MARY, OUR MOTHER

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #515

And going out, Jesus went, according to his custom, to the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. And when he was come to the place, he said to them: "Pray, lest ye enter into temptation." And he was withdrawn away from them a stone's cast. And kneeling down, he prayed. Saying: "Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done." And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground. And when he rose up from prayer and was come to the disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. And he said to them: "Why sleep you? Arise: pray: lest you enter into temptation." (Luke 22:39-46)

COULD THE CHALICE HAVE PASSED? Yes! Satisfaction could have been made to the divine justice without such terrible suffering on the part of our Blessed Lord; for each act of expiation, each suffering of Jesus, He being God, had an infinite value. His very smallest suffering would therefore have been sufficient to pay off the whole debt of sin and appease the justice of God. But what was sufficient to reconcile us to God, was not sufficient to cleanse us inwardly from sin and make us keep from sin. Not only has the guilt of sin to be removed, but sinful man, who is steeped in evil, must be completely cured. What would the satisfaction made for us by our Divine Lord avail us, if we still loved and cherished sin in our hearts, and persisted in sinning more and more till we died in our sins? Nothing! Thus the bitter chalice did not pass, and our Blessed Lord suffered indescribable agony in Soul and Body, in the first place, to put before our eyes in a startling manner the evil and horror of sin. Isaiah (55, 4, etc.) had said of Him: "Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows; and we had thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one had turned aside unto his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." The scourges which tore the Flesh of Jesus, the thorns which lacerated His Sacred Head, the nails which pierced His Hands and Feet, in short, all the torments which He endured for our sake, teach us more impressively than could anything else what a terrible evil sin is, and what a heavy punishment it deserves. Who can contemplate the Sufferings of Jesus without being moved to contrition and hatred of sin? Who does not feel constrained to love God, when he remembers that the Father gave His Son, and the Son gave His life for our sakes? This brings us to the consideration of the second reason why the chalice was not removed. Our Blessed Lord drank its bitterness to the very dregs, to kindle the fire of divine love in the hearts of men. There is no one sufficiently degraded not to appreciate, and in a measure to feel grateful for, any sacrifice made for his sake. "Oh, immeasurable love and goodness of God," says the Church on Holy Saturday, "who to redeem a slave hast delivered up Thine own Son!" It almost looks as if the Father loved man more than He loves His Son, in that He delivered Him up so that we might be saved! And the Incarnate Son of God Himself gave up all for us, and sought our sufferings which He would endure, to prove to us the excess of His love by the very excess of His Sufferings! Nothing could better reveal the love of God for us than the Sufferings and Death of the Son of God. Even the angels in heaven, on whom God has so lavishly poured proofs of His love, if they wish to contemplate the highest possible proof of God's goodness, must cast down their glances to this earth of ours, where the Creator suffered for the creature, and He who was offended died on the Cross for those who had offended Him. St. Paul writes thus with reference to Christ's Passion: "Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and sacrifice to God, for an odor of sweetness" (Eph. 5, 2). What has been said may be briefly summed up thus: The divine justice could have been satisfied with a lesser expiation, and thus the chalice would have been removed from our Lord; but that which would have satisfied the divine justice was not sufficient to satisfy the divine love which knew no measure in its desire to draw us away from sin, and move our hearts to a grateful love in return.

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]
(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)