JESUS SURRENDERS HIMSELF INTO THE HANDS OF HIS ENEMIES AND IS DESERTED BY HIS APOSTLES
“In that same hour Jesus said to the multitudes: ‘You are come out as it were to a robber with swords and clubs to apprehend Me. I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you laid not hands on Me.’ Now all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then the disciples all leaving Him, fled” (Matt. 28, 55).
First Prelude: Behold Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, lovingly addressing His bitter enemies, while the disciples full of fear, take to flight.
Second Prelude: O my Jesus, grant me grace to realize Thy immense love and my utter weakness and inconstancy, that I may cling more closely to Thee.
First Point
THE CONDUCT OF JESUS TOWARD HIS ENEMIES
To repair in some measure the rash act of Peter in cutting off the ear of Malchus, Jesus, in the most touching manner, healed it. This was our Blessed Lord’s final attempt to rouse the latent faith of His enemies! What goodness and love! At the same time He rebuked them severely! “When I was daily with you in the temple, you did not stretch forth your hands against Me; but this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22, 53). The hour of His capture, Jesus terms their hour, in which they become instruments of Satan, to whom they surrendered themselves by neglecting to profit by the visitations of the Lord.
What lamentable power does Satan exercise over the hearts of so many who no longer heed divine inspirations, or the counsels and admonitions of their superiors! They are forced into his servitude, become ever more blinded and finally sink into utter darkness. Oh, that our infidelities may not extinguish the light of the Holy Ghost in our hearts and plunge us into total spiritual blindness! Such a condition should not only frustrate the holiest designs of our Blessed Lord in our regard, but redound to the ruin of countless souls. Oh, the incomprehensible love of our dear Lord for His bitter enemies! His compassion will not relent, nor tire of continually lavishing new favors upon His enemies, that at least in the near future, after His resurrection, they may open their hearts to the light of faith.
Have we made proper use of the many opportunities for doing good to others, by a well-meant reproof, a heartfelt word of advice or admonition? What a source of consolation will it be in the hour of death to be able to say: I have labored for the salvation of souls inasmuch as my weakness permitted it, and God has blessed my feeble efforts. May not one of us ever be deserving of the reproach of having scandalized others, perhaps, our fellow-religious, the sick, or the souls entrusted to our care, by lack of humility and forbearance.
Do I justly esteem my exalted vocation and the power it gives me for good? Am I a fit instrument of God’s mercy and charity, or have I suffered the Evil One to use me at will for the accomplishing of his sinister plans?
Second Point
THE FLIGHT OF THE APOSTLES
Though our Blessed Lord had repeatedly warned His Apostles and foretold their future cowardice, they would not be convinced of their utter weakness and instability, nor of the possibility of their base desertion of so beloved a Master. Forgetting that without God’s grace they could not remain faithful, they lacked humility, the indispensable weapon of the soldier of Christ. “He that thinketh Himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall” (St. Paul, I Cor. 10, 12). They having so shamefully deserted their Lord and Master, must not all foolish self-deception and vain self-confidence have deserted them? Must they not have learned from their own weakness to compassionate the weaknesses of others? Thus God knows how to draw good from evil and to incite His elect by contrition and by humility to a more fervent practice of virtue.
Jesus desired to endure such bitter torments for the further reason that He might prove to us the extent of His love and afford us comfort and consolation in kindred sorrows. Full of grief at the thought of His pending passion, He had said to them sorrowfully, “All you shall be scandalized in Me this night. For it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed’” (Matt. 26, 31). Were not here verified the words of the prophet: “In thy sight are all they that afflicted me; my heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none; and for one that would comfort me, and I found none”? (Ps. 68, 21). Jesus wished to atone for the faithlessness of men, and at the same time admonish us not to put our trust in creatures.
How often have we fled from our Blessed Saviour, even if there was no question of suffering death with Him, but merely of making a little sacrifice for love of Him!
Affections: O my beloved Saviour, I compassionate Thee in Thy intense sorrow, for the infidelity of Thy disciples, but more do I grieve over my many sins and weaknesses. I know full well that I have deserved to be forsaken by Thee. I pray Thee by the infinite mercy shown Thy bitter enemies, when Thou didst offer them the grace of conversion by Thy loving words, keep me in Thy grace, in Thy love and friendship. Be Thou, O Jesus, my strength, my support, my light, my hope and my model, that I may courageously conquer all obstacles and all things may redound to my salvation.
Resolution: The thought of my former transgressions shall be an incentive to greater zeal.
Spiritual Bouquet: I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none.
Prayer: Soul of Christ. . .
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