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| Prayer Before and Prayer After |
MEDITATION FOR WEDNESDAY
THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR
“Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him” (John 19, 1).
First Prelude: Behold the inner court of the house of Pilate, and the pillar of the scourging to which Jesus was bound.
Second Prelude: Grant, O Jesus, that the contemplation of Thy sufferings may awaken in me a true interior sorrow for my sins that I may suffer willingly for love of Thee.
First Point
THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS IN THE SCOURGING
The scourging of our Divine Saviour was administered by Roman soldiers, consequently after the custom of the Romans and not of the Jews. With the Romans, however, scourging was regarded as an inhumanly cruel and degrading punishment, and to such a chastisement the Saviour, Whose innocence had been solemnly declared, was subjected. How painful for Jesus! This form of chastisement was employed with the Romans only in the case of slaves—creatures who in those days were considered hardly deserving of the name of human beings, and who were regarded as the scum and the outcasts of human society. Thus our Divine Saviour was, as it were, placed on a level with the most despicable of His creatures. By enduring such martyrdom for us, Jesus offered an exceedingly great sacrifice of love and suffering. Oh, that we would contemplate the sacred mystery of Christ’s humiliation with tenderest sympathy and grateful affection!
Let us contemplate the Holiest of the holy, shamefully stripped of His garments, trembling, bent with suffering, fastened to the pillar. He is mercilessly abandoned to the rude soldiers, who perpetrate inhuman cruelties and vent their malice on His sacred Body. In our suffering Saviour were literally verified the words: “The wicked have wrought upon my back; they have lengthened their iniquity” (Ps. 128, 3). Our Saviour writhes in silent agony under the cruel lash, and His sacred Body is, as it were, one great wound. His Precious Blood flows copiously to the ground. Who would not shudder at the mere thought of such inhuman cruelty! Oh, how profoundly has the Son of God abased Himself, and how excessively has He compassionated our misery! He takes upon Himself the misdeeds of men. The Lord atones for the transgressions of the servant.
If Innocence made such atonement, dare the culprit seek to evade the blows of justice? Sickness and divers miseries, anguish of soul and bodily pain, temptations, humiliations and desolation are the scourges with which God chastises us, and which often hurt us to the quick, though dealt by our loving Father’s hand. But the soul, contemplating her scourged and lacerated Saviour, finds in Him her comfort and support, encouragement and hope. She accepts these chastisements not only willingly, but imposes upon her flesh voluntary mortifications, the more easily to subdue her evil inclinations and to make at least some return for Christ’s infinite love.
Do I think it possible to curb the flesh, without inflicting pain upon the body? Must I not, with St. Paul (1 Cor. 9, 27), chastise my flesh to bring it into subjection?
Second Point
WHY JESUS WILLED TO SUFFER THE CRUEL SCOURGING
Theologians assert that a single drop of the Precious Blood of the God-Man would have sufficed to redeem the whole world. Why, then, did our Lord endure such untold sufferings? Why, bear such agony and shame? The love of Jesus to His Heavenly Father was infinite, and could be satisfied only by the highest vicarious sacrifice. Accordingly, Jesus felt Himself strongly impelled to suffer even the most excruciating pains. But also for love of us He willed to suffer such an excess of pain. He would be our Exemplar in the sorrows that might break in upon us; He would be our strength and support, so that even amid the greatest tribulations we should be forced to exclaim: “My Jesus has suffered infinitely more.” Furthermore, through this mystery of mercy, Jesus wished to incite in us implicit trust and confidence in His love. What dare we not expect from Him Who, urged by such an excess of love, suffered Himself to be thus ill-treated, in order to reopen Heaven for us? Must not the magnanimous love of Jesus move us to make a grateful return of love? Should we not consecrate to His service all our energies, our thoughts, our words, our actions, our sufferings, our very life? Let us love Him with the love that animated the saints.
When the Apostles had been scourged, we read in Holy Scripture, they went away rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer for the love of Christ. Paul gloried in having been scourged eight times, and all without exception eagerly sought to suffer with Jesus, and with Him to atone for their sins and for those of the whole world. We, too, will resolve anew to suffer willingly for Jesus, renounce lawful pleasures and personal comfort, patiently endure the discomforts and hardships often met with in the service of charity. What sentiments sway my heart when I contemplate my Saviour, scourged at the pillar? Do I not deserve reproach?
Affections: My Jesus, how exceedingly great was the sacrifice Thou didst make to Thy Father for my salvation! Who could count the wounds inflicted upon Thee, Thou meekest Lamb of God, by the cruel scourging! What infinite love must have filled Thy Sacred Heart, when Thou didst will to bear such pain to merit pardon for me and for all sinners! Never can we fully appreciate the love of Thy merciful Heart. When I contemplate Thee, O Jesus, at the pillar of scourging, can any sacrifice Thou askest of me be too great? O my loving Saviour, Thou hast loved me and delivered Thyself for me! Give me grace to immolate myself incessantly by constant labor and mortification, as a living holocaust to Thy love.
Resolution: In all bodily and spiritual sufferings I will contemplate Jesus, scourged at the pillar.
Spiritual Bouquet: “He was wounded for our iniquities, and bruised for our sins.”
Prayer: Soul of Christ…
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