On the crowd’s insults and Jesus’ enduring perseverance on the Cross
On the crowd’s insults and Jesus’ enduring perseverance on the Cross
LORD JESUS CHRIST, Glory and Joy of the heavenly court, I bless and thank you for the many insults and blasphemies that that infamous crowd hurled against you while you hung on the Cross. Everyone there was against you—from the oldest to the youngest. Like mad dogs they huddled together to attack your innocence. With their mouths they barked like dogs, they gnashed their teeth like lions, and with their tongues they hissed like snakes. They cursed with their lips and their faces they turned into sneers; they clapped with their hands, their feet danced, and their hearts rejoiced, all because they saw you nailed to a Cross—one whom they did not want to see die without first being mocked and jeered. Those who passed by shook their heads like crazed, drunken men, and filled with bitterness, arrogance, and ill will, they shouted: Ah, there’s the man who destroys God’s Temple and rebuilds it in three days.1
The chief priests together with the scribes and elders, who appeared to have had the crowd under their control, should have restrained the people from such malice, but, in fact, they were more shameless in insulting you than were the others. Opposite the Cross they stood; with pride-filled eyes and necks erect they brazenly stared you in the face. Laughing among themselves, they spat forth their unseemly blasphemies, saying: He saved others; himself he cannot save.2 In this way they attempted to distort and disparage your divinely-worked miracles as well as your cures and healings. You had done all these out of kindness for others, and because of them they were known to be jealous.
They likewise urged you to come down from the Cross and though on many occasions they had already shown themselves hostile to all who believed in you as the Christ, they now falsely declare their willingness to believe in you. When you worked your more outstanding miracles, they never put any faith in you, but conceived further calumnies. They never intended to believe you or to seek salvation; their only desire was to aggravate you by derisive remarks. Bursting with defiance, they finally hurled impious words against your divinity, and with hatred in their voice they addressed you as the Son of God: “He trusted in God, let God deliver him, if he will; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”3
O most cruel and brutal persecutors of the Son of God! Were you not satisfied with being the cause of this shameful crime of crucifixion, that you should now add to your horrifying sins those of blaspheming and ridiculing the Son of God? Alas, what are you doing? Why do you sharpen your venom-filled tongues against one so holy and innocent? In what way has Christ sinned, or in what way has he ever injured you?
Has he not done all things well—he who made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak? Did he not bring fame to your whole nation by his many extraordinary miracles, as well as by his most appealing doctrine? And did he not pray for his enemies? What evil does he deserve for these good deeds of his? Why do you return evil for good and hatred for love? It would be more fitting for you to weep in order to expiate so great a crime than to give in to laughter in the presence of the Crucified!
In hearts so obstinately closed, there was no compassion, contrition, or remembrance of benefits received. But the devil-inspired madness within them—ever ready to utter more biting barbs and insults—urged them on to more heinous deeds. Now that they were no longer able to torment him with swords and clubs, they resorted to sharper weapons, namely, their tongues.
In similar fashion, the soldiers, ignorant of God’s laws and responsible for carrying out this sacrilegious deed, found pleasure in fulfilling their duty, and, abetted by the encouragement and goading of their officers, they approached the Cross to mock you. Offering you vinegar, they said: If you are the king of the Jews, then save yourself.4
O dull-witted soldiers, corrupt both in your actions and in your morals, who has instructed you to wage war in such a manner that you battle against God? It is not the practice of valiant men to persecute one who is good or to despoil a poor man or to leave naked a man that had been robbed; nor is it to rend another’s clothing or to make jest of the Crucified or to offer vinegar—which no man enjoys drinking—to God, when he is about to die. No matter how much you try, you cannot cause harm to Christ, for wisdom overcomes malice and Jesus’ patience can in no way be eroded.
Similarly, the thief on your left, obdurate in his depravity, remarked in like fashion: If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.5 What a wretched man! Yielding to contempt he plunged headlong into the pit of iniquity, and, rather than seeking forgiveness for his past sinful deeds, as he ought to have done, he shamelessly insulted you, from whom all forgiveness flows. Consequently, that unhappy man died miserably, with despair in his heart.
Lord, I praise and glorify your steadfastness and perseverance in remaining on the Cross you embraced, and from which neither flattery nor empty promises could induce you to descend—not for one brief moment would you have abandoned that which you had willingly ascended. It was your firm decision to remain unto the end and to die on the Cross you had chosen with so holy a love; likewise it was always your desire to bring to a glorious end the work of salvation that you had initiated. You, who taught others to persevere in doing good works, manifested your obedience by remaining on the Cross, and, by that example of yours, you indicated to your followers that they too must show constancy in being obedient.
You, who are a professed religious, who despise the world and are a lover of the holy Cross, approach nearer to the tree whereon the Crucified hangs. Show yourself a man and remain steadfast in your holy resolves. To be a member of our Order, to live under obedience, and to persevere in religious discipline is not only doing the work of Christ, but it is also the way for you to achieve your salvation. Therefore, let no one talk you into leaving the religious state or entice you away from the path of perfection or keep you from engaging in pious conversations or from keeping the vows you professed.
Remember the Apostle’s words: Christ became obedient for us unto death, even to death on the cross.6 Therefore, whatever the world may promise you or whatever may appeal to your body, no matter how severely the devil may tempt you or friends try to dissuade you, or even if the world laughs at you, pay no attention to all these, but ignore and scorn them.
Stand firm in Christ; look upward, focus your eyes on the Crucified, who with wide open arms invites you and promises you, for a short period of toil, an eternal reward. He says: If you will suffer with me, you shall reign with me; and if you will die with me, you shall be glorified with me.7
O Jesus Christ, most valiant and invincible Champion, most ardent Lover and Consecrator of the holy Cross, now that I have accepted to live in religion, grant me to continue to serve you willingly and let not the tedium of work weaken my fervent desire to imitate you.
Impel me always to move forward and with a firm will to resist the temptations of the flesh and to strive for victory in spiritual trials. Let me exercise great patience when times prove difficult and not fear the ridicule of men or seek their praise. Turn my eyes from all that is of this world, and let me seek you, who are my sole refuge and only salvation.
Let me not withdraw from the embrace of your holy Cross because of someone who may be dear to me or one not to my liking, but under its protection and with it as my emblem and standard, may my life, because I have been obedient, meet with a happy end.