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Meditation 25. The External Sufferings of Christ
Preparatory Prayer as on page x
Composition of Place — Imagine, my soul, that you see Jesus after being nailed to the Cross and shortly before He died, that you hear Him say, "O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to My Sorrow. . ." (Lam. 1:12).
Prayer of Petition — O my Jesus, grant that I may ever meditate on Thy Sorrows, keeping them ever in mind.
First Point
During this life in these bodies of ours we will never suffer as much as Jesus Christ did in His. In order to conceive an idea of the cruelty of the pain Christ suffered in His Passion, consider with attention, my soul, the following circumstances:
First Circumstance — Christ's pains were all-extensive, so that no part of His Body was exempt. Direct your gaze to Christ, my soul, and observe His Members one by one and tell me if you can find even one that is exempt from great pain.
See His Cheeks, swollen and blue from beating. His Mouth is tormented with thirst and soured with gall. His Hair and Beard have been cruelly yanked from the roots. His Eyes are covered with blood. His Head is pierced with rough thorns. His Flesh, Nerves, Back, Chest, Abdomen, Sides, right and left, are pitilessly mangled. His Skin has been ripped and torn; His Veins cut, and they discharge blood; the arteries are wounded; muscle fibers are exposed; and His Body is so cut up that one sees even bones. His feet and hands have been pierced through with rough nails, and His whole Sacred Body has become one wound.
Isaias, who saw Him long before, described Him as follows: "There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness . . . a Man of Sorrows . . . Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted." (Is. 53:2-4).
Second Circumstance — Jesus' pains were supremely cruel, and incomparably greater than all any man could ever endure. This was due, first, to the tenderness and delicacy of His Most Holy Body; for, as Saint Bonaventure teaches, He had a Body so tender and delicate, so fine and sensitive — which was a work of the Holy Spirit — that a pain in the sole of His Divine feet became more perceptible to Him than an injury to the pupils of the eyes would be for other men.
It was due, secondly, to His being tormented in His most sensitive parts. What torture did He not feel as men pressed on His Head a crown of rough, sharp thorns which went through not just the skin, but the skull-bone and temples as well, and drew blood that streamed down His cheeks and eyes! . . . What pain He surely suffered when, swinging their hammers, men drove rough nails into His feet and hands, tearing flesh, bursting veins, passing through nerves . . . What a martyrdom did He not surely suffer, with His Body suspended between Heaven and earth, when He hung by the nails driven into a wretched cross, and found no relief in any position to which He might turn Himself.
Third Circumstance — Jesus' pains were without relief. He had been hanging on the Cross several hours, He had shed His Blood, and none of it remained but a few drops in His Veins, when, tormented by an unbearable thirst, He asked for a drink. Might not one give a God-Man the bit of relief of a cup of water when His Strength is wasting away and He is dying in a sea of affliction?
However, not even that was granted Him. Instead, they gave Him vinegar mingled with gall to torment Him more, and so that His final pains might be without relief, as were all the other pains which He suffered.
Affective Acts
(1) Thanksgiving — I know not what to say nor what to think at the sight of such a tragedy, O my Jesus. If You had committed as many sins as I have, and if Thy Heavenly Father had been as offended as He has been by me, or Thou had deserved hell as I have, could Thou have suffered more or done a penance more rigorous than the one Thou did? Ah! Thou submitted to such terrible pains not because of any sins Thou had committed (for being Holiness by nature, Thou could not sin), but it was because of my sins.
Yes, faith tells me that His whole Body was cut up with lashes; for my sins He was mocked as a fool; for my sins He was to die, and die as a criminal on a cross. O Jesus! O most lovable Jesus! What kindness, what mercy Thou dost show!
Would that I had a thousand tongues so that I could praise and bless Thee as I would like! My boundless thanks be to Thee for all the drops of Blood Thou shed for love of me, for all the blows and lashes Thou suffered for me, for all the insults, mockeries and abuses Thou endured for love of me, for all the aches and pains Thou bore on the Cross for my sake. . .
(2) Resolution — But this is not enough. Jesus was not satisfied to just appeal on my behalf. He also wanted to suffer for me. From this I should detect the need to suffer. In this way I want to respond to Jesus' love for me . . . I know how right it is in absolute justice, and I want to carry it out. And so I offer myself, from this time on, in a sacrifice from which I desire never to withdraw myself. . .
First, Thou knowest all the pains, ailments, and other misfortunes which Thy Eternal Father has determined to send me. From this moment on, I adore and humbly accept all these decisions and I desire that they be perfectly fulfilled in me. Second, Thou likewise knowest, my Jesus, the manner and the time that the Eternal Father has determined to call me to Himself out of this world by means of death. I also profoundly adore this decree, and agree to it with all my soul. I wish to suffer and die, and to suffer and die for the sake of pure love, just as Thou didst suffer and die for me . . .
Second Point
Just as Jesus Christ's pains were extreme and cruel, all the more so was His patience very marvellous and astonishing. These are the circumstances whereby you can conceive some idea of this, my soul:
First Circumstance — Jesus endured His sufferings in silence and without complaining. The Holy Spirit, speaking of Jesus Christ, compares Him to a lamb. This is because, being a guileless, harmless animal, it allows itself to be shorn and led away to the slaughterhouse without bleating nor offering the least resistance. Likewise Jesus allowed Himself to be extremely mistreated without resisting or even uttering a complaint.
Yes, He was whipped and His whole body torn, and He held His peace. He was crowned with rough, sharp thorns, and kept silent. He went through the greatest agony and, though He was extremely weakened, men burdened His shoulders with a heavy cross, and He kept quiet. . . They pierced His Hands and Feet with nails and crucified Him on a cross with unheard of cruelty, and He remained silent. "I . . . (was) as a dumb man not opening his mouth." (Ps. 37:14). He Himself says by the Royal Prophet. Thus did Jesus conduct Himself during His extreme sufferings. . . How do I conduct myself?
Second Circumstance — Jesus bore His Sufferings with unswerving meekness. There has not been a man in the world who has had such good grounds for being angry as Jesus had on the cross. The grounds were:
(1) The hatred that was all around Him. Before His eyes there was a countless multitude of people of all classes, and He saw into the depths of their hearts. Now what did He discover therein? Nothing but hate, ill-will, animosity, with satisfaction and glee at His sufferings and death, and a wish and hope that His Name disappear from the world and be wiped from everyone's memory.
(2) The mockery, the blasphemy, the insults with which the scribes and Pharisees abused Him, wagging their heads in harsh sarcasm, saying, "Bah, Thou that destroyest the temple . . . and in three days dost rebuild it: . . . He saved others: Himself He cannot save." (Mt. 27:40, 42). "If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross." (Mt. 27:40).
In the face of these cutting taunts that men made at the height of His suffering, did Jesus Christ not have good grounds for showing anger? Yet He shows none, but suffers everything with complete resignation, with a marvellous love that forgets the wrongs and the pains, and only shows a care for the salvation of His enemies. That is why, instead, He had spoken to the women these words that showed His compassion: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over Me; but weep for yourselves and for your children." (Lk. 23:28)
Third Circumstance — Jesus endured His pains with fortitude and a desire to suffer more. Jesus is hanging on the Cross. His strength is now exhausted. His pain has reached its height. His Body, drained of its Blood, can no longer resist the power of death. . . What, then, does He do? O my soul, take an inward gaze, and marvel at His astonishing fortitude! Two loves with which He burned, ignited in Him two desires . . . He loves His Heavenly Father, and out of this arises the desire to live longer so as to be able to suffer more for the sake of love . . . He also loves us men, and from this there springs the desire to live longer so that He can, out of His love, suffer yet a longer time. . . This is just what He meant when He showed His thirst, and when addressing His Father, He said, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" As though He would say, "O Father, why dost Thou not give Me strength to live longer and to suffer more for love of Thee and for love of men?"
Affective Acts
(1) Shame — Oh, the fear, the shame I should feel, O my Jesus, at the sight of Thy body hanging on the cross! Ah! how hast Thou sinned, venerable head of my Redeemer, that Thou should be wounded with such rough thorns? What hast Thou done wrong, O beautiful eyes, to be so sunken, so clotted with blood? O all-powerful hands and feet, how hast Thou offended, that Thou shouldst be bored through with rough nails? What hast Thou done, O most loving Heart, that Thou should be pierced with an unmerciful lance? But indeed Jesus is innocent! How the flower of innocence fully shines out in Him! . . . And why, then, do so many and such cruel torments afflict this Innocent One? Alas for me! Jesus suffers not for His sins, but for mine. My sins brought Him to this unhappy plight. My sins nailed Him to the Cross. My sins brought on His death.
(2) Confession and Resolution — And I, guilty of much sin, feel unwilling to suffer. And — all the worse for me! — I do not want to believe that many times I have deserved to suffer. But eternal praise to Thee, O my Jesus! For at present I am convinced of this: That there is no pain nor torment in hell that I have not deserved by my sins. No matter how much I have suffered up to now or will suffer in the future, it is not enough to wipe away even one of my many sins nor make up to Thee in the least for them. Oh, how unjust it is for me to complain in my troubles! No matter how much I suffer, I will always suffer less than I deserve. Is it not quite right, then, that I surrender to Thy Most Holy Will in everything, and that in the midst of my troubles I praise and bless Thee for all Thy loving designs concerning me? Yes, it is quite right; and I resolve to do so in the future.
Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers as on page xi.
Preparatory Prayer as on page x
Composition of Place — Imagine, my soul, that you see Jesus after being nailed to the Cross and shortly before He died, that you hear Him say, "O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to My Sorrow. . ." (Lam. 1:12).
Prayer of Petition — O my Jesus, grant that I may ever meditate on Thy Sorrows, keeping them ever in mind.
First Point
During this life in these bodies of ours we will never suffer as much as Jesus Christ did in His. In order to conceive an idea of the cruelty of the pain Christ suffered in His Passion, consider with attention, my soul, the following circumstances:
First Circumstance — Christ's pains were all-extensive, so that no part of His Body was exempt. Direct your gaze to Christ, my soul, and observe His Members one by one and tell me if you can find even one that is exempt from great pain.
See His Cheeks, swollen and blue from beating. His Mouth is tormented with thirst and soured with gall. His Hair and Beard have been cruelly yanked from the roots. His Eyes are covered with blood. His Head is pierced with rough thorns. His Flesh, Nerves, Back, Chest, Abdomen, Sides, right and left, are pitilessly mangled. His Skin has been ripped and torn; His Veins cut, and they discharge blood; the arteries are wounded; muscle fibers are exposed; and His Body is so cut up that one sees even bones. His feet and hands have been pierced through with rough nails, and His whole Sacred Body has become one wound.
Isaias, who saw Him long before, described Him as follows: "There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness . . . a Man of Sorrows . . . Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted." (Is. 53:2-4).
Second Circumstance — Jesus' pains were supremely cruel, and incomparably greater than all any man could ever endure. This was due, first, to the tenderness and delicacy of His Most Holy Body; for, as Saint Bonaventure teaches, He had a Body so tender and delicate, so fine and sensitive — which was a work of the Holy Spirit — that a pain in the sole of His Divine feet became more perceptible to Him than an injury to the pupils of the eyes would be for other men.
It was due, secondly, to His being tormented in His most sensitive parts. What torture did He not feel as men pressed on His Head a crown of rough, sharp thorns which went through not just the skin, but the skull-bone and temples as well, and drew blood that streamed down His cheeks and eyes! . . . What pain He surely suffered when, swinging their hammers, men drove rough nails into His feet and hands, tearing flesh, bursting veins, passing through nerves . . . What a martyrdom did He not surely suffer, with His Body suspended between Heaven and earth, when He hung by the nails driven into a wretched cross, and found no relief in any position to which He might turn Himself.
Third Circumstance — Jesus' pains were without relief. He had been hanging on the Cross several hours, He had shed His Blood, and none of it remained but a few drops in His Veins, when, tormented by an unbearable thirst, He asked for a drink. Might not one give a God-Man the bit of relief of a cup of water when His Strength is wasting away and He is dying in a sea of affliction?
However, not even that was granted Him. Instead, they gave Him vinegar mingled with gall to torment Him more, and so that His final pains might be without relief, as were all the other pains which He suffered.
Affective Acts
(1) Thanksgiving — I know not what to say nor what to think at the sight of such a tragedy, O my Jesus. If You had committed as many sins as I have, and if Thy Heavenly Father had been as offended as He has been by me, or Thou had deserved hell as I have, could Thou have suffered more or done a penance more rigorous than the one Thou did? Ah! Thou submitted to such terrible pains not because of any sins Thou had committed (for being Holiness by nature, Thou could not sin), but it was because of my sins.
Yes, faith tells me that His whole Body was cut up with lashes; for my sins He was mocked as a fool; for my sins He was to die, and die as a criminal on a cross. O Jesus! O most lovable Jesus! What kindness, what mercy Thou dost show!
Would that I had a thousand tongues so that I could praise and bless Thee as I would like! My boundless thanks be to Thee for all the drops of Blood Thou shed for love of me, for all the blows and lashes Thou suffered for me, for all the insults, mockeries and abuses Thou endured for love of me, for all the aches and pains Thou bore on the Cross for my sake. . .
(2) Resolution — But this is not enough. Jesus was not satisfied to just appeal on my behalf. He also wanted to suffer for me. From this I should detect the need to suffer. In this way I want to respond to Jesus' love for me . . . I know how right it is in absolute justice, and I want to carry it out. And so I offer myself, from this time on, in a sacrifice from which I desire never to withdraw myself. . .
First, Thou knowest all the pains, ailments, and other misfortunes which Thy Eternal Father has determined to send me. From this moment on, I adore and humbly accept all these decisions and I desire that they be perfectly fulfilled in me. Second, Thou likewise knowest, my Jesus, the manner and the time that the Eternal Father has determined to call me to Himself out of this world by means of death. I also profoundly adore this decree, and agree to it with all my soul. I wish to suffer and die, and to suffer and die for the sake of pure love, just as Thou didst suffer and die for me . . .
Second Point
Just as Jesus Christ's pains were extreme and cruel, all the more so was His patience very marvellous and astonishing. These are the circumstances whereby you can conceive some idea of this, my soul:
First Circumstance — Jesus endured His sufferings in silence and without complaining. The Holy Spirit, speaking of Jesus Christ, compares Him to a lamb. This is because, being a guileless, harmless animal, it allows itself to be shorn and led away to the slaughterhouse without bleating nor offering the least resistance. Likewise Jesus allowed Himself to be extremely mistreated without resisting or even uttering a complaint.
Yes, He was whipped and His whole body torn, and He held His peace. He was crowned with rough, sharp thorns, and kept silent. He went through the greatest agony and, though He was extremely weakened, men burdened His shoulders with a heavy cross, and He kept quiet. . . They pierced His Hands and Feet with nails and crucified Him on a cross with unheard of cruelty, and He remained silent. "I . . . (was) as a dumb man not opening his mouth." (Ps. 37:14). He Himself says by the Royal Prophet. Thus did Jesus conduct Himself during His extreme sufferings. . . How do I conduct myself?
Second Circumstance — Jesus bore His Sufferings with unswerving meekness. There has not been a man in the world who has had such good grounds for being angry as Jesus had on the cross. The grounds were:
(1) The hatred that was all around Him. Before His eyes there was a countless multitude of people of all classes, and He saw into the depths of their hearts. Now what did He discover therein? Nothing but hate, ill-will, animosity, with satisfaction and glee at His sufferings and death, and a wish and hope that His Name disappear from the world and be wiped from everyone's memory.
(2) The mockery, the blasphemy, the insults with which the scribes and Pharisees abused Him, wagging their heads in harsh sarcasm, saying, "Bah, Thou that destroyest the temple . . . and in three days dost rebuild it: . . . He saved others: Himself He cannot save." (Mt. 27:40, 42). "If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross." (Mt. 27:40).
In the face of these cutting taunts that men made at the height of His suffering, did Jesus Christ not have good grounds for showing anger? Yet He shows none, but suffers everything with complete resignation, with a marvellous love that forgets the wrongs and the pains, and only shows a care for the salvation of His enemies. That is why, instead, He had spoken to the women these words that showed His compassion: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over Me; but weep for yourselves and for your children." (Lk. 23:28)
Third Circumstance — Jesus endured His pains with fortitude and a desire to suffer more. Jesus is hanging on the Cross. His strength is now exhausted. His pain has reached its height. His Body, drained of its Blood, can no longer resist the power of death. . . What, then, does He do? O my soul, take an inward gaze, and marvel at His astonishing fortitude! Two loves with which He burned, ignited in Him two desires . . . He loves His Heavenly Father, and out of this arises the desire to live longer so as to be able to suffer more for the sake of love . . . He also loves us men, and from this there springs the desire to live longer so that He can, out of His love, suffer yet a longer time. . . This is just what He meant when He showed His thirst, and when addressing His Father, He said, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" As though He would say, "O Father, why dost Thou not give Me strength to live longer and to suffer more for love of Thee and for love of men?"
Affective Acts
(1) Shame — Oh, the fear, the shame I should feel, O my Jesus, at the sight of Thy body hanging on the cross! Ah! how hast Thou sinned, venerable head of my Redeemer, that Thou should be wounded with such rough thorns? What hast Thou done wrong, O beautiful eyes, to be so sunken, so clotted with blood? O all-powerful hands and feet, how hast Thou offended, that Thou shouldst be bored through with rough nails? What hast Thou done, O most loving Heart, that Thou should be pierced with an unmerciful lance? But indeed Jesus is innocent! How the flower of innocence fully shines out in Him! . . . And why, then, do so many and such cruel torments afflict this Innocent One? Alas for me! Jesus suffers not for His sins, but for mine. My sins brought Him to this unhappy plight. My sins nailed Him to the Cross. My sins brought on His death.
(2) Confession and Resolution — And I, guilty of much sin, feel unwilling to suffer. And — all the worse for me! — I do not want to believe that many times I have deserved to suffer. But eternal praise to Thee, O my Jesus! For at present I am convinced of this: That there is no pain nor torment in hell that I have not deserved by my sins. No matter how much I have suffered up to now or will suffer in the future, it is not enough to wipe away even one of my many sins nor make up to Thee in the least for them. Oh, how unjust it is for me to complain in my troubles! No matter how much I suffer, I will always suffer less than I deserve. Is it not quite right, then, that I surrender to Thy Most Holy Will in everything, and that in the midst of my troubles I praise and bless Thee for all Thy loving designs concerning me? Yes, it is quite right; and I resolve to do so in the future.
Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers as on page xi.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre