The Crucifixion

Mater dolorosa. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

Our Lenten meditations continue with posts taken from Considerations on the Passion of Jesus Christ* by Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori.

"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.

The Crucifixion

[  ] References in the text to numbered footnotes are not hyperlinked but may be found at the end of the relevant paragraph.

It was revealed to St. Bridget that when the Saviour saw himself laid upon the cross, he stretched out his right hand to the place where it was to be nailed. They then immediately nailed the other hand, and then his sacred feet; and Jesus Christ was left to die upon this bed of anguish.

Between Moses & Elias. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

St. Augustine says that the punishment of the cross was a most bitter torment, because, upon the cross, death itself was prolonged, lest the pain should I be speedily ended. O God! what horror must then have smitten heaven, at the sight of the Son of the Eternal Father crucified between two thieves! Such, in truth, was the prophecy of Isaias: He was reputed with the wicked. [1]


Therefore St. John Chrysostom, contemplating Jesus upon the cross, cried out, full of amazement and love, “I see him in the midst, in the holy Trinity; I see him in the midst, between Moses and Elias; I see him in the midst, between two thieves.” As though he had said, “I see my Saviour first in heaven between the Father and the Holy Ghost; I see him upon the Mount Tabor, between two saints, Moses and Elias; how, then, can I see him crucified upon Calvary between two thieves?”



[1] [12] Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.
Ideo dispertiam ei plurimos, et fortium dividet spolia, pro eo quod tradidit in mortem animam suam, et cum sceleratis reputatus est, et ipse peccata multorum tulit, et pro transgressoribus rogavit. [Isa 53]

Christ the winepress. Wolfgang Sauber.

How could this come to pass, but through the divine decree, that thus he must die, to satisfy by his death for the sins of men, and to save from death, as Isaias had foretold: He was reputed with the wicked, and He hath borne the sins of many. [1] The same prophet also asks, Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra; this beautiful one in His robe, walking in the greatness of His strength? [2] (Edom signifying a red color, though somewhat dark, as is explained in Gen. 25: 30); and he gives the answer, I that speak justice, and am a defender to save. [2] The person who thus replies is, according to the interpreters, Jesus Christ, who says, I am the promised Messiah, who am come to save men, by triumphing over their enemies. Then, further, he is again asked, Why is Thy apparel red, and Thy garments like theirs that that tread in the wine-press? [3] And he answers, I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with Me. [4]


Bogenberg ( Lower Bavaria ). Salvator-Church - High altar

Tertullian, St. Cyprian, and St. Augustine explain the winepress to mean the Passion of Jesus Christ, in which his garments—that is, his most holy flesh—was covered with blood and wounds, according to what St. John wrote: He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called the Word of God. [4]

[2] [1] Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra, this beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength. I, that speak justice, and am a defender to save.
Quis est iste, qui venit de Edom, tinctis vestibus de Bosra? Iste formosus in stola sua, gradiens in multitudine fortitudinis suae. Ego qui loquor justitiam, et propugnator sum ad salvandum.  [Isa 63]
[3] [2] Why then is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress?
Quare ergo rubrum est indumentum tuum, et vestimenta tua sicut calcantium in torculari?   [Isa 63]
[4] [3] I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me: I have trampled on them in my indignation, and have trodden them down in my wrath, and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my apparel.
Torcular calcavi solus, et de gentibus non est vir mecum; calcavi eos in furore meo, et conculcavi eos in ira mea; et aspersus est sanguis eorum super vestimenta mea, et omnia indumenta mea inquinavi.   [Isa 63]
[4] [13] And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and his name is called, THE WORD OF GOD.
Et vestitus erat veste aspersa sanguine : et vocatur nomen ejus : Verbum Dei. [Apoc 19]

St. Gregory, explaining the expression I have trodden the wine-press alone, says, “He trod the wine-press, and was himself trodden.” He trod it, because Jesus Christ, by his Passion, overcame the devil; he was trodden, because, in his Passion, his body was bruised and broken, as the grapes are broken in the wine-press, and, as Isaias expresses it in another text, The Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity. [5] And now behold this Lord, who was fairest among men, [6] appears on Calvary with his form so disfigured by torments, that it struck horror into all who saw it. Yet this deformity makes him seem more beautiful in the eyes of souls that love him, because these wounds, these marks of the scourging, this lacerated flesh, are all tokens and proofs of the love he bears them; upon which the poet Petrucci beautifully sings, “O Lord, if Thon sufferest scourgings for us, to the souls that are bound to Thee, the more deformed Thou art, the more fair dost Thou appear.” 

[5] [10] And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand.
Et Dominus voluit conterere eum in infirmitate. Si posuerit pro peccato animam suam, videbit semen longaevum, et voluntas Domini in manu ejus dirigetur. [Isa 53]
[6] [3] Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.
Speciosus forma prae filiis hominum, diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis; propterea benedixit te Deus in aeternum. [Ps 44]

Consummatum est. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

St. Augustine adds, “He hung in deformity upon the cross, but his deformity is our beauty.” And truly so, because this deformity of Jesus crucified was the cause of the beauty of our souls, which, when they were deformed, were washed with his divine blood, and became fair and lovely, according to what St. John wrote, Who are these that are clothed in white garments? These are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their garments, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. [6]

All the saints, as being children of Adam (with the exception of the Blessed Virgin), were at one time covered with a foul garment, and soiled with Adam’s sin and with their own; but being washed with the blood of the Lamb, they became white and agreeable in the sight of God.





[6] [13] And one of the ancients answered, and said to me: These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? and whence came they?
Et respondit unus de senioribus et dixit mihi : Hi, qui amicti sunt stolis albis, qui sunt? et unde venerunt? 
[14] And I said to him: My Lord, thou knowest. And he said to me: These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Et dixi illi : Domine mi, tu scis. Et dixit mihi : Hi sunt, qui venerunt de tribulatione magna, et laverunt stolas suas, et dealbaverunt eas in sanguine Agni. [Apoc 7]

Well, then, didst Thou say, O my Jesus, that, when Thou shouldst be lifted up upon the cross, Thou wouldst draw everything unto Thee; [7] “and this he said, signifying by what death he should die.” Truly Thou hast left undone nothing to draw all hearts unto Thee. Many are the happy souls who, in seeing Thee crucified and dying for love of them, have abandoned everything—possessions, dignities, country, and kindred, even to the embracing of torments and death—in order to give themselves wholly to Thee. Unhappy they who resist Thy graces, which Thou hast gained for them with Thy great labours and sorrows. O my God, this will be their great torment in hell, to think that they have lost a God who, to draw them to love him, gave his life upon a cross, that of their own choice they have perished, and that there will be no remedy for their ruin through all eternity. 

[7] [32] And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.
Et ego, si exaltatus fuero a terra, omnia traham ad meipsum.
[33] (Now this he said, signifying what death he should die.)
( Hoc autem dicebat, significans qua morte esset moriturus.) [John 12]

O my Redeemer, I have already deserved to fall into this ruin, through the sins I have committed against Thee. Alas, how often have I resisted Thy grace, which sought to draw me unto Thee, and, in order to cleave to my own inclinations, have despised Thy love, and turned my back upon Thee! Oh that I had died before I had offended Thee! Oh that I had ever loved Thee! I thank Thee, O my love, that Thou hast borne with me with so much patience, and that, instead of abandoning me, as I deserved, Thou hast repeated Thy calls, and increased Thy lights and Thy loving impulses upon me. I will sing the mercies of God forever. [7] Oh, cease not, my Saviour and my hope, to continue to draw me, and to multiply Thy graces upon me, that I may love Thee in heaven with more fervour, remembering the many mercies that Thou hast shown me, after all the offences that I have committed against Thee. I hope for all, through that precious blood which Thou hast shed for me, and that bitter death which Thou hast endured for me.

O holy Virgin Mary, protect me; pray to Jesus for me.

[7] [2] The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.
Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo; in generationem et generationem annuntiabo veritatem tuam in ore meo. [Ps 88]

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. 

Tecum tutus semper sum.
Ad Jesum per Mariam.