Meditation for Saturday
The Soldiers Cast Lot for the Garments of Jesus
“The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Him, took His garments (and they made four parts, to every soldier a part), and also His coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said then one to another: ‘Let us not cut it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be’: that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saying: ‘They have parted My garments among them, and upon My vesture they have cast lots’” (John 19, 23–24).
First Prelude: Behold our Blessed Saviour, hanging on the cross, stripped of His garments.
Second Prelude: Lord Jesus, give me grace to disengage my heart from all earthly things and to give it wholly to Thee.
First Point
“They have parted My garments among them”
Our Blessed Saviour had voiced the complaint through the prophet of old, that His garments should be parted and a lot cast upon His vesture. What grief must it have caused Christ’s divinely loving Heart, elevated as He was on the cross, to see the ruthless soldiers seize His garments, even before He expired! The soldiers were, in truth, ignorant of the infinite value of their treasure! Had they known these garments to be those of the Incarnate Son of God, the Saviour of the world, Whose mere touch had cured the sick, how they would have treasured and venerated them! St. John and the holy women were filled with grief to see these precious garments, “dyed with the Blood of the Lamb,” fall into the hands of the godless soldiers.
What would not Mary have done, had it been permitted her to guard the adorable Blood of Christ against desecration! Without doubt, we owe it to the prayers of our Blessed Mother that the Saviour’s garments were again restored to the friends of Jesus. To her prayers we owe the happiness and consolation of being able to bestow upon these blessed garments the veneration of our love and gratitude. But are not similar sufferings inflicted on our Divine Saviour even in our day? As of old, the Precious Blood clinging to Christ’s garments was desecrated by godless hands, so now in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar His love is spurned with even greater malice and contempt. Christ’s infinite love is requited with the blackest ingratitude by such as receive His sacred Body and Blood unworthily; by the godless, who ridicule and revile Him, and heap upon Him all manner of abuses and contempt. What a vast field for contemplation, for reparation and atonement is afforded us! Oh, that we could make fitting reparation and satisfaction to our Saviour’s loving Heart! In union with Mary, the dispenser of the Blood of Christ, and with the friends of her Divine Son, let us offer this Precious Blood in expiation of the horrible crimes committed against the Divine Majesty. Let us resolve anew to honor this priceless Blood, the pledge of our salvation. Let us pray for those who reject Christ’s saving Blood, the Divine price of our redemption. May our souls daily be sprinkled with the Blood of the God-Man, shed for us on Calvary.
Does love for our Blessed Saviour’s priceless Blood impel me strongly to make some return for His infinite love, which spent itself to the last drops of Blood on the cross? Reparation, honor, adoration and thanksgiving be to the Blood of Jesus!
Second Point
Why Jesus willed to be stripped of His garments
It was the purpose of Christ’s life on earth, but more particularly of His death, to teach us contempt of earthly things. Hanging on the cross, He strips Himself of even the last remnant of worldly goods so as to die in the most abject poverty. He would merit grace for us that we may disengage our hearts from material things, renounce all excesses and be content with little. Our Blessed Saviour knew full well that the heart of man is captivated by affection for the vain goods of this world; that many offend God in order to enjoy fleeting earthly pleasures. In so far as we love worldly goods, we disrelish eternal, supernatural treasures. It is impossible for a heart attached to creatures to commune with God in fervent prayer, to love Him with a pure and undivided love.
Let us banish all attachment to creatures, which, at its best, is fraught with anxieties and cares. How peaceful and calm will be the death of those who have been content with little! Even before departing this life, they possess a wealth of heavenly treasures! In imitation of St. Teresa, let us divest ourselves of everything superfluous, and rejoice in being permitted to suffer privations for the love of God.
Affections: What a debt of gratitude do I owe Thee, my Jesus, for the sacrifice of infinite worth Thou didst make for my salvation! From the heights of Calvary, Thou didst see Thy sacred garments contemptuously falling a prey to the rude and vile rabble. Stripped of earthly goods, Thou wouldst depart this life in extreme poverty to make all men heirs to the rich inheritance of Thy Precious Blood. O give us, Thy spouses, grace to fathom the lesson of love Thou wouldst impart in this mystery. Teach us to love and keep our holy vow of poverty in its original lustre, that our hearts, disengaged from earthly ties, may be imbued with Thy holy love, and possess Thee, their sole treasure in time and for eternity.
Resolution: I will gladly renounce all earthly affections that I may be the better prepared to receive an abundance of divine grace and love.
Spiritual Bouquet: “They have parted My garments among them and upon My vesture they have cast lots.”
Prayer: Take, O Lord…
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