JESUS IS APPREHENDED AND BOUND
“Then the band and the tribune, and the servants of the Jews, took Jesus and bound Him” (John 18, 12).
First Prelude: In spirit see the troop of soldiers seizing Jesus, the gentle Lamb of God, and binding Him like a criminal.
Second Prelude: Through Thy sacred bonds, O Jesus, deliver my soul from the fetters of sin, and unite me to Thee through the bonds of charity.
First Point
THE FETTERS OF JESUS ARE HUMILIATING AND PAINFUL
As though he were a criminal, the Son of God, the Holy One, is cruelly bound by the soldiers. With an air of vicious triumph, with blasphemies and revilings, these base ruffians vent their rage on Him Who without resistance offers them His Hands to be bound. But Jesus longs for still greater sufferings, and because of His desire for the cross, permits them, amidst blows and insults to drag Him from Gethsemane to Jerusalem.
Of what avail would be the bonds with which the brutal mob bind the God-Man, were it not that in the excess of His infinite love, He wills to surrender Himself into their hands! Oh, the power of Divine Love that holds captive the Son of God! Well may the angels with inexpressible sorrow contemplate Jesus, at the mercy of the blood-thirsty rabble—Jesus, Whose birth they had announced with hymns of jubilee, and unto Whom they had ministered in the desert.
The fetters that bind the Son of God are not only humiliating, but exceedingly painful. For, although He offers no resistance, the brutal soldiers bind their innocent Victim very securely, and then, heaping insults and abuse upon Him, inhumanly drag Him from the Garden to the Judgment Hall. Such treatment does the Innocent, the Benign, the Holy One, receive at the hands of the most vile and hostile rabble.
Let us compassionate our Blessed Saviour, the joy of angels, thus shamefully abused for love of us, and promise reparation for the outrages heaped upon Him, by patiently bearing for love of Him, the ingratitude with which others may requite our services. Could our sufferings be more painful or more humiliating than those of the Son of God in this mystery? Oh, that love of God would hold us, too, captive and strengthen us to suffer patiently in union with Him the little trials and hardships ordinarily inseparable from the faithful discharge of our duties.
Second Point
WHY DID JESUS WILL TO BE BOUND?
To deliver us from the slavery of sin, and by His infinite merits to restore us to the blessed liberty of the children of God, our merciful Saviour takes upon Himself our entire guilt, and suffers Himself to be bound like a criminal.
How many sinners, are, in virtue of these sacred bonds, freed from the fetters of the Evil One and restored to the love and friendship of God! Through His bonds, Jesus, furthermore, merits for all His disciples the grace to endure courageously and for love of Him, imprisonment and torture. How many, in truth, deem themselves happy with St. Paul, to be “prisoners with Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1), and to suffer for the Name of Jesus! In particular, our Blessed Saviour merits for us the grace generously to renounce self-will, and to submit cheerfully to the dictates of our Holy Rule. How blessed, how glorious it is to be thus fettered for the love of God! Happy, indeed, the soul held captive by the bonds of Divine Love! How foolish and exceedingly culpable we should be, were we to neglect to work at our perfection, the one duty incumbent upon us by our holy vocation! Let us then bridle our tongue, our imagination, our passions, and our senses; let us be fervent in prayer, and conscientious in the discharge of our duties.
Am I the happy victim of charity, or am I still the base slave of my evil propensities—pride, levity and dissipation?
Affections: O my beloved Saviour, animated by the tenderest love and gratitude, I kiss the cords with which Thou art bound for love of me, in order to atone for my pride, my impatience, my indifference. Sweet Jesus, how often have I, by resisting Thy loving inspirations, bound Thy sacred Hands, hindering Thee from imparting to me generously the treasures of Thy divine mercy and grace! O my Jesus, bind me so close to Thee with the sweet bonds of Thy love, that nothing in life or in death may ever sever me from Thee.
Resolution: I will acquit myself with great fidelity of the sacred obligations imposed upon me by my holy vows and our Holy Rule.
Spiritual Bouquet: “Thy bonds, O Lord, are the bonds of my salvation.”
Prayer: O Jesus living in Mary . . .
First Prelude: In spirit see the troop of soldiers seizing Jesus, the gentle Lamb of God, and binding Him like a criminal.
Second Prelude: Through Thy sacred bonds, O Jesus, deliver my soul from the fetters of sin, and unite me to Thee through the bonds of charity.
First Point
THE FETTERS OF JESUS ARE HUMILIATING AND PAINFUL
As though he were a criminal, the Son of God, the Holy One, is cruelly bound by the soldiers. With an air of vicious triumph, with blasphemies and revilings, these base ruffians vent their rage on Him Who without resistance offers them His Hands to be bound. But Jesus longs for still greater sufferings, and because of His desire for the cross, permits them, amidst blows and insults to drag Him from Gethsemane to Jerusalem.
Of what avail would be the bonds with which the brutal mob bind the God-Man, were it not that in the excess of His infinite love, He wills to surrender Himself into their hands! Oh, the power of Divine Love that holds captive the Son of God! Well may the angels with inexpressible sorrow contemplate Jesus, at the mercy of the blood-thirsty rabble—Jesus, Whose birth they had announced with hymns of jubilee, and unto Whom they had ministered in the desert.
The fetters that bind the Son of God are not only humiliating, but exceedingly painful. For, although He offers no resistance, the brutal soldiers bind their innocent Victim very securely, and then, heaping insults and abuse upon Him, inhumanly drag Him from the Garden to the Judgment Hall. Such treatment does the Innocent, the Benign, the Holy One, receive at the hands of the most vile and hostile rabble.
Let us compassionate our Blessed Saviour, the joy of angels, thus shamefully abused for love of us, and promise reparation for the outrages heaped upon Him, by patiently bearing for love of Him, the ingratitude with which others may requite our services. Could our sufferings be more painful or more humiliating than those of the Son of God in this mystery? Oh, that love of God would hold us, too, captive and strengthen us to suffer patiently in union with Him the little trials and hardships ordinarily inseparable from the faithful discharge of our duties.
Second Point
WHY DID JESUS WILL TO BE BOUND?
To deliver us from the slavery of sin, and by His infinite merits to restore us to the blessed liberty of the children of God, our merciful Saviour takes upon Himself our entire guilt, and suffers Himself to be bound like a criminal.
How many sinners, are, in virtue of these sacred bonds, freed from the fetters of the Evil One and restored to the love and friendship of God! Through His bonds, Jesus, furthermore, merits for all His disciples the grace to endure courageously and for love of Him, imprisonment and torture. How many, in truth, deem themselves happy with St. Paul, to be “prisoners with Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1), and to suffer for the Name of Jesus! In particular, our Blessed Saviour merits for us the grace generously to renounce self-will, and to submit cheerfully to the dictates of our Holy Rule. How blessed, how glorious it is to be thus fettered for the love of God! Happy, indeed, the soul held captive by the bonds of Divine Love! How foolish and exceedingly culpable we should be, were we to neglect to work at our perfection, the one duty incumbent upon us by our holy vocation! Let us then bridle our tongue, our imagination, our passions, and our senses; let us be fervent in prayer, and conscientious in the discharge of our duties.
Am I the happy victim of charity, or am I still the base slave of my evil propensities—pride, levity and dissipation?
Affections: O my beloved Saviour, animated by the tenderest love and gratitude, I kiss the cords with which Thou art bound for love of me, in order to atone for my pride, my impatience, my indifference. Sweet Jesus, how often have I, by resisting Thy loving inspirations, bound Thy sacred Hands, hindering Thee from imparting to me generously the treasures of Thy divine mercy and grace! O my Jesus, bind me so close to Thee with the sweet bonds of Thy love, that nothing in life or in death may ever sever me from Thee.
Resolution: I will acquit myself with great fidelity of the sacred obligations imposed upon me by my holy vows and our Holy Rule.
Spiritual Bouquet: “Thy bonds, O Lord, are the bonds of my salvation.”
Prayer: O Jesus living in Mary . . .
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