Considerations on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ - 24

I. Amen, I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise!

St. Luke writes that of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus Christ, one continued obstinate, the other was converted; who seeing his miserable companion blaspheming Jesus Christ: If thou art the Christ, save thyself and us, turned and reproved him, saying that they were deservedly punished, but that Jesus was innocent. Then he turned to Jesus Himself and said: Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom; by which words he recognised Jesus Christ as his true Lord and the King of Heaven. Jesus then promised him Paradise on that very day: Amen, I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise (Luke xxiii. 39-43). A learned author writes that, in conformity with this promise, the Lord, on that very day, immediately after His death, showed Himself openly, and rendered the repentant thief blessed, though He did not confer on him all the delight of Heaven before he entered there.

Arnold of Chartres, in his treatise on the Seven Words, remarks upon all the virtues which the good thief exercised at the time of his death: "He believed, he repented, he confessed, he preached, he loved, he trusted, he prayed."

He exercised Faith when he said, When thou comest into thy kingdom; believing that Jesus Christ, after His death, would enter into His glorious kingdom. He believed, says St. Gregory, that He Whom he saw dying was about to reign.

He exercised penitence together with the confession of his sins, saying: We indeed justly; for we received the due reward of our deeds. St. Augustine observes that before his confession he had not boldness to hope for pardon; he did not dare to say Remember me, until, by the confession of his guilt, he had thrown off the burden of his sins. On this St. Athanasius exclaims: O blessed thief, thou hast stolen a kingdom by that confession!

II. This holy penitent also exercised other noble virtues; he preached, declaring the innocence of Jesus Christ, This man hath done no evil. He exercised love of God, receiving death with resignation, as the punishment due to his sins, saying: We receive the due reward of our deeds. Hence St. Cyprian, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine do not scruple to call him a Martyr; and Silveira says that this happy thief was a true Martyr, as the executioners broke his legs with increased fury, because he had declared the innocence of Jesus; and that the Saint willingly accepted this torment for the love of his Lord.

Let us also in this circumstance remark the goodness of God, Who always gives us more than we ask for, as St. Ambrose says: "The Lord always grants more than we ask; the thief prayed that Jesus would remember him, and Jesus said: Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise." St. John Chrysostom further remarks that no one merited the possession of Paradise before this thief. Thus is confirmed what God said by Ezechiel, that, when the sinner heartily repents of his sins, God pardons him in the same way as if he had forgotten all the sins he had committed. And Isaias gives us to understand that God is so urgent for our good, that when we pray He instantly hears us. St. Augustine says that God is ever prepared to embrace penitent sinners.

And thus it was that the cross of the wicked thief, being endured with impatience, became to him a precipice leading to hell; while the cross endured with patience by the good thief became to him a ladder to Paradise. Happy wert thou, O holy thief, who hadst the fortune to unite thy death to the death of thy Saviour.

O my Jesus, henceforth I sacrifice to Thee my life, and I seek for grace to enable me, at the hour of my death, to unite the sacrifice of my life to that which Thou didst offer to God upon the Cross, and through which I hope to die in Thy grace, and, loving Thee with pure love stripped of every earthly affection, to attain to love Thee with all my powers through all eternity.