MEDITATION FOR THURSDAY

MEDITATION FOR THURSDAY

PREPARATORY MEDITATION ON THE PASSION

“And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!” (Luke 12, 50).

First Prelude: Behold Jesus, leaving the hall of the Last Supper and going with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, to begin His bitter passion.

Second Prelude: O my Divine Saviour, by the infinite love wherewith Thou didst die for me, I beseech Thee to imbue my heart with the sentiments requisite to derive great profit from the contemplation of Thy sacred passion.

First Point

LOVE, THE MOTIVE OF OUR LORD’S SUFFERINGS

Our Divine Saviour spoke quite frequently of His pending passion. How touching are His words: “And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!” He tells us that He must suffer, urged by the power of love which He cannot resist. Though the justice of His Father did not demand such immense sufferings, the Son desired to take upon Himself an excess of pain to merit superabundant graces for us. Accordingly, He suffered in all His senses: in His eyes, when they were forced to see so much that deeply grieved His tender Heart, namely, the depression and desertion of His disciples, and the angry, despicable mien of His enemies; in His ears, when forced to hear the blasphemies, the false testimony and the derision of his enemies. His taste was cruelly tortured by the excessive thirst and the bitter draught of vinegar and gall. He suffered inexpressible pain in His whole Body in the scourging, in the crowning with thorns, and in the crucifixion. His holy Soul, however, endured still greater agony: the dereliction and desolation in Gethsemane and on the cross, the dread of the magnitude of His sufferings, the sorrow on account of the infinite offense against the Divine Majesty, and the loss of so many souls.

Let us contemplate the infinite love of our Saviour, Who endured all these sufferings voluntarily, for the whole human race, for His friends and His enemies. Thus can everyone say with the Apostle: “He hath loved me and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal. 2, 20). Should we not gladly return His love, by joyfully accepting in a spirit of love all the hardships, all the sacrifices ordinarily inseparable from our holy vocation, to prove our gratitude to our Divine Saviour for His infinite mercies?

Second Point

THE CONTEMPLATION OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST IS VERY PROFITABLE FOR US

The saints call the passion of Christ a wonderful book, opened to the whole world that all may read therein the great mysteries of the justice and love of God. The Lord Himself once revealed this to St. Angela of Foligno: “Whoever wishes to find My grace, should never lose sight of the cross, no matter what may be his frame of mind—be he in joy or in sorrow. Those who earnestly occupy themselves with the contemplation of My passion and death, are in truth My children.” At sight of the cross the sinner will be moved to repentance, the lukewarm will be anew inflamed with zeal in the combat of passions and will strive earnestly to acquire virtue; the God-loving soul will attain more intimate union with her Lord and Saviour. From contemplation of the Crucified the saints derived courage to follow Jesus and to walk unflinchingly on the way of the cross; they rejoiced to be nailed to the cross with Christ by means of corporal and spiritual sufferings, till, finally, their dying gaze riveted on the Crucified, they could say with Him: “It is consummated.” O my soul, for thee, also, is the book open; thou, too, canst partake of the blessing revealed to St. Angela at another time: “Be ye blessed by My Father, ye, that have compassion with My sufferings, that share My afflictions, and walk My ways; for thereby ye have merited that your garments be washed in My Precious Blood. Be blessed all ye that compassionate Me in My inexpressible anguish and the death that I have suffered to release you from eternal pangs, to make atonement and pay the ransom for you, that you may be found worthy to share My poverty, My humiliations, My sufferings and distress. Be blessed all ye that faithfully commemorate My passion, this greatest of wounds of all times, the salvation and life of the fallen human race, the sole refuge of sinners, because ye also have part in My resurrection, in My everlasting reign and My honor, which I purchased at the price of My Precious Blood and bitter passion, and for all eternity ye shall be my heirs.”

Imbued with these holy sentiments, let us enter with heart and soul upon the contemplation of the passion of Christ. Let us endeavor lovingly to sympathize and to suffer with Him. Let us beg the holy angels, who were present during the passion of our Divine Saviour, and the Blessed Virgin, our dear Mother, to accompany us in spirit on the way to Gethsemane and thence to Golgotha with our Divine Lord. Let us beg them to teach us how to console Jesus, how to impress His bitter passion indelibly on our hearts, to cherish the memory thereof and to derive great profit for the salvation of our soul.

Affections: O my Jesus, Thou didst suffer so much for me, and how little is that which I suffer for Thee! How must I blush for shame when I compare my sufferings with Thine! How could I ponder the excruciating torments which Thou, O Jesus, didst endure for love of me, immolating Thy life and shedding the last drop of Thy Precious Blood, and not be ready to suffer for Thee, to immolate my heart to Thy service! Should I not even offer my life, if Thou shouldst ask it of me? Give me then, my beloved Saviour, the grace to seek all my happiness in sharing Thy passion, to impress it deeply on my mind and heart by profound meditation, that I may say with the Apostle: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6, 14).

Resolution: I will endeavor to contemplate the passion of my Saviour with zeal and tender compassion, and daily ask God for the requisite grace.

Spiritual Bouquet: “My Saviour hath loved me and delivered Himself up for me.”

Prayer: Take, O Lord . . .