Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
“And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary they crucified Him there, and the robbers, one on the right and the other on the left” (Luke 23, 33).
First Prelude: Behold Mount Calvary, our Divine Saviour. Who willingly extends Himself on the cross, and the executioners.
Second Prelude: O my Jesus, by the love with which Thou didst offer Thy sacred hands and feet to be cruelly pierced, strengthen me to bear all the hardships and trials met with in Thy holy service.
First Point
The Sufferings of Jesus in the Crucifixion
Having reached the top of Calvary, the soldiers stripped our Divine Saviour of His garments, reopening His smarting wounds, and renewing the pain of the scourging. How painful must it have been to the Saviour to be thus cruelly stripped and shamefully exposed to the gaze of the multitude! Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and patiently awaited still greater torments. The sacrificial altar was prepared. The Innocent Victim obeyed without remonstrance, and compliant to the will of His executioners, stretched Himself willingly on the hard wood of the cross to die thereon for the sins of the world. His sacred hands and feet were extended violently and inhumanly nailed to the cross under the terrible blows of the hammer. The muscles contracted in consequence of undue nerve stimulation, and the sacred Blood streamed from the severed veins down the tree of the cross, moistening the ground.
Touched with love and compassion, let us contemplate the inexpressible sufferings of Jesus, His gaping wounds, His almost insupportable position in which the slightest movement must have aggravated His pain. Thus Jesus willed to suffer for our sins. Must we not be moved to the innermost depths of our soul when contemplating such sufferings? Must we not resolve to crucify our flesh by penance and mortification? For the love of Jesus, ought we not at least to accept the crosses imposed upon us by our heavenly Father for our sanctification? Jesus suffered His members to be painfully extended in compliance with the will of His executioners, adjusted Himself to the wood of shame and suffering, but, in perverse self-will, we deem the cross that God has exactly fitted to our strength, too heavy, and imagine a lighter one better fitted to our shoulders. Oh, what little effort do we make to return the intense love of Jesus! How insignificant are our sufferings, our crosses when compared with the inexpressible agony of our dying Saviour on the cross! Lord Jesus show us what Thou wouldst have us suffer for Thee today, in gratitude for Thy incomprehensible love.
Second Point
The Love Jesus Manifested in His Sufferings
The love of Jesus for us is commensurate with the ineffable sacrifice of Calvary, for His immeasurable sufferings testify to a boundless love. Let us once more ponder who it is that loves us so incomprehensibly. It is Jesus, the Joy of angels, the well-beloved Son of the heavenly Father, true God and true Man. From the cross He cries to us: Behold, I have graven thee in My hands with bloody marks, I suffered them to be pierced that your guilty hands may not want the necessary strength for good works, that My strong hands may guide you on the dangerous journey through this life to your heavenly home. For love of you I suffered My feet to be pierced, to merit for you the grace to shun the paths of sin and to walk blamelessly in the way of the commandments and the evangelical counsels.
Let us give thanks to our dear Saviour, and extol His goodness, for such a lasting proof of His incomprehensible, eternal love! At the same time, let us consider that it is meet for us to devote our hands willingly to the difficult tasks of our holy vocation, to raise them cheerfully to prayer after labor and fatigue, and thus to avail ourselves of at least the little opportunities of proving our love to Jesus crucified. Let us gladly bear the burden and heat of the day and spare no efforts to console our suffering Saviour in the person of the poor and the needy. He Who fails not to reward a cup of cold water, will count our steps; and the more we tire ourselves in His service here below, the more blissful will be our repose on His sacred Bosom for all eternity.
Affections: O my crucified Saviour, for love of me Thou endurest such excruciating torments. Can I ponder Thy crucifixion without being moved to the depths of my soul, without bursting into tears of compassion and love! I prostrate myself at Thy feet; I adore Thee, and extol the infinite love which prompted Thee to immolate Thyself for me. O sacred Victim of Atonement, render me worthy to participate in the precious fruits of the redemption. May the continual remembrance of Thy passion be for me a source of devotion, of love, of consolation and true compunction of heart. O my Jesus, by the painful wounds endured for love of me inflame my heart with the fire of Thy divine love as Thou didst inflame the hearts of Thy saints.
Resolution: I will immolate to my Saviour in a spirit of love whatever is repugnant and irksome in the discharge of my duties.
Spiritual Bouquet: “They have pierced My hands and My feet, and they have numbered all My bones” (Is. 21, 17–18).
Prayer: Take, O Lord . . . .
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