GOOD FRIDAY

 On the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

27.1       First Point

No one can understand how great the sufferings of Jesus Christ were in his Passion. He suffered in all parts of his body; his soul was oppressed with such painful and extreme sorrow that he could not express it, but said that there could not be any greater sorrow without dying.[i] This sorrow affected him so much that it caused him to sweat blood,[ii] and he fell into such great weakness that the Eternal Father was obliged to send him an angel to strengthen him,[iii] encourage him, and make it possible for him to suffer all the torments of his Passion to the end. In addition to this, he was overwhelmed with shame and confusion; he was loaded with insults, curses and calumnies; a revolutionary, a murderer, a criminal was preferred to him.

            Such was the state to which our sins reduced that Person who deserves every sort of esteem, honor, and respect.

27.2       Second Point

Jesus Christ suffered no less in his body than in his soul. He was bound and shackled disgracefully by the soldiers.[iv] His head was crowned with thorns,[v] which were beaten in by heavy blows from a rod; several soldiers spat in his face; others slapped him.[vi] He was so cruelly whipped[vii] that the blood flowed from every part of his body. They hoisted a heavy cross onto his shoulders;[viii] they gave him gall and vinegar to drink;[ix] and finally they crucified him between two thieves,[x] piercing his hands and feet with large nails, and his side with a lance.[xi]

            What crime had Jesus Christ committed to be treated this way? And yet the rage of the Jews was not satisfied, says Saint Bernard, not even after making him undergo such great torment unjustly. How is it possible to treat like this that Person who had only tried to do good to everyone?

27.3       Third Point

Jesus Christ suffered from all sorts of people. One of his apostles betrayed him,[xii] another denied him,[xiii] all the rest ran off and abandoned him[xiv] to the hands of his enemies. The high priests sent soldiers to seize him;[xv] the soldiers treated him outrageously;[xvi] the people mocked him;[xvii] a king insulted him and dismissed him with scorn, considering him as a lunatic.[xviii] The governor of Judea condemned him to death.[xix] All the Jews looked upon him as a malefactor,[xx] while all the passersby blasphemed him.[xxi]

            Can we contemplate the man-God in such a pitiful state without feeling horror for sin and a great sorrow for those we have committed? We cannot be ignorant that our sins were the cause of his death and of all his agony. If we will not stop sinning, it means we want him to continue suffering. Do we not know that every sin we commit causes him new torments? We crucify him again,[xxii] says Saint Paul, and make him die another death even more painful and cruel than the first one.