Scourge, Psalms 69:31-34, Isaiah 50:4-9, Matthew 26:14-25, Pope Frances Daily Activity, The Mystical City of God The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God - Book 6:5 JESUS BROUGHT BEFORE ANNAS AND CAIPHAS and Book 6:6 JESUS BROUGHT BEFORE PILATE. THE SCOURGING AND CROWNING WITH THORNS, Catholic Catechism Part Two Section 1:2:4 The Sacraments of Salvation
Good Day Bloggers! Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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Prayers for Today: Wednesday in Lent
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS TO BE PRESIDED BY POPE DURING HOLY WEEK
Vatican City, 25 March 2013 (VIS) – The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has made public the calendar of celebrations that are due to be presided by Pope Francis during Holy Week: (Posted at Rome Time which six hours ahead of USA Central Time). View via Video on Vatican TV Live Stream or Audio Vatican Radio.
28 March, Holy Thursday: 9:30am, Chrism Mass in the Vatican Basilica
5:30pm, Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Casal del Marmo youth detention centre (NO live coverage)
29 March, Good Friday: 5:00pm, Celebration of the Lord's Passion in the Vatican Basilica
9:15pm, Via Crucis at the Colosseum
30 March, Holy Saturday: 8:30, Easter Vigil in the Vatican Basilica
31 March, Easter Sunday: 10:15am, Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square
12:00pm “Urbi et Orbi” Blessing
28 March, Holy Thursday: 9:30am, Chrism Mass in the Vatican Basilica
5:30pm, Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Casal del Marmo youth detention centre (NO live coverage)
29 March, Good Friday: 5:00pm, Celebration of the Lord's Passion in the Vatican Basilica
9:15pm, Via Crucis at the Colosseum
30 March, Holy Saturday: 8:30, Easter Vigil in the Vatican Basilica
31 March, Easter Sunday: 10:15am, Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square
12:00pm “Urbi et Orbi” Blessing
FRANCIS' FIRST GENERAL AUDIENCE:
FOLLOWING JESUS IS LEARNING TO GO OUT OF OURSELVES
Vatican City, 27 March 2013 (VIS) - “I am happy to welcome you to this, my first general audience,” Pope Francis said to the thousands of faithful who filled St. Peter's Square to participate in the Bishop of Rome's first catechesis. “With gratitude and veneration,” he continued, “I take up this 'witness' from the hands of my beloved predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. After Easter we will return to the catechesis of the Year of Faith. Today I want to focus on Holy Week. We began this week—the heart of the entire liturgical year—during which we accompany Jesus in his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, with Palm Sunday.
“But what,” the Pope asked, “does it mean for us to live Holy Week? What does it mean to follow Jesus on his journey to Calvary, toward the Cross and his Resurrection? On his earthly mission, Jesus walked the streets of the Holy Land. He called 12 simple persons to stay with him, sharing his path and continuing his mission … He spoke to everyone, without distinction: to the great and the humble ... the powerful and the weak. He brought God's mercy and forgiveness. He healed, consoled, understood. He gave hope. He brought to all the presence of God who cares for every man and woman as a good father and a good mother cares for each of their children.”
“God,” Francis emphasized, “didn't wait for us to come to him. It was He who came to us. … Jesus lived the everyday reality of the most common persons. … He cried when he saw Martha and Mary suffering for the death of their brother Lazarus … He also experienced the betrayal of a friend. In Christ, God has given us the assurance that He is with us, in our midst. … Jesus has no home because his home is the people, us ourselves. His mission is to open the doors to God for all, to be the presence of God's love.”
“During Holy Week we are living the apex … of this plan of love that runs throughout the history of the relationship between God and humanity. Jesus enters into Jerusalem to take the final step in which his entire existence is summed up. He gives himself completely, keeping nothing for himself, not even his life. At the Last Supper, with his friends, He shares the bread and distributes the chalice 'for us'. The Son of God offers himself to us; puts his Body and his Blood in our hands to be always with us … And in the Garden of the Mount of Olives, as at the trial before Pilate, he makes no resistance, but gives himself.”
“Jesus doesn't live this love that leads to sacrifice passively or as his fatal destiny. He certainly didn't hide his deep human turmoil when faced with violent death, but he entrusted himself to the Father with full confidence ... to show his love for us. Each one of us can say, 'Jesus loved me and gave himself up for me'.”
“What does this mean for us? It means that this path is also mine, also yours, also our path. Living Holy Week, following Jesus not only with moved hearts, means learning to come out of ourselves … in order to meet others, in order to go toward the edges of our existence, to take the first steps towards our brothers and sisters, especially those who are farthest from us, those who are forgotten, those who need understanding, consolation, and assistance.”
“Living Holy Week is always going deeper into God's logic, into the logic of the Cross, which is not first and foremost a logic of sorrow and death but one of love and the self giving that brings life. It is entering into the logic of the Gospel. Following, accompanying Christ, staying with him when he demands that we 'go out': out of ourselves, out of a tired and habitual way of living the faith, out of the temptation of locking ourselves in our own schemes that wind up closing the horizon of God's creative action. God went out of himself in order to come amongst us … to bring us the mercy … that saves and gives hope. And we, if we want to follow and remain with him, cannot be satisfied with staying in the sheep pen with the ninety-nine sheep. We have to 'go out', to search for the little lost sheep, the furthest one, with him.”
“Often,” he observed, “we settle for some prayers, a distracted and infrequent Sunday Mass, some act of charity, but we don't have this courage to 'go out' and bring Christ. We are a little like St. Peter. As soon as Jesus talks of his passion, death, and resurrection, of giving himself and love for all, the Apostle takes him aside and scolds him. What Jesus is saying shakes up his plans, seems unacceptable, the safe certainty he had constructed, his idea of the Messiah, in difficulty. And Jesus … addressing some of the harshest words of the Gospel to Peter, says: 'Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.' God thinks mercifully. God thinks like a father who awaits the return of his son and goes out to meet him, sees him coming when he is still afar … a sign that he was awaiting him every day from the terrace of his house. God thinks like the Samaritan who doesn't pass by the unfortunate man, pitying him or looking away, but rather assisting him without asking anything in return, without asking if he was a Jew or a Samaritan, rich or poor.”
“Holy Week,” Francis concluded, “is a time of grace that the Lord gives us to open the doors of our hearts, of our lives, of our parishes—so many closed parishes are a shame—of our movements and associations, to 'go out' and meet others, to draw near them and bring them the light and joy of our faith. To always go out with the love and tenderness of God!”
After the catechesis and the summaries in different languages that the Gospel readers gave, the Pope greeted all the groups in Italian. Also in Italian, he addressed, among other groups, the university students participating in the international UNIV Congress sponsored by the Prelature of Opus Dei, thanking them for their prayers and affection for the Pope. “With your presence in the university world, each one of you carries out what St. Josemaria Escriva wished for: 'It is in the midst of the most material things of the earth that we must sanctify ourselves, serving God and all humankind'.”
“But what,” the Pope asked, “does it mean for us to live Holy Week? What does it mean to follow Jesus on his journey to Calvary, toward the Cross and his Resurrection? On his earthly mission, Jesus walked the streets of the Holy Land. He called 12 simple persons to stay with him, sharing his path and continuing his mission … He spoke to everyone, without distinction: to the great and the humble ... the powerful and the weak. He brought God's mercy and forgiveness. He healed, consoled, understood. He gave hope. He brought to all the presence of God who cares for every man and woman as a good father and a good mother cares for each of their children.”
“God,” Francis emphasized, “didn't wait for us to come to him. It was He who came to us. … Jesus lived the everyday reality of the most common persons. … He cried when he saw Martha and Mary suffering for the death of their brother Lazarus … He also experienced the betrayal of a friend. In Christ, God has given us the assurance that He is with us, in our midst. … Jesus has no home because his home is the people, us ourselves. His mission is to open the doors to God for all, to be the presence of God's love.”
“During Holy Week we are living the apex … of this plan of love that runs throughout the history of the relationship between God and humanity. Jesus enters into Jerusalem to take the final step in which his entire existence is summed up. He gives himself completely, keeping nothing for himself, not even his life. At the Last Supper, with his friends, He shares the bread and distributes the chalice 'for us'. The Son of God offers himself to us; puts his Body and his Blood in our hands to be always with us … And in the Garden of the Mount of Olives, as at the trial before Pilate, he makes no resistance, but gives himself.”
“Jesus doesn't live this love that leads to sacrifice passively or as his fatal destiny. He certainly didn't hide his deep human turmoil when faced with violent death, but he entrusted himself to the Father with full confidence ... to show his love for us. Each one of us can say, 'Jesus loved me and gave himself up for me'.”
“What does this mean for us? It means that this path is also mine, also yours, also our path. Living Holy Week, following Jesus not only with moved hearts, means learning to come out of ourselves … in order to meet others, in order to go toward the edges of our existence, to take the first steps towards our brothers and sisters, especially those who are farthest from us, those who are forgotten, those who need understanding, consolation, and assistance.”
“Living Holy Week is always going deeper into God's logic, into the logic of the Cross, which is not first and foremost a logic of sorrow and death but one of love and the self giving that brings life. It is entering into the logic of the Gospel. Following, accompanying Christ, staying with him when he demands that we 'go out': out of ourselves, out of a tired and habitual way of living the faith, out of the temptation of locking ourselves in our own schemes that wind up closing the horizon of God's creative action. God went out of himself in order to come amongst us … to bring us the mercy … that saves and gives hope. And we, if we want to follow and remain with him, cannot be satisfied with staying in the sheep pen with the ninety-nine sheep. We have to 'go out', to search for the little lost sheep, the furthest one, with him.”
“Often,” he observed, “we settle for some prayers, a distracted and infrequent Sunday Mass, some act of charity, but we don't have this courage to 'go out' and bring Christ. We are a little like St. Peter. As soon as Jesus talks of his passion, death, and resurrection, of giving himself and love for all, the Apostle takes him aside and scolds him. What Jesus is saying shakes up his plans, seems unacceptable, the safe certainty he had constructed, his idea of the Messiah, in difficulty. And Jesus … addressing some of the harshest words of the Gospel to Peter, says: 'Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.' God thinks mercifully. God thinks like a father who awaits the return of his son and goes out to meet him, sees him coming when he is still afar … a sign that he was awaiting him every day from the terrace of his house. God thinks like the Samaritan who doesn't pass by the unfortunate man, pitying him or looking away, but rather assisting him without asking anything in return, without asking if he was a Jew or a Samaritan, rich or poor.”
“Holy Week,” Francis concluded, “is a time of grace that the Lord gives us to open the doors of our hearts, of our lives, of our parishes—so many closed parishes are a shame—of our movements and associations, to 'go out' and meet others, to draw near them and bring them the light and joy of our faith. To always go out with the love and tenderness of God!”
After the catechesis and the summaries in different languages that the Gospel readers gave, the Pope greeted all the groups in Italian. Also in Italian, he addressed, among other groups, the university students participating in the international UNIV Congress sponsored by the Prelature of Opus Dei, thanking them for their prayers and affection for the Pope. “With your presence in the university world, each one of you carries out what St. Josemaria Escriva wished for: 'It is in the midst of the most material things of the earth that we must sanctify ourselves, serving God and all humankind'.”
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed 3/27/2013.
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Message, 25. March 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World:
“Dear children! In this time of grace I call you to take the cross of my beloved Son Jesus in your hands and to meditate on His passion and death. May your suffering be united in His suffering and love will win, because He who is love gave Himself out of love to save each of you. Pray, pray, pray until love and peace begin to reign in your hearts. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
March 18 2013 Message to the World via Annual Apparition to Mirjana:
"Dear children! I call you to, with complete trust and joy, bless the name of the Lord and, day by day, to give Him thanks from the heart for His great love. My Son, through that love which He showed by the Cross, gave you the possibility to be forgiven for everything; so that you do not have to be ashamed or to hide, and out of fear not to open the door of your heart to my Son. To the contrary, my children, reconcile with the Heavenly Father so that you may be able to come to love yourselves as my Son loves you. When you come to love yourselves, you will also love others; in them you will see my Son and recognize the greatness of His love. Live in faith! Through me, my Son is preparing you for the works which He desires to do through you – works through which He desires to be glorified. Give Him thanks. Especially thank Him for the shepherds - for your intercessors in the reconciliation with the Heavenly Father. I am thanking you, my children. Thank you."
March 2, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
“Dear children; Anew, in a motherly way, I am calling you not to be of a hard heart. Do not shut your eyes to the warnings which the Heavenly Father sends to you out of love. Do you love Him above all else? Do you repent for having often forgotten that the Heavenly Father, out of His great love, sent His Son to redeem us by the Cross? Do you repent for not having accepted the message? My children, do not resist the love of my Son. Do not resist hope and peace. Along with your prayers and fasting, by His Cross, my Son will cast away the darkness that wants to surround you and come to rule over you. He will give you the strength for a new life. Living it according to my Son, you will be a blessing and a hope to all those sinners who wander in the darkness of sin. My children, keep vigil. I, as a mother, am keeping vigil with you. I am especially praying and watching over those whom my Son called to be light-bearers and carriers of hope for you – for your shepherds. Thank you.”
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Today's Word: scourge scourge [skurj]
Origin: 1175–1225; (noun) Middle English < Anglo-French escorge, derivative of escorgier to whip < Vulgar Latin *excorrigiāre, derivative of Latin corrigia thong, whip (see ex-1 ); (v.) Middle English < Old French escorgier
noun
verb (used with object)
1. a whip or lash, especially for the infliction of punishment or torture.
2. a person or thing that applies or administers punishment or severe criticism.
3. a cause of affliction or calamity: Disease and famine are scourges of humanity.
4. to whip with a scourge; lash.
5. to punish, chastise, or criticize severely.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 69:8-10, 21-34
8 I am estranged from my brothers, alienated from my own mother's sons;
9 for I am eaten up with zeal for your house, and insults directed against you fall on me.
10 I mortify myself with fasting, and find myself insulted for it,
21 To eat they gave me poison, to drink, vinegar when I was thirsty.
22 May their own table prove a trap for them, and their abundance a snare;
31 for this will please Yahweh more than an ox, than a bullock horned and hoofed.
33 For God listens to the poor, he has never scorned his captive people.
34 Let heaven and earth and seas, and all that stirs in them, acclaim him!
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Today's Epistle - Isaiah 50:4-9
4 Lord Yahweh
has given me a disciple's tongue, for me to know how to give a word of
comfort to the weary. Morning by morning he makes my ear alert to listen
like a disciple.
5 Lord Yahweh has opened my ear and I have not resisted, I have not turned away.
6 I have offered my back to those who
struck me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; I have not turned my
face away from insult and spitting.
7 Lord Yahweh
comes to my help, this is why insult has not touched me, this is why I
have set my face like flint and know that I shall not be put to shame.
8 He who grants me saving justice is near! Who will bring a case against me? Let us appear in court together! Who has a case against me? Let him approach me!
9 Look, Lord Yahweh is coming to my help! Who dares condemn me? Look at them, all falling apart like moth-eaten clothes!
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Today's Gospel Reading - Matthew 26: 14-25
 |
| Crowning of the Thorns |
When
evening came he was at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating
he said, 'In truth I tell you, one of you is about to betray me.' They
were greatly distressed and started asking him in turn, 'Not me, Lord,
surely?' He answered, 'Someone who has dipped his hand into the dish
with me will betray me. The Son of man is going to his fate, as the
scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of man is
betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!' Judas, who was
to betray him, asked in his turn, 'Not me, Rabbi, surely?' Jesus
answered, 'It is you who say it.'
Reflection
• Yesterday the Gospel spoke of the
betrayal of Judas and of the denial of Peter. Today, it speaks once
again of the betrayal of Judas. In the description of the Passion of
Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, the failure of the disciples is strongly
stressed. In spite of having lived three years together with Jesus, not
one of them defends Jesus. Judas betrays him, Peter denies him, and the
others flee. Matthew narrates everything, not to criticize or to
condemn, neither to discourage the readers, but in order to underline
that acceptance and the love of Jesus exceed the defeat and the failure
of the disciples! This way of describing the attitude of Jesus was a
help for the Communities at the time of Matthew. Because of the frequent
persecutions, many were discouraged and had abandoned the community and
asked themselves: “Will it be possible to return? Will God accept and
forgive us?” Matthew responds by suggesting that we can break the
relationship with Jesus, but Jesus never breaks it with us. His love is
greater than our infidelity. This is a very important message which we
get from the Gospel during Holy Week.
• Matthew 26, 14-16: The Decision of Judas to betray Jesus. Judas took the decision after Jesus did not accept the criticism of the disciples concerning the woman who wastes a very expensive perfume only to anoint Jesus (Mt 26, 6-13). He went to the chief priest and asked: “What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you?” They agreed on the sum of thirty silver pieces. Matthew recalls the words of the Prophet Zechariah to describe the price agreed upon (Zc 11, 12). At the same time, the betrayal of Jesus for thirty silver coins recalls the sale of Joseph by his brothers, decided by the buyers for twenty coins (Gn 37, 28). It also reminds the price of thirty coins to be paid for the wounding of a slave (Ex 21, 32).
• Matthew 26, 17-19: The preparation for the Passover. Jesus was coming from Galilee. He did not have a house in Jerusalem. He spent the night in the Garden of Olives (cf. Jn 8, 1). In the days of the feast of the Passover the people of Jerusalem increased three times in number because of the enormous number of pilgrims who went there from all parts. For Jesus it was not easy to find a big room where to celebrate the Passover together with the pilgrims coming from Galilee, as himself. He ordered his disciples to find a person in whose house he had decided to celebrate the Passover. The Gospel does not offer any other information and allows the imagination to complete what is missing in the information. Was this a person known by Jesus? A relative? A disciple? Throughout the centuries the imagination of the Apocrypha has known how to complete this information, but with little credibility.
• Matthew 26, 20-25: The announcement of the betrayal of Judas. Jesus knew that he will be betrayed. In spite of the fact that Judas did things secretly. Jesus knew. But in spite of that, he wants to act fraternally with the group of friends to which Judas belongs. When all were together for the last time, Jesus announces who is the traitor “Someone who has dipped his hand into the dish with me will betray me”. This way of announcing the betrayal renders even clearer the contrast. For the Jews, the communion around the table, to dip the hand together in the same dish, was the maximum expression of intimacy and trust. In this way, Matthew suggests that in spite of the betrayal made by someone who was a friend, the love of Jesus is greater than the betrayal!
• What strikes in the way in which Matthew describes these facts? Between the denial and the betrayal there is the institution of the Eucharist (Mt 26, 26-29): the betrayal of Judas first (Mt 26, 20-25); the denial of Peter and the flight of the disciples, afterwards (Mt 25, 30-35). Thus, he stressed for us the incredible gratuitousness of the love of Jesus, which exceeds the betrayal, the denial and the flight of the friends. His love does not depend on what others do for him.
Personal questions
• Am I capable of being like Judas and to deny and betray God, Jesus, the friends?
• In Holy Week it is important to reserve some moments to become aware of the unbelievable gratuity of God’s love for me.
• In Holy Week it is important to reserve some moments to become aware of the unbelievable gratuity of God’s love for me.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: Feria
Feast Day: March 27
Patron Saint:
Attributes:
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Today's Snippet I: Book 6, Chapter 5,
The Mystical City of God,
The Divine History and
Life of The Virgin Mother of God
JESUS BROUGHT BEFORE ANNAS AND CAIPHAS.
Having been taken prisoner and firmly bound, the most meek
Lamb Jesus was dragged from the garden to the house of the highpriests, first to
the house of Annas (John 18, 13). The turbulent band of soldiers and servants,
having been advised by the traitorous disciple that his Master was a sorcerer
and could easily escape their hands, if they did not carefully bind and chain
Him securely before starting on their way, took all precautions inspired by such
a mistrust (Mark 14, 44). Lucifer and his compeers of darkness secretly
irritated and provoked them to increase their impious and sacrilegious
illtreatment of the Lord beyond all bounds of humanity and decency. As they were
willing accomplices of Lucifer's malice, they omitted no outrage against the
person of their Creator within the limits set them by the Almighty. They bound
Him with a heavy iron chain with such ingenuity, that it encircled as well the
waist as the neck. The two ends of the chain which remained free, were attached
to large rings or handcuffs, with which they manacled the hands of the Lord, who
created the heavens, the angels and the whole universe. The hands thus secured
and bound, they fastened not in front, but behind. This chain they had brought
from the house of Annas the highpriest, where it had served to raise the
portcullis of a dungeon. They had wrenched it from its place and provided it
with padlock handcuffs. But they were not satisfied with this unheard-of way of
securing a prisoner; for in their distrust they added two pieces of strong rope:
the one they wound around the throat of Jesus and, crossing it at the breast,
bound it in heavy knots all about the body, leaving two long ends free in front,
in order that the servants and soldiers might jerk Him in different directions
along the way. The second rope served to tie his arms, being bound likewise
around his waist. The two ends of this rope were left hanging free to be used by
two other executioners for jerking Him from behind.
The Author of our salvation, hiding his power of annihilating
his enemies in order that our Redemption might be the more abundant, submitted
to all the consequences of the impious fury which Lucifer and his hellish
squadron fomented in the Jews. They dragged Him bound and chained under
continued ill-treatment to the house of Annas, before whom they presented Him as
a malefactor worthy of death. It was the custom of the Jews to present thus
bound those criminals who merited capital punishment; and they now made use of
this custom in regard to Jesus, in order to intimate his sentence even before
the trial. The sacrilegious priest Annas seated himself in proud and arrogant
state on the platform or tribunal of a great hall. Immediately Lucifer placed
himself at his side with a multitude of evil spirits.
Imperiously and haughtily the highpriest asked Him about his
disciples (John 18, 191), and what doctrine He was preaching and teaching. This
question was put merely for the purpose of misinterpreting his answer, if Jesus
should utter any word that afforded such a chance. But the Master of holiness,
who is the Guide and the Corrector of the most wise (Wis. 7, 15), offer to the
eternal Father the humiliation of being presented as a criminal before the
highpriest and of being questioned by him as a prevaricator and author of a
false doctrine. Our Redeemer with an humble and cheerful countenance answered
the question as to his doctrines: "I have spoken openly to the world: I
have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whither all the Jews
resort: and in secret I have spoken nothing. Why askest thou Me? ask these, who
have heard what I have spoken unto them: behold they know what I have
said," As the doctrine of Christ our Lord came from his eternal
Father, He spoke for it and defended its honor. He referred them to his hearers,
both because those by whom He was now surrounded, would not believe Him and
wished to distort all He should say, and because the truth and force of his
teachings recommended and forced themselves upon the minds of his greatest
enemies by their own excellence.
Concerning the Apostles He said nothing, because it was not
necessary on this occasion and because were not reflecting much credit upon
their Master by their present conduct. Though his answer was so full of wisdom
and so well suited to the question, yet one of the servants of the highpriest
rushed up with raised hand and audaciously struck the venerable and sacred face
of Jesus, saying: "Answerest Thou the high priest so?" The Lord
accepted this boundless injury, praying for the one who had inflicted it; and
holding Himself ready, if necessary, to turn and offer the other cheek for a
second stroke, according to the doctrine He had himself inculcated (Matth. 5,
39). But in order that the atrocious and daring offender might not shamelessly
boast of his wickedness, the Lord replied with great tranquillity and meekness:
"If I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil; if well, why strikest
thou Me?" O sight most astounding to the supernal spirits! Since this is
He, at the mere sound of whose voice the foundations of the heavens tremble and
ought to tremble and the whole firmament is shaken! While this ill-treatment of
the Lord was going on, saint Peter and the other disciple, who was none other
than saint John arrived at the house of Annas. Saint John, as being well known
there, readily obtained entrance, while saint Peter remained outside. Afterwards
the servant maid, who was an acquaintance of saint John, allowed also him to
enter and see what would happen to the Lord (John 18, 16). The two disciples
remained in the portico adjoining the court-hall of the priest, and saint Peter
approached the fire, which the soldiers, on account of the coldness of the
night, had built in the enclosure near the portico. The servant maid, on closer
inspection, noticed the depressed bearing of saint Peter. Coming up to him she
recognized him as a disciple of Jesus, and said: "Art thou not perhaps one
of the disciples of this Man?" This question was asked by the maid with an
air of contempt and reproach. Peter in his great weakness and hesitancy yielded
to a sense of shame. Overcome also by his fear he answered: "I am not his
disciple." Having given this answer, he slipped away to avoid further
conversation, and left the premises. But he soon afterwards followed his Master
to the house of Caiphas, where he denied Him again at two different times, as I
shall relate farther on.
The denial of Peter caused greater pain to the Lord than the
buffet which He had received; for this sin was directly opposed and abhorrent to
his immense charity, while pains and sufferings were sweet and welcome to Him,
since He could thereby atone for our sins. After this first denial of Peter,
Christ prayed for him to his eternal Father and ordained that through the
intercession of the blessed Mary he should obtain pardon even after the third
denial. The great Lady witnessed all that passed from her oratory, as I have
said. As She contained in her own breast the propitiatory and sacrifice of her
Son and Lord in sacramental form, She directed her petitions and loving
aspirations to Him, eliciting most heroic acts of compassion, thanksgiving
adoration and worship. She bitterly wept over the denial of saint Peter, and
ceased not, until She perceived that the Lord would not refuse him the necessary
helps for effectually rising from his fall.
The whole rabble of infernal spirits and merciless foes of
Christ left the house of Annas and dragged our Lord Savior through the streets
to the house of Caiphas, exercising upon Him all the cruelty of their
ignominious fury. The highpriests and his attendants broke out in loud derision
and laughter, when they saw Jesus brought amid tumultuous noise into their
presence beheld Him now subject to their power and jurisdiction without hope of
escape. O mystery of the most exalted wisdom of heaven! O foolishness and
ignorance of hell, and blind stupidity of mortals! What a distance immeasurable
do I see between the doings of the Most High and yours!
The highpriest Caiphas, filled with a deadly envy and hatred
against the Master of life, was seated in his chair of state or throne. With him
were Lucifer and all his demons, who had come from the house of Annas. The
scribes and pharisees, like bloodthirsty wolves, surrounded the gentle Lamb; all
of them were full of the exultation of the envious, who see the object of their
envy confounded and brought down. By common consent they sought for witnesses,
whom they could bribe to bring false testimonies against Jesus our Savior
(Matth. 26, 59). Those that had been procured, advanced to proffer their
accusations and testimony; but their accusations neither agreed with each other,
nor could any of their slander be made to apply to Him, who of his very nature
was innocence and holiness (Mark 25,56; Heb. 7,26).
Our Savior Jesus answered not a word to all calumnies and
lies brought forward against his innocence. Caiphas, provoked by the patient
silence of the Lord, rose up in his seat and said to Him: "Why dost Thou
not answer to what so many witnesses testify against Thee?" But even to
this the Lord made no response. For Caiphas and the rest were not only
indisposed to believe Him; but they treacherously wished make use of his answer
in order to calumniate Him and satisfy the people in their proceedings against
the Galileean, so that they might not be thought to have condemned Him to death
without cause. This humble silence, which should have appeased the wicked priest
only infuriated him so much the more because it frustrated his evil purpose.
Lucifer, who incited the high priest and all the rest, intently watched the
conduct of the Savior. But the intention of the dragon was different from that
of the high priest. He merely wanted to irritate the Lord, or to hear some word,
by which could ascertain whether he was true God.
With this purpose satan stirred up Caiphas to the highest
pitch of rage and to ask in great wrath and haughtiness: "I adjure Thee by
the living God, that Thou tell us, if Thou be the Christ, the Son of God."
This question of the highpriest certainly convicted him at once of the deepest
folly and of dreadful blasphemy for if it was sincere, he had permitted Christ
to be brought before his tribunal in doubt whether He was the true God or not,
which would make him guilty of the most formidable and audacious crime. The
doubt in such a matter should have been solved in quite another way, conformable
to the demands of right reason and justice. Christ our Savior, hearing Himself
conjured by the living God, inwardly adored and reverenced the Divinity, though
appealed to by such sacrilegious lips. Out of reverence for the name of God He
therefore answered: "Thou hast said: I am He. Nevertheless I say to you,
hereafter you shall see the Son of man (who I am) sitting on the right hand of
the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Matth. 26, 64).
But the highpriest, furious at the answer of the Lord,
instead of looking upon it as a solution of his doubt rose once more in his
seat, and rending his garments as an outward manifestation of his zeal for the
honor of God, loudly cried out: "He hath blasphemed; what further need have
we of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy: what think you?"
(Matth. 26, 65.) The real blasphemy however consisted rather in these words of
Caiphas, since he denied the certain fact that Christ was the Son of God by his
very nature, and since he attributed to the divine Personality sinfulness, which
was directly repugnant to his very nature. Such was the folly of the wicked
priest, who by his office should have recognized and proclaimed the universal
truth. He made of himself an execrable blasphemer in maintaining that He, who is
holiness itself, had blasphemed. Having previously, with satanical instinct,
abused his high office in prophesying that the death of one man is better than
the ruin of all the people, he now was hindered by his sins from understanding
his own prophecy. As the example and the opinions of princes and prelates
powerfully stirs up the flattery and subserviency of inferiors, that whole
gathering of wickedness was incensed at the Savior Jesus: all exclaimed in a
loud voice: "He is guilty of death (Matth. 26, 66), let Him die, let Him
die!" Roused by satanic fury they all fell upon their most meek Master and
discharged upon Him their wrath. Some of them struck Him in the face, others
kicked Him, others tore out his hair, others spat upon his venerable countenance
others slapped or struck Him in the neck, which was a treatment reserved among
the Jews only for the most abject and vile of criminals. All these affronts,
reproaches and insults were seen and felt by the most holy Mary causing in Her
the same pains and wounds in the same parts of her body and at the same time as
inflicted upon the Lord. The only difference was, that in our Lord the blows and
torments were inflicted by the Jews themselves, while in his most pure Mother
they were caused by the Almighty in a miraculous manner and upon request of the
Lady. According to natural laws, the vehemence of her interior sorrow and
anxiety would have put an end to her life; but She was strengthened by divine
power, so as to be able to continue to suffer with her beloved Son and Lord.
The interior acts performed by the Savior under these
barbarous and unheard of persecutions, cannot be fathomed by human reason or
faculties. Mary alone understood them fully, so as to be able to imitate them
with the highest perfection. But as the divine Master now experienced in his own
Person, how necessary his sympathy would be for those who were to follow him and
practice his doctrine, He exerted Himself so much the more in procuring for them
grace and blessings on this occasion, in which He was teaching them by his own
example the narrow way of perfection. In the midst of these injuries and
torments, and those which followed thereafter, the Lord established for his
perfect and chosen souls the beatitudes, which He had promised and proposed to
them some time before. He looked upon the poor in spirit, who were to imitate
Him in this virtue and said: "Blessed are you in being stripped of the
earthly goods; for by my Passion and Death I am to entail upon you the heavenly
kingdom as a secure and certain possession of voluntary poverty. Blessed are
those who meekly suffer and bear adversities and tribulations; for, besides the
joy of having imitated Me, they shall possess the land of the hearts and the
good will of men through the peacefulness of their interactions and the sweetness
of their virtues. Blessed are they that weep while they sow in tears; for in
them, they receive the bread of understanding and life, and they shall
afterwards harvest the fruits of everlasting joy and bliss."
"Blessed are also those who hunger and thirst for
justice and truth; for I shall earn for them satiation far beyond all their
desires, as well in the reign of grace as in the reign of glory. Blessed are
they, who, imitating Me in my offers of pardon and friendship, mercifully pity
those that offend and persecute them; for I promise them the fulness of mercy
from my Father. Blessed be the pure of heart, who imitate Me in crucifying their
flesh in order to preserve the purity of their souls. I promise them the vision
of peace and of my Divinity, by becoming like unto Me and by partaking of Me.
Blessed are the peaceful, who, yielding their rights, do not resist the
evil-minded and deal with them with a sincere and tranquil heart without
vengeance; they shall be called my children, because they imitate my eternal
Father and I shall write them in my memory and in my mind as my adopted sons.
Those that suffer persecution for justice's sake, shall be the blessed heirs of
my celestial kingdom, since they suffer with Me; and where I am, there also they
shall be in eternity. Rejoice, ye poor; be consoled all ye that are and shall be
afflicted; glory in your lot, ye little ones and despised ones of this world,
you who suffer in humility and longanimity, suffer with an interior rejoicing;
since all of you are following Me in the path of truth. Renounce vanity, despise
the pomp and haughtiness of the false and deceitful Babylon; pass ye through the
fires and the waters of tribulation until you reach Me, who am the light, the
truth and your guide to the eternal rest and refreshment."
By the ill-treatment, which the Lord received in the presence
of Caiphas, the wrath of this highpriest and of all his supporters and ministers
was much gratified though not at all satiated. But as it was already past
midnight, the whole council of these wicked men resolved to take good care, that
the Savior be securely watched and confined until the morning, lest He should
escape while they were asleep. For this purpose they ordered Him to be locked,
bound as He was, in one of the subterranean dungeons, a prison cell set apart
for the most audacious robbers and criminals of the state. Scarcely any light
penetrated into this prison to dispel its darkness. It was filled with such
uncleanness and stench, that it would have infected the whole house, if it had
not been so remote and so well enclosed; for it had not been cleaned for many
years, both because it was so deep down and because of the degradation of the
criminals that were confined in it; for none thought it worthwhile making it
habitable than for mere wild beasts, unworthy of all human kindness.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of
Agreda, Spain.)
My daughter, to great deeds art thou called and on account of
the divine enlightenment thou receivest concerning the mysteries of the
sufferings of my most holy Son and of myself for the human race, and on account
of the knowledge which thou hast obtained concerning the small return made by
heartless and ungrateful men for all our pains. Thou livest yet in mortal flesh
and art thyself subject to this ignorance and weakness; but by the force of
truth thou art now roused to great wonder, sorrow and compassion at the want of
attention displayed by mortals toward these great sacraments and at the losses
sustained by them through their lukewarmness and negligence. What then are the
thoughts of the angels and saints, and what are my thoughts in beholding this
world and all the faithful in such a dangerous and dreadful state of
carelessness, when they have the Passion and Death of my divine Son before their
eyes, and when they have me, for their Mother and Intercessor and his most pure
life and mine for an example? I tell thee truly, my dearest, only my
intercession and the merits of his Son, which I offer to the eternal Father, can
delay the punishment and placate his wrath, can retard the destruction of the
world and the severe chastisement of the children of the Church, who know his
will and fail to fulfill it (John 15, 15). But I am much incensed to find so few
who condole with me and try to console my Son in his sorrows, as David says (Ps.
68, 21). This hardness of heart will cause great confusion to them on the day of
judgment; since they will then see with irreparable sorrow, not only that they
were ungrateful, but inhuman and cruel toward my divine Son, toward me and
toward themselves.
Consider then thy duty, my dearest, and raise thyself above
all earthly things and above thyself; for I am calling thee and choose
thee to imitate and follow me into the solitude, in which I am left by
creatures, whom my Son and I have pursued with so many blessings and favors.
Weigh in thy heart, how much it cost my Lord to reconcile mankind to the eternal
Father (Colos. 1, 22) and regain for them his friendship. Weep and afflict
thyself that so many should live in such forgetfulness and that so many should
labor with all their might at destroying and losing what was bought by the blood
of God itself and all that I from the first moment of my Conception have sought
to procure and am procuring for their salvation. Awaken in thy heart the deepest
grief, that in his holy Church there should be many followers of the
hypocritical and sacrilegious priests who, under cover of a false piety, still
condemn Christ; that pride and sumptuousness with other grave vices should be
raised to authority and exalted, while humility, truth, justice and all virtues
be so oppressed and debased and avarice and vanity should prevail. Few know the
poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. Holy faith is hindered and is not
spread among the nations on account of the boundless ambition of the mighty of
this earth; in many Catholics it is inactive and dead; and whatever should be
living, is near to death and to eternal perdition. The counsels of the Gospel
are forgotten, its precepts trodden under foot, charity almost extinct. My son
and true God offers his cheeks in patience and meekness to be buffeted and
wounded (Thren. 3, 30). Who pardons an insult for the sake of imitating Him?
Just the contrary is set up as law in this world, not only by the infidels, but
by the very children of the faith and of light.
In recognizing these sins I desire that thou imitate
me in what I did during the Passion and during my whole life, namely practice
the virtues opposed to these vices. As a recompense for their blasphemies, I
blessed God; for their oaths, I praised Him; for their unbelief, I excited acts
of faith, and so for all the rest of the sins committed. This is what I desire
thee to do while living in this world. Fly also from dangerous interactions with
creatures, taught by the example of Peter, for thou art not stronger than he,
the Apostle of Christ; and if thou fall in thy weakness, weep over thy fault and
immediately seek my intercession. Make up for thy ordinary faults and weaknesses
by thy patience in adversities, accept them with a joyous mien and without
disturbance, no matter what they may be, whether they be sickness or the
molestations coming from creatures, or whether they arise from the opposition of
the flesh to the spirit, or from the conflicts with visible or invisible
enemies. In all these things canst thou suffer and must thou bear in faith, hope
and magnanimous sentiment. I remind thee that there is no exercise more
profitable and useful for the soul than to suffer: for suffering gives light,
undeceives, detaches the heart from visible things and raises it up to the Lord.
He will come to meet those in suffering, because He is with the afflicted and
sends to them his protection and help (Ps. 40,15).
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Today's Snippet II: Book 6, Chapter 6,
The Mystical City of God,
The Divine History and
Life of The Virgin Mother of God
JESUS BROUGHT BEFORE PILATE. THE SCOURGING AND
CROWNING WITH THORNS.
At the dawn of Friday morning, say the Evangelists (Matth.
27, 1; Mark 15, 1; Luke 22, 66; John 11, 47), the ancients, the chief priests
and scribes, who according to the law were looked upon with greatest respect by
the people, gathered together in order to come to a common decision concerning
the death of Christ. This they all desired; however they were anxious to
preserve the semblance of justice before the people. This council was held in
the house of Caiphas, where the Lord was imprisoned. Once more they commanded
Him to be brought from the dungeon to the hall of the council in order to be
examined. The satellites of justice rushed below to drag Him forth bound and
fettered as He was.
They again asked Him to tell them, whether He was the Christ
(Luke 22, 1), that is, the Anointed. Just as all their previous questions, so
this was put with the malicious determination not to listen or to admit the
truth, but to calumniate and fabricate a charge against Him. But the Lord, being
perfectly willing to die for the truth, denied it not; at the same time He did
not wish to confess it in such a manner that they could despise it, or borrow
out of it some color for their calumny; for this was not becoming his innocence
and wisdom. Therefore He veiled his answer in such a way, that if the pharisees
chose to yield to even the least kindly feeling, they would be able to trace up
the mystery hidden in his words; but if they had no such feeling, then should it
become clear through their answer, that the evil which they imputed to Him was
the result of their wicked intentions and lay not in his answer. He therefore
said to them: "If I tell you that I am He of whom you ask, you will not
believe what I say; and if I shall ask you, you will not answer, nor release Me.
But I tell you, that the Son of man, after this, shall seat Himself at the right
hand of the power of God" (Luke 22, 67). The priests answered: "Then
thou art the Son of God?" and the Lord replied: "You say that I
am." This was as if He had said: You have made a very correct inference,
that I am the Son of God: for my works, my doctrines, and your own Scripture, as
well as what you are now doing with Me, testify to the fact that I am the
Christ, the One promised in the law.
But this council of the wicked was not disposed to assent to
divine truth, although they themselves inferred it very correctly from the
antecedents and could easily have believed it. They would neither give assent
nor belief, but preferred to call it a blasphemy deserving death. Since the Lord
had now reaffirmed what He had said before, they all cried out : "What need
have we of further witnesses, since He himself asserts it by his own lips?'' And
they immediately came to the unanimous conclusion that He should, as one worthy
of death, be brought before Pontius Pilate, who governed Judea in the name of
the Roman emperor and was the temporal Lord of Palestine.
The sun had already arisen while these things happened and
the most holy Mother, who saw it all from afar, now resolved to leave her
retreat and follow her divine Son to the house of Pilate and to his death on the
Cross. When the great Queen and Lady was about to set forth from the Cenacle,
saint John arrived in order to give an account of all that was happening; for
the beloved disciple at that time did not know the visions, by which all the
doings and sufferings of her most holy Son were manifest to the blessed Mother.
After the denial of saint Peter, saint John had retired and had observed, more
from afar what was going on. Recognizing also the wickedness of his flight in
the garden, he confessed it to the Mother of God and asked her pardon as soon as
he came into her presence; and then he gave an account of all that passed in his
heart and of what he had done and what he had seen in following his Master.
Saint John thought it well to prepare the afflicted Mother for her meeting with
her most holy Son, in order that She might not be overcome by the fearful
spectacle of his present condition. Therefore He sought to impress Her
beforehand with some image of his sufferings by saying: "O my Lady, in what
a state of suffering is our divine Master! The sight of Him cannot but break
one's heart; for by the buffets and the blows and by the spittle, his most
beautiful countenance is so disfigured and defiled, that Thou wilt scarcely
recognize Him with thy own eyes." The most prudent Lady listened to his
description, as if She knew nothing of the events; but She broke out in
bitterest tears of heart-rending sorrow. The holy women, who had came forth with
the Lady, also listened to saint John, and all of them were filled with grief
and terror at his words. The Queen of heaven asked the Apostle to accompany Her
and the devout women, and, exhorting them all, She said: "Let us hasten our
steps, in order that my eyes may see the Son of the eternal Father, who took
human form in my womb; and you shall see, my dearest friends, to what the love
of mankind has driven Him, my Lord and God, and what it costs Him to redeem men
from sin and death, and to open for them the gates of heaven."
The Queen of heaven set forth through the streets of
Jerusalem accompanied by saint John and by some holy women. Of these not all,
but only the three Marys and other very pious women, followed Her to the end.
With Her were also the angels of her guard, whom She asked to open a way for Her
to her divine Son. The holy angels obeyed and acted as her guard. On the streets
She heard the people expressing their various opinions and sentiments concerning
the sorrowful events now transpiring in reference to Jesus of Nazareth. The more
kindly hearted lamented over his fate, and they were fewest in number. Others
spake about the intention of his enemies to crucify Him; others related where He
now was and how He was conducted through the streets, bound as a criminal;
others spoke of the illtreatment He was undergoing; others asked, what evil He
had done, that He should be so misused; others again in their astonishment and
in their doubts, exclaimed: To this then have his miracles brought Him! Without
a doubt they were all impostures, since He cannot defend or free himself!
Through the swarming and confused crowds the angels conducted
the Empress of heaven to a sharp turn of the street, where She met her most holy
Son. With the profoundest reverence She prostrated Herself before his sovereign
Person and adored it more fervently and with a reverence more deep and more
ardent than ever was given or ever shall be given to it by all the creatures.
She arose and then the Mother and Son looked upon each other with ineffable
tenderness, interiorly conversing with each other in transports of an
unspeakable sorrow. The most prudent Lady stepped aside and then followed Christ
our Lord, continuing at a distance her interior communication with Him and with
the eternal Father. The words of her soul are not for the mortal and corruptible
tongue.
The image of her divine Son, thus wounded, defiled and bound,
remained so firmly fixed and imprinted in the soul of our Queen, that during her
life it never effaced, and remained in her mind as distinctly as if She were
continually beholding Him with her own eyes. Christ our God arrived at the house
of Pilate, followed by many of the council and a countless multitude of the
people. The Jews, wishing to preserve themselves as clean before the law as
possible for the celebration of the Pasch and the unleavened bread, excused
themselves before Pilate for their refusing to enter the pretorium or court of
Pilate in presenting Jesus. As most absurd hypocrites they paid no attention to
the sacrilegious uncleanness, with which their souls were affected in becoming
the murderers of the innocent Godman. Pilate, although a heathen, yielded to
their ceremonic scruples, and seeing that they hesitated to enter his pretorium,
he went out to meet them. According to formality customary among the Romans, he
asked them (John 18, 28): "What accusation have you against this Man?"
They answered: "If He were not a criminal, we would not have brought Him to
thee thus bound and fettered." This was as much as to say: We have
convinced ourselves of the misdeeds and we are so attached to justice and to our
obligations, that we would not begun any proceedings against Him, if He were not
a great malefactor. But Pilate pressed his inquiry and said: "What then are
the misdeeds, of which has made Himself guilty?" They answered: "He is
convicted of disturbing the commonwealth, He wishes to make Himself our king and
forbids paying tribute to Caesar(Luke 23, 2); He claims to be the son of God,
and has preached a new doctrine, commencing in Galilee, through all Judea and
Jerusalem." "Take Him then yourselves," said Pilate, "and
judge Him according to your laws; I do not find a just cause for proceeding
against Him." But the Jews replied: "It is not permitted us to
sentence any one to death, nor to execute such a sentence."
The most holy Mary, with saint John and the women who
followed Her, was present at this interview; for the holy angels made room for
them where they could hear and see all that was passing. Shielded by her mantle
She wept tears of blood, pressed forth by the sorrow which pierced her virginal
heart. In her interior acts of virtue She faithfully reproduced those practiced
by her most holy Son, while in her pains and endurance She copied those of his
body. She asked the eternal Father to grant Her the favor of not losing sight of
her divine Son, as far as was naturally possible, until his Death; and this was
conceded to Her, excepting during the time in which He was in prison.
One of the accusations of the Jews and the priests before
Pilate was, that Jesus our Savior had begun to stir up the people by his
preaching in the province of Galilee (Luke 23, 6). This caused Pilate to
inquire, whether He was a Galileean; and as they told him, that Jesus was born
and raised in that country, he thought this circumstance useful for the solution
of his difficulties in regard to Jesus and for escaping the molestations of the
Jews, who so urgently demanded his death. Herod was at that time in Jerusalem,
celebrating the Pasch of the Jews. He was the son of the first Herod, who had
murdered the Innocents to procure the death of Jesus soon after his birth (Matth
2, 16). This murderer had become a proselyte of the Jews at the time of his
marriage with a Jewish woman. On this account his son Herod likewise observed
the law of Moses, and he had come to Jerusalem from Galilee, of which he was
governor. Pilate was at enmity with Herod, for the two governed the two
principal provinces of Palestine namely, Judea and Galilee, and a short time
before it had happened that Pilate, in his zeal for the supremacy of the Roman
empire, had murdered some Galileeans during a public function in the temple,
mixing the blood of the insurgents with that of the holy sacrifices. Herod was
highly incensed at this sacrilege, and Pilate, in order to afford him some
satisfaction without much trouble to himself, resolved to send to him Christ the
Lord to be examined and judged as one of the subjects of Herod's sway. Pilate
also expected that Herod would set Jesus free as being innocent and a Victim of
the malice and envy of the priests and scribes.
When Herod was informed that Pilate would send Jesus
of Nazareth to him, he was highly pleased. He knew that Jesus was a great friend
of John the Baptist whom he had ordered to be put to death (Mark 6, 27), and had
heard many reports of his preaching. In vain and foolish curiosity he harbored
the desire of seeing Jesus do something new and extraordinary for his
entertainment and wonder (Luke 23, 8). The Author life therefore came into the
presence of the murderer Herod, against whom the blood of the Baptist was
calling more loudly to this same Lord for vengeance, than in its time the blood
of Abel (Gen. 4, 10). But the unhappy adulterer, ignorant of the terrible
judgment of the Almighty, received Him with loud laughter as an enchanter and
conjurer. In this dreadful misconception he commenced to examine and question
Him, persuaded that he could thereby induce Him to work some miracle to satisfy
his curiosity. But the Master of wisdom and prudence, standing with an humble
reserve before his most unworthy judge, answered him not a word. For on account
of his evil-doing he well merited the punishment of not hearing the words of
life, which he would certainly have heard if he had been disposed to listen to
them with reverence.
The princes and priests of the Jews stood around, continually
rehearsing the same accusations and charge they had advanced in the presence of
Pilate. But the Lord maintained silence also in regard to these calumnies, much
to the disappointment of Herod. In his presence the Lord would not open his
lips, neither in order to answer his questions, nor in order to refute the
accusations. Herod was altogether unworthy of hearing the truth, this being his
greatest punishment and the punishment most to be dreaded by all the princes and
the powerful of this earth. Herod was much put out by the silence and meekness
of our Savior and was much disappointed in his vain curiosity. But the unjust
judge tried to hide his confusion by mocking and ridiculing the innocent
Master with his whole cohort of soldiers and ordering him to be sent back to
Pilate.
Pilate was again confronted with Jesus in his palace and was
bestormed anew by the Jews to condemn Him to death of the cross. Convinced of
the innocence of Christ and of the mortal envy of the Jews, he was much put out
at Herod's again referring the disagreeable decision to his own tribunal.
Feeling himself obliged in his quality of judge to give this decision, he sought
to placate the Jews in different ways. One of these was a private interview with
some of the servants and friends of the highpriests and priests. He urged them
to prevail upon their masters and friends, not any more to ask for the release
of the malefactor Barabbas, but instead demand the release of our Redeemer; and
to be satisfied with some punishment he was willing to administer before setting
Him free. This measure Pilate had taken before they arrived a second time to
press their demand for a sentence upon Jesus. The proposal to choose between
freeing either Barabbas or Jesus was made to the Jews, not only once, but two or
three times. The first time before sending Him to Herod and the second time
after his return; this is related by the Evangelists with some variation, though
not essentially contradicting truth (Matth. 27, 17). Pilate spoke to the Jews
and said: "You have brought this Man before me, accusing Him of perverting
the people by his doctrines; and having examined Him in your presence, I was not
convinced of the truth of your accusations. And Herod, to whom I have sent Him
and before whom you repeated your accusations, refused to condemn Him to death.
It will be sufficient to correct and chastise Him for the present, in order that
He may amend. As I am to release some malefactor for the feast of the Pasch, I
will release Christ, if you will have Him freed, and punish Barabbas."
But the multitude of the Jews, thus informed how much Pilate desired to set
Jesus free, shouted with one voice: "Enough, enough, not Christ, but
Barabbas deliver unto us."
While Pilate was thus disputing with the Jews in the
pretorium, his wife, Procula, happened to hear of his doings and she sent him a
message telling him: "What hast thou to do with this Man? Let him go free:
for I warn thee that I have had this very day some visions in regard to
Him!" This warning of Procula originated through the activity of Lucifer
and his demons. For they, observing all that was happening in regard to the
person of Christ and the unchangeable patience with which He bore all injuries,
were more and more confused and staggered in their rabid fury. Despairing of
success the demons betook themselves to the wife of Pilate and spoke to
her in dreams, representing to her that this Man was just and without guilt,
that if her husband should sentence Him he would be deprived of his rank and she
herself would meet with great adversity. They urged her to advise Pilate to
release Jesus and punish Barabbas, if she did not wish to draw misfortune upon
their house and their persons.
Procula was filled with great fear and terror at these
visions, and as soon as she heard what was passing between the Jews and her
husband, she sent him the message mentioned by saint Matthew, not to meddle with
this Man nor condemn One to death, whom she told to be just. The demon also
injected similar misgivings into the mind of Pilate and these warnings of his
wife only increased them. Yet, as all his considerations rested
upon worldly policy, and as he had not co-operated with the true helps
given him by the Savior, all these fears retarded his unjust proceedings only so
long as no other more powerful consideration arose, as will be seen in effect.
But just now he began for the third time to argue (as saint Luke tells
us), insisting upon the innocence of Christ our Lord and that he found no crime
in Him nor any guilt worthy of death, and therefore he would punish and then
dismiss Him (Luke 23, 22). As we shall see in the next chapter, he did really
punish Christ in order to see whether the Jews would be satisfied. But the Jews,
on the contrary, demanded that Christ be crucified. Thereupon Pilate asked for
water and released Barabbas. Then he washed his hands in the presence of all the
people, saying: "I have no share in the death of this just Man, whom you
condemn. Look to yourselves in what you are doing, for I wash my hands in order
that you may understand they are not sullied in the blood of the
Innocent." Pilate thought that by this ceremony he could excuse himself
entirely and that he thereby could put its blame upon the princes of the Jews
and upon the people who demanded it. The wrath of the Jews was so blind and
foolish that for the satisfaction of seeing Jesus crucified, they entered upon
this agreement with Pilate and took upon themselves and upon their children the
responsibility for this crime. Loudly proclaiming this terrible sentence and
curse, they exclaimed: "His blood come upon us and upon our children"
(Matth. 27, 25).
In the house of Pilate, through the ministry of the holy
angels, our Queen was placed in such a position that She could hear the disputes
of the iniquitous judge with the scribes and priests concerning the innocence of
Christ our Savior, and concerning the release of Barabbas in preference to Him.
All the clamors of these human tigers She heard in silence and admirable
meekness, as the living counterpart of her most holy Son. Although She preserved
the unchanging propriety modesty of her exterior, all the malicious words of the
Jews pierced her sorrowful heart like a two-edged sword. But the voices of her
unspoken sorrows resounded in the ears of the eternal Father more
pleasantly and sweetly than the lamentation of the beautiful Rachel who, as
Jeremias says, was beweeping her children because they cannot be restored (Jer.
31, 15). Our most beautiful Rachel the purest Mary, sought not revenge, but
pardon for her enemies, who were depriving Her of the Onlybegotten of the Father
and her only Son. She imitated all the actions of the most holy Soul of Christ
and accompanied Him in the works of most exalted holiness and perfection; for
neither could her torments hinder her charity, nor her affliction diminish her
fervor, nor could the tumult distract her attention, nor the outrageous injuries
of the multitudes prevent her interior recollection: under all circumstances She
practiced the most exalted virtues in the most eminent degree.
Such was the implacable fury of the priests and
confederates, the pharisees, against the Author of life. For Lucifer, despairing
of being able to hinder his murder by the Jews, inspired them with his own
dreadful malice and outrageous cruelty. Pilate, placed between the known truth
and his human and terrestrial considerations, chose to follow the erroneous
leading of the latter, and ordered Jesus to be severely scourged, though he had
himself declared Him free from guilt (John 19, 1). Thereupon those ministers of
satan, with many others, brought Jesus our Savior to the place of punishment,
which was a courtyard or enclosure attached to the house and set apart for the
torture of criminals in order to force them to confess their crimes. It was
surrounded by a low, open building, surrounded by columns, some of which
supported the roof, while others were lower and stood free. To one of these
columns, which was of marble, they bound Jesus very securely; for they still
thought Him a magician and feared his escape.
They first took off the white garment with not less ignominy
than when they clothed Him therein in the house of the adulterous homicide
Herod. In loosening the ropes and chains, which He had borne since his capture
in the garden, they cruelly widened the wounds which his bonds had made in his
arms and wrists. Having freed his hands, they commanded Him with infamous
blasphemies to despoil Himself of the seamless tunic which He wore. This was the
identical garment with which his most blessed Mother had clothed Him in Egypt
when He first began to walk.
Thus the Lord stood uncovered in the presence of a great
multitude and the six torturers bound Him brutally to one of the columns in
order to chastise Him so much the more at their ease. Then, two and two at a
time, they began to scourge Him with such inhuman cruelty, as was possible only
in men possessed by Lucifer as were these executioners. The first two scourged
the innocent Savior with hard and thick cords, full of rough knots, and in their
sacrilegious fury strained all the powers of their body to inflict the blows.
This first scourging raised in the deified body of the Lord great welts and
livid tumors, so that the sacred blood gathered beneath the skin and disfigured
his entire body. Already it began to ooze through the wounds. The first two
having at length desisted, the second pair continued the scourging in still
greater emulation; with hardened leather thongs they leveled their strokes upon
the places already sore and caused the discolored tumors to break open and shed
forth the sacred blood until it bespattered and drenched the garments of the
sacrilegious torturers, running down also in streams to the pavement. Those two
gave way to the third pair of scourgers, who commenced to beat the Lord with
extremely tough rawhides, dried hard like osier twigs. They scourged Him still
more cruelly, because they were wounding, not so much his virginal body, as
cutting into the wounds already produced by the previous scourging. Besides they
had been secretly incited to greater fury by the demons, who were filled with
new rage at the patience of Christ.
As the veins of the sacred body had now been opened and his
whole Person seemed but one continued wound, the third pair found no more room
for new wounds. Their ceaseless blows inhumanly tore the immaculate and virginal
flesh of Christ our Redeemer and scattered many pieces of it about the pavement;
so much so that a large portion of the shoulder-bones were exposed and showed
red through the flowing blood: in other places also the bones were laid bare
larger than the palm of the hand. In order to wipe out entirely that beauty,
which exceeded that of all other men (Ps. 44, 3), they beat Him in the face and
in the feet and hands, thus leaving unwounded not a single spot in which they
could exert their fury and wrath against the most innocent Lamb. The divine
blood flowed to the ground, gathering here and there in great abundance. The
scourging in the face, and in the hands and feet, was unspeakably painful,
because these parts are so full of sensitive and delicate nerves. His venerable
countenance became so swollen and wounded that the blood and the swellings
blinded Him. In addition to their blows the executioners spirted upon his Person
their disgusting spittle and loaded Him with insulting epithets (Thren. 3, 30).
The exact number of blows dealt out to the Savior from head to foot was 5,115.
The great Lord and Author of all creation who, by his divine nature was
incapable of suffering, was, in his human flesh and for our sake, reduced to a
man of sorrows as prophesied, and was made to experience our infirmities,
becoming the last of men (Is. 53, 3), a man of sorrows and the outcast of the
people.
The multitudes who had followed the Lord, filled up the
courtyard of Pilate's house and the surrounding streets; for all of them waited
for the issue of this event, discussing and arguing about it according to each
one's views. Amid all this confusion the Virgin Mother endured unheard of
insults, and She was deeply afflicted by the injuries and
blasphemies heaped upon her divine Son by the Jews and gentiles. When they
brought Jesus to the scourging place She retired in the company of the Marys and
saint John to a corner of the courtyard. Assisted by her divine visions, She
there witnessed the scourging and the torments of our Savior. Although She did
not see it with the eyes of her body nothing was hidden to Her, no more
than if She had been standing quite near. Human thoughts cannot comprehend how
great and how diverse were the afflictions and sorrows of the great Queen and
Mistress of the angels: together with many other mysteries of the Divinity they
shall become manifest in the next life, for the glory of the Son and Mother. I
have already mentioned in other places of this history, and especially in that
of the Passion, that the blessed Mother felt in her own body the torments of her
Son. This was true also of the scourging, which She felt in all the parts of her
virginal body, in the same intensity as they were felt by Christ in his body.
Although She shed no blood except what flowed from her eyes with her tears, nor
was lacerated in her flesh; yet the bodily pains so changed and disfigured Her,
that saint John and the holy women failed to find in Her any resemblance of
Herself. Besides the tortures of the body She suffered ineffable sorrows of the
soul; there sorrow was augmented in proportion to the immensity of her insight
(Eccles. 1, 18). For her sorrow flowed not only from the natural love of a
mother and a supreme love of Christ as her God, but it was proportioned to her
power of judging more accurately than all creatures of the innocence of Christ,
the dignity of his divine Person, the atrocity of the insults coming from the
perfidious Jews and the children of Adam, whom He was freeing from eternal
death.
Thereupon they took Jesus to the pretorium, where, with the
same cruelty and contempt, they again despoiled him of his garments and in order
to deride Him before all the people as a counterfeit king, clothed in a much
torn and soiled mantle of purple color. They placed also upon his sacred head a
cap made of woven thorns, to serve Him as a crown (John 19, 2). This cap was
woven of thorn branches and in such a manner that many of the hard and sharp
thorns would penetrate into the skull, some of them to the ears and others to
the eyes. Hence one of the greatest tortures suffered by the Lord was that of
the crown of thorns. Instead of a sceptre they placed into his hands a
contemptible reed. They also threw over His shoulders a violet
colored mantle, something of the style of capes worn in churches; for such a
garment belonged to the vestiture of a king. In this array of a mock-king
the perfidious Jews decked out Him, who by his nature and by every right was the
King of kings and the Lord of lords (Apoc. 19, 16). Then all the soldiers, in
the presence of the priests and pharisees, gathered around Him and heaped upon
Him their blasphemous mockery and derision. Some of them bent their knees and
mockingly said to Him: God save Thee, King of the Jews. Others buffeted Him;
others snatched the cane from his hands and struck Him on his crowned head;
others ejected their disgusting spittle upon Him; all of them, instigated by
furious demons, insulted and affronted Him in different manners.
It seemed to Pilate that the spectacle of a man so illtreated
as Jesus of Nazareth would move and fill shame the hearts of that ungrateful
people. He therefore commanded Jesus to be brought from the pretorium to an open
window, where all could see Him crowned with thorns, disfigured by the scourging
and the ignominious vestiture of a mock-king. Pilate himself spoke to the
people, calling out to them: "Ecce Homo," "Behold, what a
man!" (John 19, 5). See this Man, whom you hold as your enemy! What can I
do with Him than to have punished Him in this severe manner? You certainly have
nothing more to fear from Him.
When the Blessed among women, most holy Mary, saw her divine
Son as Pilate showed Him to the people and heard him say: "Ecce homo!"
She fell upon her knees and openly adored Him as the true Godman. The same was
also done by saint John and the women, together with all the holy angels of the
Queen and Lady; for they saw that not only Mary, as the Mother of the Savior,
but that God himself desired them thus to act.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of
Agreda, Spain.)
Think well, then, my dearest, which of these thou wishest to
choose in the sight of my Son and me. If thou seest thy Redeemer, thy Spouse and
thy Chief tormented, afflicted, crowned with thorns and saturated with
reproaches and at the same time desirest to have a part in Him and be a member
of his mystical body, it is not becoming, or even possible, that thou live
steeped in the pleasures of the flesh. Thou must be the persecuted and not a
persecutor, the oppressed and not the oppressor; the one that bears the cross,
that encounters the scandal and not that gives it; the one that suffers, and at
the same time makes none of the neighbors suffer. On the contrary, thou must
exert thyself for their conversion and salvation in as far as is compatible with
the perfection of thy state and vocation. This is the portion of the friends of
God and the inheritance of his children in mortal life, in this consists the
participation in grace and glory; which by his torments and reproaches and by
his death of the Cross my Son and Lord has purchased for them. I too have
co-operated in this work and have paid the sorrrows and afflictions, which thou
hast understood and which I wish thou shalt never allow to be blotted out from
my inmost memory. The Almighty would indeed have been powerful enough to
exalt his predestined in this world, to give them riches and favors beyond those
of others, to make them strong as lions for reducing the rest of mankind
to their invincible power. But it was inopportune to exalt them in this manner,
in order that men might not be led into the error of thinking that greatness
consists in what is visible and happiness in earthly goods; lest, being induced
to forsake and obscure the glory of the Lord, they fail to experience the
efficacy of divine grace and cease to aspire toward spiritual and eternal
things. This is the science I wish thee to study continually and in which thou
must advance day by day, putting into practice all that thou learnest to
understand and know.
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part Two: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery, Sect 1:2:4
CHAPTER ONE THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH
Article 2 THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE CHURCH'S SACRAMENTS
IV. The Sacraments of
Salvation
1127
Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they
signify.Cf.
Council of Trent (1547): DS 1605; DS 1606 They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at
work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to
communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. the Father always hears
the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament,
expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself
everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life
whatever is subjected to his power.
1128
This is the meaning of the Church's affirmationCf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1608 that the sacraments
act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being
performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished
once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the
righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of
God."St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 68, 8 From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in
accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit
acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister.
Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of
the one who receives them.
1129
The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are
necessary for salvation.Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1604 "Sacramental grace" is the grace
of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. the Spirit
heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of
God. the fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the
faithful partakers in the divine natureCf.
⇒ 2 Pet 1:4 by uniting them in a living
union with the only Son, the Savior.
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