The death of Jesus is our salvation, an instruction and an example

Stabat 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 death of Jesus is our salvation, an instruction and an example

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

In a word, whatever blessing, whatever salvation, whatever hope we have, we have it all in Jesus Christ, and in his merits; as St. Peter says, There is salvation in none other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men in which we must be saved. [1] Thus, there is no hope of salvation for us except through the merits of Jesus Christ; from which St. Thomas and all theologians conclude, that, since the promulgation of the Gospel, we are bound to believe explicitly, of necessity, not only by precept, but by the necessity of the truth, that it is only through the means of our Redeemer that we can be saved.

[1] [12] Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.
et non est in alio aliquo salus. Nec enim aliud nomen est sub caelo datum hominibus, in quo oporteat nos salvos fieri. [Acts 4]

All the foundation, then, of our salvation consists in the redemption of man wrought out by the divine Word upon earth. We must, therefore, reflect that although the actions of Jesus Christ upon earth, being the acts of a divine person, were of an infinite merit, so that the least of them was enough to satisfy the divine justice for all the sins of men, yet nevertheless the death of Jesus Christ is the great sacrifice by which our redemption was completed; so that, in the holy Scriptures, the redemption of man is attributed chiefly to the death suffered by him upon the cross: He humbled Himself, and was made obedient to death, even the death of the cross. [2] Wherefore the Apostle writes, that in receiving the Holy Eucharist, we ought to remember the Lord’s death: As often as ye shall eat this bread and drink this cup, ye shall show forth the Lord’s death till He come. [3]

[2] [8] He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.
Humiliavit semetipsum factus obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis. [Phil 2]
[3] [26] For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come.
Quotiescumque enim manducabitis panem hunc, et calicem bibetis, mortem Domini annuntiabitis donec veniat. [1 Cor 11]

But why does he mention the death of the Lord, and not his incarnation, birth, or resurrection? He speaks of his death because this was the suffering of greatest pain and greatest shame that Jesus Christ endured, and that completed our redemption. Hence St. Paul says, I have determined that I would know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. [4] The Apostle well knew that Jesus Christ was born in a cave; that, for thirty years, he inhabited a carpenter’s shop; that he had risen from the dead, and had ascended into heaven. Why, then, did he say that he would know nothing but Jesus crucified? Because the death suffered by Jesus Christ on the cross was that which most moved him to love him, and induced him to exercise obedience towards God and love towards his neighbour, which were the virtues most specially inculcated by Jesus Christ from the chair of his cross.

[4] [2] For I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
Non enim judicavi me scire aliquid inter vos, nisi Jesum Christum, et hunc crucifixum. [1 Cor 2]

St. Thomas, the angelic Doctor, writes: “In whatever temptation we fall, in the cross is our protection; there is obedience to God, love to our neighbor, patience in adversity; whence St. Augustine says, “The cross was not only the instrument of death to the sufferer, but his chair of teaching.”  O devout souls, let us labor to imitate the Spouse of the Canticles, who said, I have sat under the shadow of Him whom I desired. [5] Let us place often before our eyes, especially on Fridays, Jesus dying on the cross; and let us rest there for a while, and contemplate with tender affection his sufferings, and the love which he bore to us, while he continued in agony upon that bed of pain. Let us also say, I have sat under the shadow of Him whom I desired.

[5] [3] As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his fruit was sweet to my palate.
SPONSA. Sicut malus inter ligna silvarum, sic dilectus meus inter filios. Sub umbra illius quem desideraveram sedi, et fructus ejus dulcis gutturi meo. [Cant 2]

Laid open with stripes. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

Oh, how sweet is the repose that is found by souls who love God in the midst of the tumult of this world, and in the temptations of hell, and even in fears of the divine justice, when they contemplate in solitude and silence our loving Redeemer, as he hangs in agony upon the cross, while his divine blood flows forth in drops from all his limbs, stricken and laid open with stripes, and thorns, and nails!

Oh, how the desires of worldly honors, of earthly riches, of sensual pleasures, depart from our minds at the sight of Jesus crucified!

Then does there breathe from that cross a heavenly gale, which sweetly detaches us from earthly things, and lights up in us a holy desire to suffer and die for love of him who has been willing to suffer and die for love of us.

O God, if Jesus Christ had not been what he really is, the Son of God, and true God, our Creator and supreme Lord, but a mere man, who would not be moved to compassion at the sight of a youth of noble blood, innocent and holy, dying through the strength of his torments upon a shameful tree, to atone for sins not his own, but those of his enemies themselves, and thus to deliver them from the death which was their due? How, then, is it that the affections of all hearts are not drawn to a God who died in a sea of insults and pains for love of his creatures? How can these creatures love anything but God? How can they think of anything but being grateful to him who is their so loving benefactor?

The Mystery of the Cross. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

“Oh, if thou knewest the mystery of the cross!” said St. Andrew to the tyrant who sought to induce him to deny Jesus Christ because Jesus had been crucified as a malefactor.  

“Oh, if thou couldst understand, O tyrant, the love which Jesus Christ hath borne thee, in being willing to die upon the cross to make satisfaction for thy sins, and to obtain for thee eternal happiness, certainly thou wouldst not labor to persuade me to deny him; but thou thyself wouldst abandon everything that thou hast and hopest for upon this earth, in order to please and satisfy a God who has so loved thee.”

What have not so many saints and holy martyrs done, who have left all for Jesus Christ! Oh, shame unto us!

How many young virgins have renounced the marriage of the great, royal riches, and all earthly delights, and have willingly sacrificed their life to return some recompense of love for that love which was shown to them by this crucified God! How is it, then, that the Passion of Jesus Christ makes so little impression upon so many Christians? It results from this, that they apply themselves so little to consider what Jesus Christ has suffered for love of us.

The penitent thief.JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

O my Redeemer, I have been of the number of these ungrateful ones! Thou hast sacrificed Thy life upon a cross that Thou mightest not see me perish, and have I repeatedly been willing to lose Thee, an infinite good, by losing Thy grace?

At this time the devil would have me believe that it is impossible that I should be saved, by bringing my sins to my remembrance; but the sight of Thee crucified, O my Jesus, assures me that Thou wilt not drive me from Thy face, if I repent of having offended Thee, and desire to love Thee. Yea, I repent, and desire to love Thee with all my heart. I detest these accursed pleasures, which have caused me to lose Thy grace. I love Thee, O Thou who art infinitely worthy of love, and I desire ever to love Thee; and the memory of my sins will serve to inflame me the more in the love of Thee, who hast come to seek me when I fled from Thee. No; I desire to be separated from Thee no more, and not to cease to love Thee, O my Jesus.

Ora pro nobis. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

O Mary, refuge of sinners, thou who hast so much shared in the sufferings of thy Son in his death, pray to him to pardon me, and to give me grace to love him.

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. 

Tecum tutus semper sum.
Ad Jesum per Mariam.