Considerations on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ - 32

I. Let us pause awhile to contemplate our Redeemer dead upon the Cross. Let us pray to His Divine Father-O Eternal Father, look on the face of thy Christ! (Ps. lxxxiii. 10). Look upon this Thy only-begotten Son, Who, in order to satisfy Thy will that lost man should be saved, came down upon earth, took human nature, and with that flesh took upon Himself all our miseries, save sin. In a word, He made Himself man, and lived all His life among men as the poorest, the most despised, the most suffering of all; in the end He was condemned to death, as Thou seest Him, after these very men had torn His flesh with scourgings, wounded His head with thorns, and pierced His hands and feet with nails upon the Cross. Thus He died on this tree of unmixed anguish, despised as the vilest of men, derided as a false prophet, blasphemed as a sacrilegious impostor for having said that He was Thy Son, and condemned to die as one of the most guilty of malefactors. Thou Thyself didst give Him up to endure this terrible and desolate death, depriving Him of all relief. Tell us, what fault did Thy beloved Son commit that He should deserve so horrible a punishment? Thou knowest His innocence and His sanctity; why hast Thou thus treated Him? O my God, I hear Thee reply: For the wickedness of my people have I struck him (Is. liii. 8). My Son did not deserve, He could not deserve any punishment, being innocence and holiness itself. The punishment was due to you for your sins by which you deserved eternal death; and that I might not see you, the beloved creatures of My hand, lost eternally, to deliver you from so dreadful a destruction, I gave up this My Son to so mournful a life and to so bitter a death. Think, O men, to what an excess I have loved you. God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son (Jo. iii. 16).

II. My soul, turn to Jesus dead upon the Cross. O Jesus, my Redeemer, I behold Thee upon this Cross, pale and desolate; Thou speakest no more, nor breathest, for Thou no longer livest: Thou hast no more Blood, for Thou hast poured forth it all, as Thou didst Thyself foretell: This is my blood of the new testament which shall be shed for many (Mark xiv. 24). Thou hast no longer life, for Thou didst sacrifice it in order to give life to my soul, which was dead through its sins. But why didst Thou give up Thy life and pour forth Thy Blood for us miserable sinners? Behold, St. Paul tells us: He loved us and delivered himself for us (Eph. v. 2).

And there at the foot of the Cross stands Mary the Mother of Jesus, watching her Son! Her Son! But, O God, what a Son! A Son Who was, at one and the same time, her Son and her God! A Son Who had from all eternity chosen her to be His Mother, and had given her a preference in His love before all mankind and all the Angels! A Son so beautiful, so holy, and so lovely; a Son Who had been ever obedient unto her; a Son Who was her one and only Love, and she had to see such a Son die of pain before her very eyes! O Mary, O Mother, most afflicted of all mothers, I compassionate thy heart more especially when thou didst behold thy Jesus surrender Himself to death on the Cross, open His mouth, and expire; and, for love of this thy Son, now dead for my salvation, do thou recommend unto Him my soul. And do Thou, my Jesus, for the sake of the merits of Mary's sorrows, have mercy upon me, and grant me the grace of dying for Thee, as Thou hast died for me: 'May I die, O my Lord,' will I say unto Thee with St. Francis of Assisi, 'for love of the love of Thee, Who has vouchsafed to die for love of the love of me.'