"His abandonment on the cross which caused Him to cry out..."

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is the first day of July – a month traditionally dedicated to the “Precious Blood of Christ”. I doubt many people can remember that devotion, but being of a generation (many of whom have gone) I do remember many of those "small ‘t’ traditions. They were a help to me in my childhood and younger years, and so I still remember them. However, I am grateful for both old and new devotions. Certainly Devotion to the Sacred Heart and “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” came before the Divine Mercy Devotion and Fatima Devotion, yet “all in God’s perfect timing”.

We continue today pondering Chap.13 from St. Louis De Montfort’s book, “The Love of Eternal Wisdom” – specifically on His Sufferings:

1. Moreover, our dear Saviour suffered in every member of His body. His head was pierced with a crown of thorns. His hair and beard were torn out; His cheeks were buffeted; His face covered with spittle; His neck and arms bound with cords; His shoulders weighed down and bruised by the weight of the cross. His hands and feet were pierced by the nails, His side and heart opened by a lance; His whole body lacerated by more then five thousand strokes of the scourge, so that His almost fleshless bones became visible. All His senses were almost immersed in a sea of sufferings. He suffered in His sight as he beheld the mocking faces of His enemies and the tears of grief of His friends. He suffered in His hearing as He listened to insulting words, false testimonies, calumnious statements and horrible blasphemies which evil tongues vomited against Him. He suffered in His sense of smell by the foulness of the filth they spat into his face. He suffered in His sense of taste by a feverish thirst in which He was only given gall and vinegar to drink. He suffered in His sense of touch by the excruciating pain of the lashes, thorns and nails.
2. His most holy soul was grievously tormented because every sin committed by man was an outrage against His Father whom He loved infinitely; because sin was the cause of the damnation of so many souls who would be lost despite His passion and death; and because He had compassion not only for all men in general but for each one in particular, as He knew them all individually. All these torments were much increased by the length of time they lasted, that is, from the first instance of his conception to the moment of His death, because all the sufferings He was to endure were, in the timeless view of His wisdom, always distinctly present to His mind. To all these torments we must add the most cruel and the most fearful one, namely His abandonment upon the cross which caused him to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

I wanted to add something to this post, but all I could think of was silence, and the words of the hymn which begins “Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand…ponder nothing earthly minded…for with blessing in His Hand…”

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Camehome4John6 and patricius,

Thank you both so much for your “hearts” which tell me you read and appreciated the words of St. Louis de Montfort on the Sufferings of Jesus. The cry of Jesus on the Cross is taken from Psalm 22 and while it begins with those sorrowful words, the psalm ends with the confidence of the Son in His Father :

… All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive.

Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.

They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! (Ps 22 : 27-31)

 

[patricius79]

The music of Danielle Rose softens my heart and helps me to understand Christ’s Love for us on the Cross.

 

[midori]

I usually do the 33-Our-Father Chaplet of the Precious Blood for the souls of priests in purgatory in July and November.

 

[AlNg]

To all these torments we must add the most cruel and the most fearful one, namely His abandonment upon the cross which caused him to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

But Jesus was God so did He not know that He was not abandoned?

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear AlNg,

In my first reply above to Camehome4john6 and patricius, I mentioned that the words which Jesus used in crying out to His Father on the Cross, were words from Psalm 22 and though this Psalm begins with those words, Psalm 22 ends with words conveying confidence of the Son in His Father. We need to remember Jesus never ceased being God, the Son, second Person of the Blessed Trinity in the great Mystery of His Incarnation. He took to Himself our human nature, in the womb of Mary by the Power of the Holy Spirit, in order to suffer for love of us.

Jesus shows us a perfect human life – like us in everything except sin. He taught us by word and deed how we could follow Him and become perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect in Love.

Yes, He knew He was not abandoned, but I believe He cried out to let us know that whatever we suffer God sees and understands. We are called to follow Him, taking up our crosses as He took up His Cross. We are called to give ourselves in union with Jesus, as Mary did, totally into the Hands of our Father, saying at the end of our lives, as Jesus did:

“Father, into Your Hands, I commend my Spirit.” (Luke 23:46)

Hope that helps.

 

[patricius79]

As I see it, the mystery is that Jesus is God, of course, so He had the Infinite Joy and Peace of His Divinity while he was on the Cross. And even in His human nature He had the perfect joy of Beatific Vision on the Cross, as He had it his whole life. Yet this did not prevent the incomprehensible sorrow and pain he had on the cross. It seems to me that they increased it, out of His Love.

This is a great mystery, so if I’ve said anything faultily either through my error or through not choosing the best words, I hope MariaChristi or someone will correct me.

 

[patricius79]

This passage from “The Admirable Heart of Mary” by St. John Eudes, addresses this mystery, and really helps me.

Now we know that the Mother of Jesus had no sentiments other than those of her Son, and she
realized that nothing in the world can give greater glory and honor to God than sufferings and
humiliations endured for the sake of His love. Hence, just as her Son calls His ignominious and most
bitter Passion His glory and joy, so did she find her greatest glory and most perfect joy in supreme
humiliation and the most poignant sorrows, for her honor and happiness consisted in the things which give the greatest honor to God and please Him best.
Full text of "The Admirable Heart Of Mary by St John Eudes"

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear patricius,

Thanks again for another beautiful quote from St. John Eudes! Yes, how truly those two “Pierced Hearts” (His Physically and hers Spiritually Pierced by the Sword on Calvary) show us the Truth of Jesus’ words spoken in His Sermon on the Mount, ( Mt 5: 11-12)

…Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of Me. (the 8th and final beatitude)

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Jesus tells us not only that we are blessed when we suffer but He tells us to rejoice!)

Only by the Grace of God can we rejoice in suffering, for we were created for happiness and not for sorrow. The Original sin turned creation “upside-down” in a sense; God had been so offended, so terribly, unjustly treated when Adam and Eve preferred satan’s lie to God’s Holy Truth! Sin brought suffering into the world. God by His Love, turns our suffering into Joy!

How Merciful God is despite that first sin – He promised right there in the Garden of Eden – after their sin-- to send a Woman Who would have enmity against satan and whose Son with her, would crush the head of satan. (cf Gen 3:15). Though the passion was “ignominious and bitter” Jesus and Mary found joy in giving God honor and conquering evil by crushing the head of satan – satan no longer can keep us from God’s friendship, or from our true home in heaven, for we have been reconciled to Him through the Sacrifice on Calvary. In every Mass which is the same Sacrifice we are enabled to unite ourselves with Mary offering ourselves with Him as she did – we can also every day pray our morning offering uniting ourselves with Jesus and Mary in the Mass being offered somewhere in the world every day.