p. 84The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

(Chiefly from St. Alphonsus.)

1. “The lover of souls, our most loving Redeemer,” says St. Alphonsus, “declared that He had no other motive in coming down upon earth to become man than to enkindle in the hearts of men the fire of His holy love, ‘I am come to cast fire on earth and what will I but that it be kindled’” (Luke xii. 49). And, oh, what beautiful flames of love has He not enkindled in so many souls, especially by the torments He chose to suffer in His death, that He might prove to us His immeasurable love for us! And how many souls, happy in the wounds of Jesus, as in glowing furnaces of love, have been so inflamed with His love, that they have willingly consecrated to Him their goods, their lives, their whole selves, courageously surmounting all the difficulties which they had to encounter. St. Augustine, all inflamed with love at the sight of Jesus nailed on the cross, prayed thus sweetly, “Imprint, O Lord, Thy wounds in my heart, that I may read therein suffering and love; suffering, that I may endure for Thee all suffering, and love, that for Thee I may despise all love.”

2. And from what source did the saints draw courage and strength to suffer torments, martyrdom and death, if not from the sufferings of Jesus crucified? “When we raise our eyes to contemplate Jesus on the cross,” says St. Teresa, “we perceive how insignificant are all our sufferings. He who thinks on the Redeemer’s wounds and recalls the torments He endured, will not dare to complain of his own little trials, for our sufferings can bear no comparison with His.” “Think often on Jesus crucified,” says St. Francis de Sales; “consider Him covered with wounds, filled with sadness, despoiled of everything, and loaded with curses, and you will acknowledge that your sufferings can bear no comparison with His.” Who, then, can ever complain that he suffers wrongfully, when he considers Jesus, who was bruised for our sins? Who can refuse to obey, on account of some inconvenience, when Jesus became obedient even unto death? Who can refuse ignominies, when they behold Jesus treated as a fool, as a mock King, as a criminal, as an impostor, struck, spit upon on His face, and suspended from an infamous gibbet?

3. Who can love any other object than Jesus, when they see Him dying in the midst of so many and so great sufferings and insults, in order to win our love? Father Balthasar Alvarez, S.J., was wont to exhort his penitents to meditate frequently on the Passion of our Redeemer, saying that they should not consider that they had done anything at all, until they were able to retain Jesus crucified continually present in their hearts. “He who desires,” says St. Bonaventure, “to go on advancing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, should constantly meditate on the Passion of Jesus Christ. There is no exercise more profitable for the entire sanctification of the soul than the frequent meditation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ.”

4. Our Saviour suffered so much, that He might urge us to think on His sufferings; because, if we think of them, we cannot but be inflamed with divine love. So few persons love Jesus Christ, because so few consider what He has deigned to suffer for us. He that frequently reflects on this cannot live without loving Jesus Christ, for, as St. Paul says, “the charity of Christ presseth us” (2 Cor. v. 14). Such a one will feel himself so constrained by the Saviour’s ineffable love for him, that he will not possibly be able to refrain from loving a God so full of love, who has suffered so much to win our love. Hence, the apostle of the Gentiles said, that he desired to know nothing but Jesus, and Jesus crucified, “I judged not myself to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. ii. 2). All the saints have learned the art of loving God from the study of the crucifix. St. Francis of Assisi found no subject on which he exhorted his brethren with greater eagerness than the constant remembrance of the Passion of Jesus.

5. Jesus crucified is the book we should constantly read. It will teach us, on the one hand, to fear sin above every evil, and, on the other hand, it will inflame us with love for a God so full of love for us. “As for myself,” continues St. Alphonsus, “I can never be satiated with meditating on the Passion of our divine Redeemer. In this subject I find everything. To meditate well on it teaches the perfect observance of the vows and rules, the love of contempt and of the trials that are inseparable from the religious life. He will never effect much, who does not carry Jesus Christ crucified in his heart. He who keeps his Redeemer in view, cannot but love Him truly.” Jesus Christ crucified should be our love, our life, our treasure, our all. Our hearts should be constantly attached to His sacred feet, so that we may be able to say with St. Paul: p. 86“With Christ I am nailed to the cross; and I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me. … I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal. ii. 19, 20).