 |
| Stabat Mater dolorosa. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
"You may use this little book in your prayers when you meditate on the Passion. I am using it myself every day. I desire that you should not allow a day to pass without recalling to your mind, with the aid of this or another book, something of the Passion. The Passion was for the saints a continual subject of meditation." (St Alphonsus, 1773)
This grace I ask of thee to-day: obtain for me a continual remembrance of the passion of Jesus, and of thine also, and a tender devotion to them.
Figures and Prophecies in the Old Testament
[ ] References in the text to numbered footnotes are not hyperlinked but may be found at the end of the relevant paragraph.
When the divine Word offered himself to redeem mankind, there were before him two ways of redemption, the one of joy and glory, the other of pains and insults. At the same time, it was his will, not only by his coming to deliver man from eternal death, but also to call forth the love of all the hearts of men, and therefore he rejected the way of joy and glory, and chose that of pains and insults: The joy being set before Him, He endured the cross. [1] In order that he might satisfy the divine justice for us, and, at the same time, inflame us with his holy love, he was willing to endure this burden of all our sins; that, dying upon a cross, he might obtain for us grace and the life of the blessed.[1] [2] Looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God.
aspicientes in auctorem fidei, et consummatorem Jesum, qui proposito sibi gaudio sustinuit crucem, confusione contempta, atque in dextera sedis Dei sedet. [Heb 12]
This is what Isaias intended to express when he said: He Himself hath borne our pains, and carried our sorrows. [2] Of this there were two express figures in the Old Testament; the first was the annual ceremony of the scape-goat, [3] which the high-priest represented as bearing all the sins of the people, and therefore all, loading it with curses, drove it into the desert, to be the object of the wrath of God. [4]
The scapegoat. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.
This goat was a figure of our Redeemer, who was willing to load himself with all the curses deserved by us for our sins; being made a curse for us, in order that he might obtain for us the divine blessing. Therefore the Apostle wrote in another place, He made Him to be sin for us, who knew not sin, that we might be made the justice of God in Him. [5]
That is, as St. Ambrose and St. Anselm explain it, he made him to be sin who was innocence itself; that is, he presented himself to God as if he had been sin itself. In a word, he took upon himself the character of a sinner, and endured the pains due to us sinners, in order to render us just before God.[2] [4] Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.
Vere languores nostros ipse tulit, et dolores nostros ipse portavit; et nos putavimus eum quasi leprosum, et percussum a Deo, et humiliatum. [Isa 53]
[3] [5] And he shall receive from the whole multitude of the children of Israel two buck goats for sin, and one ram for a holocaust.
Suscipietque ab universa multitudine filiorum Israel duos hircos pro peccato, et unum arietem in holocaustum. [Lev 16]
[4] [13] Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written: Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Christus nos redemit de maledicto legis, factus pro nobis maledictum : quia scriptum est : Maledictus omnis qui pendet in ligno : [Gal 3]
[5] [21] Him, who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him.
Eum, qui non noverat peccatum, pro nobis peccatum fecit, ut nos efficeremur justitia Dei in ipso. [2 Cor 5]
The second type of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ offered to the Eternal Father for us upon the cross was, that brazen serpent [6] fixed to a tree, by looking upon which the Jews who were bitten by fiery serpents were healed.
The Brazen Serpent. JJ Tissot. Public Domain.
Accordingly, St. John writes: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that every one who believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. [7]
We must here notice that in the Book of Wisdom, the shameful death of Jesus Christ is clearly foretold.
[6] [8] And the Lord said to him: Make brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.Although the words of the passage referred to may apply to the death of every just man, yet, say Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St. Jerome, and many other holy Fathers, that they principally refer to the death of Christ. It is said: If He is the true Son of God, He will accept Him, and deliver Him. [8] These words exactly correspond with what the Jews said when Jesus was upon the cross: He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him, if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God. [9] The Wise Man goes on to say. Let us try Him with insults and torments (that is, those of the cross), and let us prove His patience; let us condemn Him to the most shameful death. [10]
et locutus est Dominus ad eum : Fac serpentem aeneum, et pone eum pro signo : qui percussus aspexerit eum, vivet. [Numbers 21]
[7] [14] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Et sicut Moyses exaltavit serpentem in deserto, ita exaltari oportet Filium hominis : [John 3]
[8] [17] Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him, and we shall know what his end shall be.
Videamus ergo si sermones illius veri sint, et tentemus quae ventura sunt illi, et sciemus quae erunt novissima illius. [9] [18] For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies.
Si enim est verus filius Dei, suscipiet illum, et liberabit eum de manibus contrariorum.[Wisdom 2]
[43] He trusted in God; let him now deliver him if he will have him; for he said: I am the Son of God.
confidit in Deo : liberet nunc, si vult eum : dixit enim : Quia Filius Dei sum. [Matt 27]
[10] [19] Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness and try his patience.
Contumelia et tormento interrogemus eum, ut sciamus reverentiam ejus, et probemus patientiam illius.
[20] Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.
Morte turpissima condemnemus eum; erit enim ei respectus ex sermonibus illius.
[21] These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them.
Haec cogitaverunt, et erraverunt : excaecavit enim illos malitia eorum. [Wisdom 2]
The Jews chose the death of the cross for Jesus Christ, because it is shameful, in order that his name might be forever infamous, and no more held in remembrance, according to the other text of Jeremias: Let us cast wood into His bread, and wipe Him out from the land of the living, and His name shall be remembered no more. [11]
A most shameful death... JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.
How, then, can the Jews of the present day say that it is false that Christ was the promised Messiah, because his life was ended by a most shameful death, when the prophets themselves foretold that he should die with a most dishonourable death? And Jesus accepted such a death.
[11] [19] And I was as a meek lamb, that is carried to be a victim: and I knew not that they had devised counsels against me, saying: Let us put wood on his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more.He died to pay the price of our sins; and therefore, as a sinner, he desired to be circumcised; to be redeemed with a price when he was presented in the temple; to receive the baptism of repentance from the Baptist; and lastly, in his Passion, to be nailed upon the cross to atone for our guilty wanderings: to atone for our avarice, by being stripped of his garments; for our pride, by the insults he endured; for our desires of power, by submitting himself to the executioner; for our evil thoughts, by his crown of thorns; for our intemperance, by the gall he tasted; and by the pangs of his body, for our sensual delights.
Et ego quasi agnus mansuetus, qui portatur ad victimam : et non cognovi quia cogitaverunt super me consilia, dicentes : Mittamus lignum in panem ejus, et eradamus eum de terra viventium, et nomen ejus non memoretur amplius. [Jer 19]
Therefore, we ought continually, with tears of tenderness, to thank the Eternal Father for having given his innocent Son to death to deliver us from eternal death: He spared not His own Son, but delivered him up for us all; and how shall He not also with Him give us all things? [12] Thus said St. Paul; and thus Jesus himself said, in the Gospel of St. John: God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son. [13 On this account, the holy Church exclaims on Holy Saturday, “Oh, wonderful is it which Thy love has done for us! O inestimable gift of love, that to redeem a servant, Thou shouldst give Thy Son.”[12] [32] He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things?
Qui etiam proprio Filio suo non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum : quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit? [Rom 8]
[13] [16] For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.
Sic enim Deus dilexit mundum, ut Filium suum unigenitum daret : ut omnis qui credit in eum, non pereat, sed habeat vitam aeternam. [John 3]
O infinite mercy, O infinite love of our God! O holy faith! How can he who believes and confesses this, live without burning with holy love for a God who is so loving, and so worthy of love? O eternal God, look not upon me thus overwhelmed with sins; look upon Thy innocent Son hanging upon a cross, who offers Thee the many pangs and insults which he has suffered, that Thou mayst have mercy upon me. O God, most worthy of love, and my true lover, for the love of this Thy Son, so beloved by Thee, have mercy upon me. The mercy I ask is, that Thou shouldst give me Thy holy love. Oh, draw me wholly to Thyself, from the mire of my corruption. Burn up, O Thou consuming fire, all that Thou seest impure in my soul, and that hinders me from being wholly Thine.
Let us give thanks to the Father, and let us give equal thanks to the Son, that he has been willing to take upon him our flesh, and, together with it, our sins, to offer to God, by his Passion, a worthy satisfaction. It is on this account that the Apostle says that Jesus Christ has become our mediator; that is, that he has bound himself to pay our debts: Jesus is made the mediator of a better testament. [14] As the mediator between God and man, he has established a covenant with God, by which he has bound himself to satisfy the divine justice for us; and, on the other hand, has promised to us eternal life on the part of God. Therefore, in anticipation of this, the Preacher warns us not to forget the grace of this divine surety, who, to obtain salvation for us, has been willing to sacrifice his life. Forget not the grace of the Surety, for He hath given His soul for thee. [15][14] [22] By so much is Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
in tantum melioris testamenti sponsor factus est Jesus. [Heb 7]
[15] [19] Forget not the kindness of thy surety: for he hath given his life for thee.
Gratiam fidejussoris ne obliviscaris : dedit enim pro te animam suam.
[20] The sinner and the unclean fleeth from his surety.
Repromissorem fugit peccator et immundus. [Ecclus 29]
It is to give us the better assurance of pardon, says St. Paul, that Jesus Christ with his blood has blotted out the decree of our condemnation, in which the sentence of eternal death stands written against us, and has nailed it to the cross on which he died to satisfy the divine justice for us. [16] O my Jesus! by that love which caused Thee to give Thy blood and Thy life upon Calvary for me, make me die to all the affections of this world; make me forget everything, that I may not think of anything but to love Thee and give Thee pleasure! O my God, worthy of infinite love, Thou hast loved me without reserve, I desire to love Thee also without reserve. I love Thee, my greatest good; I love Thee, O my love, my all.[16] [14] Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross:
delens quod adversus nos erat chirographum decreti, quod erat contrarium nobis, et ipsum tulit de medio, affigens illud cruci : [Coloss 2]
Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. Tecum tutus semper sum.
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
No comments:
Post a Comment