The Sufferings of Jesus were extreme

Consummatum est. 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 Sufferings of Jesus were extreme

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

St. Ambrose[1], writing of the Passion of our Lord, says that Jesus Christ has followers, but no equals.  The saints have endeavored to imitate Jesus Christ in suffering, to render themselves like him; but who ever attained to equalling him in his sufferings? He truly suffered for us, more than all the penitents, all the anchorites, all the martyrs have suffered, because God laid upon him the weight of a rigorous satisfaction to the divine justice for all the sins of men: The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. [2] And, as St. Peter writes, Jesus bore all our sins upon the cross, to pay our punishment with his most holy body: He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree. [3]

[1] St Ambrose: 340-397;Ambrose was one of the four original Doctors of the Church, and is the patron saint of Milan. He is notable for his influence on Augustine of Hippo.
[2] [6] All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Omnes nos quasi oves erravimus, unusquisque in viam suam declinavit; et posuit Dominus in eo iniquitatem omnium nostrum. [Isa 53]
[3] [24] Who his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree: that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice: by whose stripes you were healed.
qui peccata nostra ipse pertulit in corpore suo super lignum; ut peccatis mortui, justitiae vivamus : cujus livore sanatis estis. [1 Pet 2]

St. Thomas writes that Jesus Christ, in redeeming us, not only accomplished the virtue and infinite merit which belonged to his sufferings, but chose to suffer a depth of pain which might be sufficient to satisfy abundantly and rigorously for all the sins of the human race. And St. Bonaventure writes: “He chose to suffer as much pain as if he himself had committed all our sins.” God himself thought right to aggravate the pains of Jesus Christ, until they were equal to the entire payment of all our debts; and thus the prophecy of of Isaias was fulfilled: The Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity.[4]

[4] [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]

When we read the lives of the martyrs, it seems at first as if some of them had suffered pains more bitter that those of Jesus Christ; but St. Bonaventure says that the pains of no martyr could ever equal in acuteness the pains of our Saviour, which were more acute than all other pains. In like manner, St. Thomas writes that the sufferings of Christ were the most severe pains that can be felt in this present life. Upon which St. Laurence Justinian writes that in each of the torments which our Lord endured, on account of the agony and intensity of the suffering, he suffered as much as all the tortures of martyrs. And all this was predicted by King David in a few words, when, speaking in the person of Christ, he said, Thy wrath is strong over Me; Thy terrors have troubled Me. [5] Thus all the wrath of God, which he had conceived against our sins, poured itself out upon the person of Jesus Christ; and thus we must interpret what the Apostle said, He was made a curse for us; 4982 that is, the object of all the curses deserved by our sins

[5] [8] Thy wrath is strong over me: and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me.
Super me confirmatus est furor tuus, et omnes fluctus tuos induxisti super me
[17] Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me.
In me transierunt irae tuae, et terrores tui conturbaverunt me : [Ps 87].
[6] [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]

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. 

Tecum tutus semper sum.
Ad Jesum per Mariam.