ELEVENTH MEDITATION FOR LENT
Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth . . . and he saith to the Jews: "Behold your king." But they cried out: Away with him: Away with him: Crucify him . . . Therefore he delivered him to them to be crucified. (John 19:13-16)
Jesus Christ was no longer recognizable; the rage of the Jews and the cruelty of the executioners had left Him in such a terrible state that the judge himself had to tell the Jews that He whom he presented before them was Jesus Christ. This spectacle would have touched the hearts of the most savage barbarians; even the Jews would have had compassion, even their hearts would have been moved, if it had been anyone else but Jesus Christ. Behold our Divine Savior abandoned to the rage of these demons! O my adorable Savior, Thou art overwhelmed with torments and opprobrium! It was Thy love for us that brought matters to this excess. Was not this sufficient without exposing Thyself daily to similar treatment in the Blessed Sacrament? Was it not already too much? "Yes," answers our Savior, "it was more than enough to appease My Heavenly Father, more than enough to extinguish the hatred of My enemies, more than sufficient to to blot out the sins of the whole world, more than sufficient to quench the fires of Hell; but it was not enough to show Christians the excess of My love. It was enough to move My judge, Pilate, and My executioners, enough to split the rocks, and, nevertheless, neither the remembrance of My past sufferings nor the sight of the outrages which I suffer unceasingly in the Blessed Eucharist are enough to touch the hearts of Christians." Oh! the hardness and insensibility of our hearts! All these excesses of suffering and love are not enough to conquer our indifference. We see Jesus Christ daily treated with indignity in the Blessed Sacrament, and we look on with unconcern!
[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]
Jesus Christ was no longer recognizable; the rage of the Jews and the cruelty of the executioners had left Him in such a terrible state that the judge himself had to tell the Jews that He whom he presented before them was Jesus Christ. This spectacle would have touched the hearts of the most savage barbarians; even the Jews would have had compassion, even their hearts would have been moved, if it had been anyone else but Jesus Christ. Behold our Divine Savior abandoned to the rage of these demons! O my adorable Savior, Thou art overwhelmed with torments and opprobrium! It was Thy love for us that brought matters to this excess. Was not this sufficient without exposing Thyself daily to similar treatment in the Blessed Sacrament? Was it not already too much? "Yes," answers our Savior, "it was more than enough to appease My Heavenly Father, more than enough to extinguish the hatred of My enemies, more than sufficient to to blot out the sins of the whole world, more than sufficient to quench the fires of Hell; but it was not enough to show Christians the excess of My love. It was enough to move My judge, Pilate, and My executioners, enough to split the rocks, and, nevertheless, neither the remembrance of My past sufferings nor the sight of the outrages which I suffer unceasingly in the Blessed Eucharist are enough to touch the hearts of Christians." Oh! the hardness and insensibility of our hearts! All these excesses of suffering and love are not enough to conquer our indifference. We see Jesus Christ daily treated with indignity in the Blessed Sacrament, and we look on with unconcern!
[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]
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