs was stricken and tormented, and one could not relieve the other. The afflicted Lord on that bed of pain could not move, being fastened with nails in his hands and feet; all his most sacred flesh was full of wounds, while those of his hands and feet were most painful, and were compelled to sustain his whole body; so that wheresoever he rested upon that cross, whether on his hands or his feet, there his pains increased. It may be truly said, that in those three hours of agony Jesus suffered as many deaths as he passed moments upon the cross. O innocent Lamb, who hast suffered such things for me, have mercy upon me! Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me!³

Yet these outward pains of the body were the least bitter; the inward pains of the soul were far greater. His blessed soul was all desolate, and deprived of every drop of consolation and sensible relief; all was weariness, sorrow, and afflictions. This he uttered in the words, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!⁴ Drowned in this sea of inward and outward griefs, our Saviour, so worthy of our love, thought fit to end his life, as he had foretold by the mouth of David: I have come into the depths of the sea, and the storm hath sunk Me.⁵

II.

“If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross.”

Behold also, that, at the very time when he was thus in agonies upon the cross, and was drawing near to death, all they who stood near him, priests, scribes, elders, and soldiers, wearied themselves in adding to his pangs with insults and mockeries. St. Matthew writes, They that passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads.⁶ This was already prophesied by David, when he wrote, in the person of Christ, All they that saw Me reviled Me, they spoke with their lips, and wagged their head.⁷

They who passed before him said, 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.⁸ Thou hast boasted, they said, that Thou wouldst destroy the temple, and rebuild it in three days. Yet Jesus had not said that he could destroy the material temple, and raise it again in three days; but he had said: Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.⁹ With these words he indeed intended to express his own power; but he really (as Euthymius and others explain it) spoke allegorically, foretelling that, through the act of the Jews, his soul would be one day separated from his body, but that in three days it would rise again.

They said, Save Thyself.¹⁰ O ungrateful men! If this great Son of God, when he was made man, had chosen to save himself, he would not voluntarily have chosen death.

If Thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross;¹¹ yet, if Jesus had come down, he would not have accomplished our redemption by his death; we could not have been delivered from eternal death. “He would not come down,” says St. Ambrose, “lest when he came down, I should die.”¹² Theophylact writes, that they who said this spoke by the instigation of the devil, who sought to hinder the salvation which was about to be accomplished by Jesus by means of the cross.¹³ And then he adds that the Lord would not have mounted the cross, if he had been willing to come down from it without accomplishing our redemption.¹⁴ Also St. John Chrysostom says that the Jews uttered this insult in order that Jesus might die insulted as an impostor in the sight of all men, and be proved unable to deliver himself from the cross, after he had boasted that he was the Son of God.¹⁵

St. John Chrysostom also remarks that the Jews ignorantly said, If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross; for if Jesus had come down from the cross before he had died, he would not have been that Son of God who was promised, and who was to save us by his death. On this account, says the saint, he did not come down from the cross until he was dead, because he had come for the very purpose of giving his life for our salvation.¹⁶ St. Athanasius makes the same remark, saying that our Redeemer chose to be known as the true Son of God, not by coming down from the cross, but by continuing upon it till he was dead.¹⁷ And thus it was foretold by the prophets that our Redeemer must be crucified and die, as St. Paul wrote, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, that cursed is every one who hangeth on a tree.¹⁸

III.

“He saved Others, Himself He cannot save.”

St. Matthew goes on to relate the other insults which the Jews offered to Jesus Christ: He saved others, Himself He cannot save.¹⁹ Thus they treated him as an impostor, by referring to the miracles which had been wrought by him in the restoration of the dead to life, and by treating him as one who was unable to save his own life.

St. Leo replies to them, that this was not the proper hour for Jesus to display his divine power; and that he would not hinder the redemption of man in order to confound their blasphemies.²⁰

St. Gregory suggests another motive why Jesus would not descend from the cross: “If he had then come down, he would not have shown to us the virtue of patience.”²¹ Truly could Jesus Christ deliver himself from the cross and from these insults; yet this was not the time for making a display of his power, but to teach us patience in our toils, in order that we may fulfil the divine pleasure; and therefore Jesus would not deliver himself from death before he had fulfilled his Father’s will, and in order that he might not deprive us of this great example of patience. “Because he taught patience, he laid aside his power,”²² says St. Augustine.

The patience which Jesus Christ exercised in enduring the shame of all the insults which were offered him by the Jews obtained for us grace to endure with patience and peace of mind all the humiliations and persecutions of the world. Therefore St. Paul, speaking of the journey of Jesus Christ to Calvary when he carried the cross, thus exhorts us to accompany him, Let us, therefore, go forth to meet him without the camp. bearing his reproach.²³ The saints, when they received injuries, did not think of revenging themselves, nor were they disturbed; they were even comforted at seeing themselves despised, as Jesus Christ was despised. Therefore let us not fear to embrace, for the love of Jesus Christ, all the insults that were offered to him, since Jesus Christ has suffered so many insults for love of us.

O my Redeemer, for the time past I have not done this. For the future I desire to suffer everything for love of Thee: give me strength to put my desires into execution.

IV.

“If God loves him, let him deliver him now.”

The Jews, not satisfied with the injuries and blasphemies which they had offered to Jesus Christ, reproached him with the name of his Father, saying, He trusted in God, let Him now deliver Him, if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God.²⁴ This sacrilegious expression of the Jews was already foretold by David, when he said in the name of Christ, All they that saw Me derided Me; they spoke with their lips, and shook their head, saying, He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him, let Him save Him; for He desireth Him.²⁵ These very men who thus spoke were called bulls, dogs, and lions, by David in the same Psalm: Fat bulls encompassed me. Many dogs surrounded me. Save me from the mouth of the lion.²⁶ Thus, when the Jews said, Let Him now deliver Him, if He will have Him,²⁷ they truly showed that they were these bulls, dogs, and lions which had been foretold by David. These very same blasphemies, which were one day to be spoken against the Saviour and against God, were already foretold by the Wise Man with even more exactness: He declares that He has the knowledge of God, and calls Himself the Son of God, and He glories that He has God for His Father. If he is the true Son of God, let Him accept Him, and deliver Him from the hands of His adversaries. Let us try Him with insults and torments, that we may know His reverence, and prove His patience; let us condemn Him to a most shameful death.²⁸

The chief priests were stirred up by envy and hatred against Jesus Christ thus to insult him; but, at the same time, they were not exempt from the fear of some great punishment, as they could not deny the miracles wrought by the Lord. Wherefore all the priests and chiefs of the synagogue continued disturbed and in terror, and therefore desired to be present at his death, in order to be freed from this fear which tormented them. Seeing him then fastened upon the cross, and that he was not delivered from it by his Father, they proceeded with increased audacity to taunt him with his impotence and his persuasion that he was the Son of God. They said, “He trusted in God, that he was his Father; why, then, does not God deliver him if he loves him as his Son?” But grievously were these malicious men in error, for God did truly love Jesus Christ, and loved him as his Son; and he loved him on this very account, that Jesus was sacrificing his life upon the cross for the salvation of men, in order to obey his Father. This Jesus himself had said, I lay down My life for My sheep . . . therefore hath the Father loved Me, because I lay down My life.²⁹ The Father had already destined him to be the victim of this great sacrifice, which would bring to him an infinite glory, as the God-man would be sacrificed, and which would ensure the salvation of all men; but if the Father had delivered him from death, the sacrifice would have been imperfect, and then the Father would have been deprived of that glory, while men would have been deprived of their salvation.

Tertullian writes that all the insults that were offered to Jesus Christ were a secret remedy for our pride; for these injuries, which were unjust, and unworthy of him, were nevertheless necessary to our salvation,³⁰ and worthy of a God who chose to suffer so much in order to save man. And then, speaking of the reproaches laid against Jesus, he adds: “Of him they were unworthy, but to us they were necessary, and therefore they were worthy of God, because nothing is so worthy of God as the salvation of man.”³¹

Let us, therefore, who boast that we are disciples of Jesus Christ, be ashamed of angrily resenting the injuries which we receive from men, because a God made man suffered the same for our salvation with so much patience. And let us not be ashamed of imitating Jesus Christ in pardoning those who offend us, as he himself declares that in the day of judgment he will be ashamed of those who in this life have been ashamed of him.³²

O my Jesus! how can I grieve for any insults that I may receive, who have so often deserved to be trodden under foot by the devils in hell! Oh, by the merits of all the insults which Thou didst suffer in Thy Passion, give me grace to suffer with patience all the insults which may be offered to me, through love of Thee, who hast embraced so many for love of me. I love Thee above everything, and desire to suffer for Thee, who hast suffered so much for me. I hope for everything from Thee, who hast bought me with Thy blood. And I also hope in thy intercession, O my mother Mary.

1“Quoniam propter to sustinui opprobrium, operuit confusio faciem meam.” – Ps. lxviii. 8.

2“Qui, proposito sibi gaudio, sustinuit crucem, confusione contempta.” – Heb. xii. 2.

3“Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi! miserere mei.”

4“Deus meus! Deus meus! ut quid dereliquisti me?” – Matt. xxvii. 46.

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

6“Pratereuntes autem blasphemabant eum, moventes capita sua.” – Matt. xxvii. 39.

7“Omnes videntes me deriserunt me, locuti sunt labiis et moverunt caput.” – Ps. xxi. 8.

8“Vah, qui destruis templum Dei, et in triduo illud readificas!” – Matt. xxvii. 40.

9“Solvite templum hoc, et in tribus diebus excitabo illud.” – John, ii. 19.

10“Salva temetipsum!”

11“Si Filius Dei es, descende de cruce.” – Matt. xxvii. 40.

12“Noluit descendere, ne descenderet sibi, sed ut moreretur mihi.” – In Luc. xxiii.

13“Diabolus incitabat illos ut dicerent: Descendat nunc de cruce,—quia cognoscebat quod salus per crucem fieret.” – In Marc. xv.

14“Si voluisset descendere, neque a principio ascendisset.”

15“Volebant enim ut tamquam seductor in conspectu omnium vituperatus decederet.” – In Matt. hom. 88.

16“Qui Filius Dei est, ideo non descendit de cruce; nam ideo venit, ut crucifigeretur pro nobis.” – De Cruce et Latr. hom. 2.

17“Neque descendendo de cruce voluit Filius Dei agnosci, sed ex eo quod in cruce permaneret.” – Serm. de Pass. et Cr.

18“Christus nos redemit de maledicto legis, factus pro nobis maledictum; quia scriptum est: Maledictus omnis qui pendet in ligno.” – Gal. iii. 13.

19“Alios salvos fecit, seipsum non potest salvum facere.” – Matt. xxvii. 42.

20“Non vestræ cæcitatis arbitrio, o stulti Scribe, ostendenda erat potentia Salvatoris; nec secundum preces blasphemantium linguarum, humani generis redemptio debebat omitti.” – De Pass. s. 17.

21“Si de cruce tunc descenderet, virtutem nobis patientiæ non demonstraret.” – In Evang. hom. 21.

22“Quia patientiam docebat, ideo potentiam differebat.” – In Jo. tr. 37.

23“Exeamus igitur ad eum extra castra, improperium ejus portantes.” – Heb. xiii. 13.

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

25“Speravit in Domino, eripiat eum; salvum faciat eum, quoniam vult eum.” – Ps. xxi. 9.

26“Tauri pingues obsederunt me. . . . Circumdederunt me canes multi. . . . Salva me ex ore leonis.” – Ps. xxi. 13, 17, 22.

27“Liberet nunc, si vult eum.” – Matt. xxvii. 43.

28“Promittit se scientiam Dei habere, et Filium Dei se nominat . . ., et gioriatur Patrem se habere Deum. Si enim est verus Filius Dei, suscipiet illum, et liberabit eum de manibus contrariorum. Contumelia et tormento interrogemus eum, ut sciamus reverentiam ejus, et probemus patientiam illius; morte turpissima condemnemus eum.” – Wisd. ii. 13, 16, 18-20.

29“Animam meam pono pro ovibus meis. . . . Propterea me diligit Pater, quia ego pono animam meam.” – John, x. 15, 17.

30“Totum denique Dei mei penes vos dedecns, sacramentum est humanæ salutis.”

31“Sibi quidem indigna, homini autem necessaria: et ita jam Deo digna, quia nihil tam dignum Deo, quam salus hominis.” – Adv. Marc. l. 2.

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Considerations on the passion of Jesus Christ - Chapter 3

THE SCOURGING, THE CROWNING WITH THORNS, AND THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST.

I.

The Scourging.

St. Paul writes respecting Jesus Christ: He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.¹ On this text St. Bernard remarks, “He took not only the form of a servant, that he might obey, but that of a slave, that he might be beaten.”² Our Redeemer, who is the Lord of all, was willing not only to take upon him the condition of a servant, but even that of a bad servant, that he might be punished as a malefactor, and thus make satisfaction for our sins. It is certain that the scourging was the most cruel of the tortures that shortened the life of our Redeemer; for the great effusion of blood (already foretold by him, when he said, This is My blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many³) was the principal cause of his death. It is true that this blood was first poured forth in the garden, and was also poured forth in the crowning with thorns, and by the driving-in of the nails; but the largest portion was shed in the scourging, which was also a cause of great shame and insult to Jesus Christ, because this was a punishment inflicted only on slaves. On this account, also, the tyrants who condemned the holy martyrs to death scourged them after their condemnation, and then slew them; while our Lord was scourged before he was condemned to death. He had himself particularly predicted the scourging to his disciples during his life: He shall be given up to the Gentiles, and mocked and scourged.⁴ Thus he signified to them the great anguish which this torture would inflict upon him.

It was revealed to St. Bridget that one of the executioners first commanded Jesus Christ to strip himself of his garments. He obeyed, and then embraced the pillar to which he was bound, and was then so cruelly scourged that his whole body was lacerated.⁵ The revelation stated that the stripes not only struck him, but ploughed into his most holy flesh. He was so torn open that, as the same revelation declares, his ribs appeared laid bare.⁶ With this agrees what was written by St. Jerome: “The stripes cut the most holy body of God;”⁷ and also what St. Peter Damian wrote, that the executioners exhausted themselves with fatigue⁸ in scourging our Lord. All this was already foretold by Isaias in the words, He was bruised for our iniquities;⁹ the word bruised signifying the same as being broken to pieces, or as being pounded in a mortar.

Behold me, O my Jesus! I am one of Thy most cruel executioners, who have scourged Thee with my sins; have pity upon me. O my loving Saviour! a heart is too little with which to love Thee. I desire no longer to live for myself, I desire to live only for Thee, my love, my all. Wherefore I say to Thee, with St. Catharine of Genoa, “O love! O love! let there be no more sins. It is enough that I have already offended Thee so much! now I hope to be wholly Thine, and with Thy grace I desire to be ever Thine through all eternity.”

II.

The Crowning with Thorns.

The divine Mother revealed to the same St. Bridget that the crown of thorns surrounded the whole sacred head of her Son, as low down as the middle of his forehead; and that the thorns were driven in with such violence that the blood gushed out in streams over all his countenance, so that the whole face of Jesus Christ appeared covered with blood.¹⁰

Origen writes that this crown of thorns was not taken from the head of the Lord until he had expired upon the cross.¹¹ In the mean time, as the inner garment of Christ was not sewed together, but woven all in one piece, on this account it was not divided among the soldiers, like his outer garments, but it was given by lot, as St. John writes: The soldiers, therefore, when they had crucified Him, took His garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also His coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said then one to another: Let us not cut it; but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be.¹² As this garment, then, must have been drawn off over the head, many authors write, with great probability, that when Jesus was stripped of it, the crown of thorns was taken from his head, and was replaced before he was nailed to the cross.

In the book of Genesis it is written: Cursed is the earth in thy work; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.¹³ This curse was inflicted by God upon Adam and upon all his posterity; and by the earth here spoken of we must understand, not only the material earth, but the flesh of man, which, being infected by the sin of Adam, brings forth only the thorns of sin. In order to remedy this infection, says Tertullian, it was necessary that Jesus Christ should offer to God in sacrifice this great torment of the crowning with thorns.¹⁴

This torture also, besides being in itself most acute, was accompanied by blows and spitting, and by the mockings of the soldiers, as St. Matthew and St. John relate: And plaiting a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand. And bowing the knee before Him, they mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And spitting upon Him, they took the reed, and struck His head.¹⁵ And the soldiers plaiting a crown of thorns, put it upon His head; and they put on Him a purple garment. And they came to Him and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they gave Him blows.¹⁶

O my Jesus! what thorns have I added to this crown with my sinful thoughts to which I have consented! I would I could die with grief! Pardon me, through the merit of this grief, which Thou didst then accept in order to pardon me. O my Lord, thus bruised and thus despised! Thou hast laden Thyself with all these pains and mockeries in order to move me to have compassion upon Thee, that, at least through compassion, I may love Thee, and no more displease Thee. It is enough, O my Jesus; cease to suffer more: I am convinced of the love that Thou bearest to me, and I love Thee with all my heart. But now I see that it is not enough for Thee; Thou art not satisfied with thorns, until Thou findest Thyself dead with anguish upon the cross. O goodness! O infinite love! Miserable is the heart that loves Thee not.

III.

Jesus Carries His Cross.

The cross began to torture Jesus Christ before he was nailed upon it; for after he was condemned by Pilate, the cross on which he was to die was given to him to carry to Calvary, and, without refusing, he took it upon his shoulders.¹⁷ Speaking of this, St. Augustine writes: “If we regard the wickedness of his tormentors, the insult was great; if we regard the love of Jesus, the mystery is great;¹⁸ for in carrying the cross, our Captain then lifted up the standard under which his followers upon this earth must be enrolled and must fight, in order to be made his companions in the kingdom of heaven.”

St. Basil, speaking of the passage in Isaias, A child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder,¹⁹ says “that earthly tyrants load their subjects with unjust burdens, in order to increase their own power; but Jesus Christ chose to take upon himself the burden of the cross, and to carry it, in order to leave life to us therein, that he might obtain salvation for us.” He further remarks that the kings of the earth found their sovereignties in the force of arms and in the heaping-up of riches; but Jesus Christ founded his sovereignty in the insults of the cross,—that is, in humbling himself and in suffering,—and on this account he willingly accepted it, and carried it on that painful journey, in order, by his example, to give us courage to embrace with resignation every cross, and thus to follow him. Wherefore, also, he said to his disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.²⁰

It is useful here to note the beautiful expressions applied to the cross by St. John Chrysostom:

He calls it the hope of the despairing;²¹ for what hope of salvation would sinners have were it not for the cross on which Jesus Christ died to save them?

The guide of the voyager;²² for the humiliation of the cross (that is, of tribulation) is the cause which, in this life that is like a sea of dangers, gives us grace to keep the divine law, and to amend ourselves after our trangressions; as the prophet says, It is good for me that Thou host humbled me, that I might learn Thy justifications.²³

The counsellor of the just;²⁴ because in adversities the just learn wisdom, and gain motives for uniting themselves more closely to God.

The rest of the troubled;²⁵ for where can the troubled find relief but in beholding that cross on which their Redeemer and God died of pain for love of them?

The glorying of the martyrs;²⁶ because in this consists the glory of the holy martyrs, that they were able to unite their deaths to the pains and death which Jesus Christ suffered on the cross; as St. Paul says, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.²⁷

The physician of the sick.²⁸ and great indeed is the remedy of the cross to those who are sick in spirit; tribulations make them repent, and detach them from the world.

The fount for the thirsty;²⁹ the cross, that is, suffering for Jesus Christ, being the desire of the saints, as St. Teresa was wont to say, “Oh that I might suffer! oh that I might die!” and as St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi said, “May I suffer, and not die;” meaning that she would refuse to die and to go to rejoice in heaven, in order that she might continue to suffer upon this earth.

Finally, to speak of all alike, both the just and sinners, every one has his own cross. The just, though they enjoy peace of conscience, yet all have their vicissitudes; at one time they are comforted by visits of divine mercy, at another they are afflicted by bodily vexations and infirmities, and especially by desolation of spirit, by darkness and weariness, by scruples and temptations, and by fears for their own salvation. Much heavier are the crosses of sinners, through remorse of conscience, through the terrors of eternal punishment, which from time to time affright them, and through the pains they suffer when things go wrong with them. The saints, when adversities befall them, unite themselves with the divine will, and suffer them with patience; but how can the sinner calm himself by recollecting the divine will, when he is living at enmity with God? The pains of the enemies of God are unmixed pains, pains without relief. Wherefore St. Teresa was wont to say “that he who loves God embraces the cross, and thus does not feel it; while he who does not love him drags the cross along by force and thus cannot but feel it.”

IV.

The Crucifixion.

It was revealed to St. Bridget that when the Saviour saw himself laid upon the cross, he stretched out his right hand to the place where it was to be nailed.³⁰ They then immediately nailed the other hand, and then his sacred feet; and Jesus Christ was left to die upon this bed of anguish. St. Augustine says that the punishment of the cross was a most bitter torment, because, upon the cross, death itself was prolonged, lest the pain should be speedily ended.³¹

O God! what horror must then have smitten heaven, at the sight of the Son of the Eternal Father crucified between two thieves! Such, in truth, was the prophecy of Isaias: He was reputed with the wicked.³² Therefore St. John Chrysostom, contemplating Jesus upon the cross, cried out, full of amazement and love, “I see him in the midst, in the holy Trinity; I see him in the midst, between Moses and Elias; I see him in the midst, between two thieves.”³³ As though he had said, “I see my Saviour first in heaven between the Father and the Holy Ghost; I see him upon the Mount Tabor, between two saints, Moses and Elias; how, then, can I see him crucified upon Calvary between two thieves?” How could this come to pass, but through the divine decree, that thus he must die, to satisfy by his death for the sins of men, and to save from death, as Isaias had foretold: He was reputed with the wicked, and He hath borne the sins of many.³⁴

The same prophet also asks, Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Basra; this beautiful one in His robe, walking in the greatness of His strength?³⁵ (Edom signifying a red color, though somewhat dark, as is explained in Gen. xxv. 30); and he gives the answer, I that speak justice, and am a defender to save.³⁶ The person who thus replies is, according to the interpreters, Jesus Christ, who says, I am the promised Messiah, who am come to save men, by triumphing over their enemies. Then, further, he is again asked, Why is Thy apparel red, and Thy garments like theirs that that tread in the wine-press?³⁷ And he answers, I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with Me.³⁸ Tertullian, St. Cyprian, and St. Augustine explain the wine-press to mean the Passion of Jesus Christ, in which his garments—that is, his most holy flesh—was covered with blood and wounds, according to what St. John wrote: He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called the Word of God.³⁹ St. Gregory, explaining the expression I have trodden the wine-press alone, says, “He trod the wine-press, and was himself trodden.”⁴⁰ He trod it, because Jesus Christ, by his Passion, overcame the devil; he was trodden, because, in his Passion, his body was bruised and broken, as the grapes are broken in the wine-press, and, as Isaias expresses it in another text, The Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity.⁴¹

And now behold this Lord, who was fairest among men,⁴² appears on Calvary with his form so disfigured by torments, that it struck horror into all who saw it. Yet this deformity makes him seem more beautiful in the eyes of souls that love him, because these wounds, these marks of the scourging, this lacerated flesh, are all tokens and proofs of the love he bears them; upon which the poet Petrucci beautifully sings, “O Lord, if Thou sufferest scourgings for us, to the souls that are bound to Thee, the more deformed Thou art, the more fair dost Thou appear.”

St. Augustine adds, “He hung in deformity upon the cross, but his deformity is our beauty.”⁴³ And truly so, because this deformity of Jesus crucified was the cause of the beauty of our souls, which, when they were deformed, were washed with his divine blood, and became fair and lovely, according to what St. John wrote, Who are these that are clothed in white garments? These are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their garments, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.⁴⁴ All the saints, as being children of Adam (with the exception of the Blessed Virgin), were at one time covered with a foul garment, and soiled with Adam’s sin and with their own; but being washed with the blood of the Lamb, they became white and agreeable in the sight of God.

Well, then, didst Thou say, O my Jesus, that, when Thou shouldst be lifted up upon the cross, Thou wouldst draw everything unto Thee;⁴⁵ “and this he said, signifying by what death he should die.” Truly Thou hast left undone nothing to draw all hearts unto Thee. Many are the happy souls who, in seeing Thee crucified and dying for love of them, have abandoned everything—possessions, dignities, country, and kindred, even to the embracing of torments and death—in order to give themselves wholly to Thee. Unhappy they who resist Thy graces, which Thou hast gained for them with Thy great labors and sorrows. O my God, this will be their great torment in hell, to think that they have lost a God who, to draw them to love him, gave his life upon a cross, that of their own choice they have perished, and that there will be no remedy for their ruin through all eternity. O my Redeemer, I have already deserved to fall into this ruin, through the sins I have committed against Thee. Alas, how often have I resisted Thy grace, which sought to draw me unto Thee, and, in order to cleave to my own inclinations, have despised Thy love, and turned my back upon Thee! Oh that I had died before I had offended Thee! Oh that I had ever loved Thee! I thank Thee, O my love, that Thou hast borne with me with so much patience, and that, instead of abandoning me, as I deserved, Thou hast repeated Thy calls, and increased Thy lights and Thy loving impulses upon me. I will sing the mercies of God forever.⁴⁶ Oh, cease not, my Saviour and my hope, to continue to draw me, and to multiply Thy graces upon me, that I may love Thee in heaven with more fervor, remembering the many mercies that Thou hast shown me, after all the offences that I have committed against Thee. I hope for all, through that precious blood which Thou hast shed for me, and that bitter death which Thou hast endured for me.

O holy Virgin Mary, protect me; pray to Jesus for me.

V.

Jesus upon the Cross.

Jesus upon the cross was a spectacle which filled heaven and earth with amazement, at the sight of an Almighty God, the Lord of all, dying upon an infamous gibbet, condemned as a malefactor between two other malefactors. It was a spectacle of justice, in displaying the Eternal Father, in order that his justice might be satisfied; punishing the sins of men in the person of his only-begotten Son, loved by him as himself. It was a spectacle of mercy, displaying his innocent Son dying a death so shameful and so bitter, in order to save his creatures from the punishment that was due to them. Especially was it a sight of love, in displaying a God who offered and gave his life to redeem from death his slaves and enemies.

It is this spectacle which ever was and ever will be the dearest object of the contemplations of the saints, through which they have counted it little to strip themselves of all earthly pleasures and goods, and to embrace with desire and joy both pain and death, in order to make some return of gratitude to a God who died for love of them.

Comforted by the sight of Jesus derided upon the cross, the saints have loved contempt more than worldly people have loved all the honors of the world. At the sight of Jesus naked and dying upon the cross, they have sought to abandon all the good things of this earth. At the sight of him all wounded upon the cross, while the blood flowed forth from all his limbs, they have learnt to abhor sensual pleasures, and have sought to afflict their flesh as much as they could, in order to accompany with their own sufferings the sufferings of the Crucified. At the sight of the obedience and conformity of will retained by Jesus Christ to the will of his Father, they have labored to conquer all those appetites which were not conformed to the divine pleasure; while many, though occupied in works of piety, yet, knowing that to be deprived of their own will was the sacrifice the most welcome to the heart of God which they could offer, have entered into some religious Order, to lead a life of obedience, and subject their own will to that of others. At the sight of the patience of Jesus Christ, in being willing to suffer so many pains and insults for the love of us, they have received with satisfaction and joy injuries, infirmities, persecutions, and the torments of tyrants. At the sight of the love which Jesus Christ has shown to us in sacrificing to God his life upon the cross for us, they have sacrificed to Jesus Christ all they possessed,—their property, their pleasures, their honors, and their life.

How is it, then, that so many Christians, although they know by faith that Jesus Christ died for love of them, instead of devoting themselves wholly to love and serve him, devote themselves to offend and despise him for the sake of brief and miserable pleasures? Whence comes this ingratitude? It comes from their forgetfulness of the Passion and death of Jesus Christ. And, O my God, what will be their remorse and shame at the day of judgment, when the Lord shall reproach them with all that he has done and suffered for them?

Let us not, then, cease, O devout souls, ever to keep before our eyes Jesus crucified, and dying in the midst of torments and insults through love of us. From the Passion of Jesus Christ all the saints have drawn those flames of love which made them forget all the good things of this world, and even their own selves, to give themselves up wholly to love and please this divine Saviour, who has so loved men that it seems as if he could not have done more in order to be loved by them. In a word, the cross, that is, the Passion of Jesus Christ, is that which will gain for us the victory over all our passions and all the temptations that hell will hold out to us, in order to separate us from God. The cross is the road and ladder by which we mount to heaven. Happy he who embraces it during his life, and does not put it off till the hour of death. He that dies embracing the cross has a sure pledge of eternal life, which is promised to all those who follow Jesus Christ with their cross.

O my crucified Jesus! to make Thyself loved by men Thou has spared nothing; Thou hast even given Thy life with a most painful death; how, then, can men who love their kindred, their friends, and even animals from whom they receive any token of affection, be so ungrateful to Thee as to despise Thy grace and Thy love, for the sake of miserable and vain delights! Oh, miserable that I am, I am one of those ungrateful beings who, for things of no worth, have renounced Thy friendship, and have turned my back upon Thee. I have deserved that Thou shouldst drive me from Thy face, as I have often banished Thee from my heart. But I know that Thou dost not cease to ask my heart of me: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.⁴⁷ Yea, O my Jesus, as Thou desirest that I should love Thee and offerest me pardon, I renounce all creatures, and henceforth I desire to love Thee alone, my Creator and my Redeemer. Thou dost deserve to be the only object of my soul’s love.

O Mary, Mother of God, and refuge of sinners, pray for me; obtain for me the grace of loving God, and I ask for nothing more.

1“Semetipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens.” – Phil. ii. 7.

2“Non solum formam servi accepit, ut subesset, sed etiam servi, ut vapularet.” – S. de Pass. D.

3“Hic est enim sanguis meus novi testamenti, qui pro multis effundetur.” – Matt. xxvi. 28.

4“Tradetur enim Gentibus, et illudetur, et flagellabitur.” – Luke, xviii. 32.

5“Jubente lictore, seipsum vestibus exult, columnam sponte amplectens ligatur, et flagellis, non evellendo, sed sulcando, totum corpus laceratur.” – Rev. 1. 4, c. 70.

6“Ita ut costa viderentur.” – Ibid. l. 1, c. 10.

7“Sacratissimum corpus Dei flagella secuerunt.” – In Matt. xxvii.

8“Usque ad defatigationem.”

9“Attritus est propter scelera nostra.” – Isa. liii. 5.

10“Quæ (corona) tam vehementer caput Filii mei pupugit. in ex sanguine affluente replerentnr oculi ejus. – Ad medium frontis descendebat, plurimis rivis sanguinis decurrentibus per faciem ejus, ut quasi nihil nisi sanguis totum videretur.” – Rev. l. 1, c. 10; l. 4, c. 70.

11“Corona spinea, semel imposita, et nunquam detracta.” – In Matt. tr. 35.

12“Milites ergo, cum crucifixissent eum. acceperunt vestimenta ejus (et fecerunt quatuor panes, unicuique militi partem), et tunicam; erat autem tunica inconsutilis, desuper contexta per totum; dixerunt ergo ad invicem: Non scindamus eam, sed sortiarnur de ilia cujus sit.” – John, xix. 23, 24.

13“Maledieta terra in opere tuo . . .; spinas et tribulos germinabit tibi.” – Gen. iii. 17.

14“Hunc (Christum) alias oportebat pro omnibus gentibus fieri sacrificium.” – Adv. Judæos.

15“Et exeuntes eum, chlamydem coccineam circumdederunt ei; et piectentes coronam de spinis, posuerunt super caput ejus, et arundinem in dextera ejus; et genu flexo ante eum, illudebant ei, dicentes: Ave, Rex Judæorum. Et expuentes in eum, acceperunt arundinem, et percutiebant caput ejus.” – Matt. xxvii. 28-30.

16“Et dabant ei alapas.” – John, xix. 3.

17“Et bajulans sibi crucem, exivit in eum, qui dicitur Calvariæ, locum” – John, xix. 17.

18“Si spectet impietas, grande ludibrium; si pietas, grande mysterium.” – In Jo. tr. 117.

19“Factus est principatus super humerum ejus.” – Isa. ix. 6.

20“Si quis vult post me venire, abneget semetipsum, et tollat crucem suam, et sequatur me.” – Matt. xvi. 24.

21“Spes Christianorum, desperatorum Via.”

22“Navigantium Gubernator.”

23“Bonum mihi quia humiliasti me, ut discam justificationes tuas.” – Ps. cxviii. 71.

24“Justorum Consiliarius.”

25“Tribulatoram Requies.”

26“Martyrum Gloriatio.”

27“Mihi absit gloriari, nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi.” – Gal. vi. 14.

28“Ægrotandum Medicus.”

29“Sitientium Fons.”

30“Voluntarie extendit brachium, et, aperta sua dextera manu, posuit eam in cruce; quam tortores crucifixerunt.” – Rev. l. 7, c. 15.

31“Mors ipsa protendebatur, ne dolor citius finiretur.” – In Jo. tr. 36.

32“Et cum sceleratis reputatus est.” – Isa. liii. 12.

33“Medium in Sancta Triade, medium inter Moysen et Eliam, medium inter Latrones!”

34“Et cum sceleratis reputatus est, et ipse peccata multorum tulit” – Isa. liii. 12.

35“Quis est iste qui venit de Edom, tinctis vestibus de Bosra? iste formosus in stola sua, gradiens in multitudine fortitudinis suæ.” – Isa. lxiii. 1.

36“Ego, qui loquor justitiam, et propugnator sum ad salvandum.” – Isa. lxiii. 1.

37“Quare ergo rubrum est vestimentum tuum, et vestimenta tua sicut calcantium in torculari?” – Ibid. 2.

38“Torcular calcavi solus, et de gentibus non est vir mecum.” – Ibid. 3.

39“Et vestitus erat veste aspersa sanguine, et vocatur nomen ejus Verbum Dei.” – Apoc. xix. 13.

40“Torcular in quo calcatus calcavit.” – In Es. hom. 13.

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

42“Speciosus forma præ filiis hominum.” – Ps. xliv. 3.

43“Pendebat in cruce deformis, sed deformitas illius pulchritudo nostra erat.” – Serm. 27, E. B.

44“Hi qui amicti sunt stolis albis, qui sunt? . . . Hi sunt qui venerunt de tribulatione marina, et laverunt stolas suas et dealbaverunt eas in sanguine Agni.” – Apoc. vii. 13.

45“Et ego, si exaltatus fuero a terra, omnia traham ad meipsum.” – John, xii.

46“Misericordias Domini in æternum cantabo.” – Ps. lxxxviii. 2.

47“Diliges Dominum Deum tuum.” – Deut. vi. 5.

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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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