Archives
May 7, 2010
The Mysteries of Sorrow
The Agony in the Garden
The Scourging at the Pillar
The Crowning with Thorns
The Carrying of the Cross
The Crucifixion
PATIENCE
Our Lady will give us a deeper understanding of patience through the five Mysteries of Sorrow.
”Christ Jesus displayed all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him.”
1 Tim 1:16
JESUS once told the story of a poor man who owed his employer a large sum of money. “Be patient with me,” he begged; and his master cancelled the debt. Jesus was that master, and the servant represented His disciples. Time after time Jesus asked more of His disciples than they were ready to give. He asked faith of Peter, and Peter sank beneath the waves; He asked humility of James and John, and they requested the first places in His Kingdom. And in the Garden, He asked His disciples to pray, and they slept. But Jesus was patient. He knew that, in time to come, they would understand.
Being patient can be painful. Do I give way to annoyance, exasperation, anger, when others fall short of my expectations?
II. THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR
”We commend ourselves as ministers of God through … patience and kindness in the power of God.”
2 Cor. 6:6
THE Pharisees put Christ to the test. They led an adulteress to Him to see if He would command her to be stoned, and so appear heartless, or demand her release and so break the Mosaic Law. Instead, to the Pharisees’ horror, He invites the sinless ones among them to stone her, and they all depart. To the Pharisees He said: “Render Caesar’s things to Caesar, God’s to God”; “straining the gnat, you swallow the camel”; “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” And the Gospel adds, “the Pharisees sat there in silence.” But in His Passion, while the Pharisees calumniated Him, Jesus was silent.
Silence is the language of patience. Jesus was silent in His suffering because He saw God’s will in them. And I?
III. THE CROWNING WITH THORNS
”The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has glorified his servant Jesus whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence.”
Acts 3:13
THE crowd exulted when He raised a dead girl to life, but Jesus calmly ordered her to be fed. When the people hailed Him King, Jesus was especially unimpressed; once He hid on a mountain, and once He wept. He knew He was King, but a King in exile. “My kingdom is not of this world.” He knew He did not need to seek His own glory - He knew glory was given by the Father. And so, when His royalty was made sport of in His Passion, Jesus bore the humiliation patiently.
Jesus knew He was doing what was right and good. He was truthful, prayerful, and faithful. Those were His glories. And I … ?
IV. THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS
”As they led Jesus away they took hold of a certain Simon.”
Luke 23:26
IT had been a long, slow journey from his home in the country to Jerusalem, and Simon was tired at the end of it. Occupied with his own idle thoughts, he hardly noticed the stream of soldiers and citizens coming out through the city gate. But the soldiers noticed him. A moment later the astonished Simon found himself helping Jesus Christ carry His cross. Simon didn’t like it at all, but he did as he was told; and it was not long before God enlightened his soul. Simon of Cyrene was the first to discover that the yoke of Christ is sweet, and His burden light.
When I am given difficult or thankless jobs, I must work at them patiently. “Come to me when you are weary.”
V. THE CRUCIFIXION
”Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Luke 23:46
THESE words are the key to the incredible patience of Christ. For years He had allowed Himself to be imposed upon by others, to be misunderstood, misrepresented; He had worked a thousand miracles, but few gave Him thanks; His wonderful sermons, full of divine wisdom and love, often fell upon deaf ears; and at the end of a life of utter self-giving, He was betrayed, deserted, condemned to death and crucified. But is was not just His “bad luck”; it was His vocation. That is why Jesus was patient until His last breath. God entered totally into the suffering of the Christ.
“In patience you will possess your souls,” Jesus once said. In His patience Christ possessed the souls of others. I can do the same, by uniting my silent endurance to His.