Meditation for Thursday

This day thou hast to think of our Saviour being crowned with thorns, of His being presented to the people with the words, “ Behold the Man,” and then of His bearing the Cross to the hill-side. The Spouse in the Canticles in prophecy invites us to the consideration of these lamentable scenes in these words, ‘‘ Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.” O my soul, what doest thou? My heart, what thinkest thou? My tongue, why art thou silent? O my most sweet Saviour, when I open my eyes, and see this awful picture which presents itself before me, my heart is rent asunder with grief. O my Lord, were those scourgings not sufficient, Thy coming Death, Thy Blood so copiously poured forth, but that those thorns, pressed down upon Thy Head must drain from It the Blood which scourgings may have left ?

Then, that thou mayest the better feel what this scene shows thee, have first before thine eyes the Image of thy Lord _as He appeared of old, in His marvellous perfections, and then turn to His appearance now. Note well the greatness of His beauty, the gravity of His eyes, the graciousness of His words, His authority, meekness, and serenity, and that look of venerable majesty. And when thou hast so observed Him, and hast delighted thyself with the vision of a Figure so perfect, turn thine eyes to see Him as He is here, clad in that purple robe of scorn, with the reed in His Hand for a royal sceptre, and that diadem of thorns upon His Head, the dimmed eyes, pale, wan Face, all stained with Blood and spittle! See Him as from without, and from within, His Heart pierced through with griefs, His Body covered with wounds, forsaken by His disciples, persecuted by the Jews, scoffed at by the soldiers, despised by the High Priests, rejected as a king usurping, accused unjustly, and abandoned from all human favour, And think of all this, not as an event past, but present ; not as the sorrow of some other, but as thy veryown. Think of thyself as suffering in His place, of what thou wouldest feel if in so sensitive a part as thy head, they drove numberless sharp thorns piercing to the bone! Thorns I say? Hardly couldest thou endure it, if it were but one single prick of a needle! Then what must that most sensitive Head have felt with this long course of torments !

When these derisions and the crowning of the Saviour were ended, the Judge took Him by the hand, all maltreated as He was, and brought Him out before the furious people, saying, “ Behold the Man!” It was as though he would say, “If for your envy ye seek this Man’s death, see Him well nigh dead already, and ye will have pity for Him rather than envy. Or, if ye fear lest Hé make Himself a King, see Him here so disfigured that He hardly appears to be a man. With these Hands so shackled, what do ye fear? For this Man so scourged, what more do ye demand ?” By this, my soul, thou mayest understand what was then the Saviour's condition, that the Judge believed that His very appearance was sufhicient to move His enemies to pity. And in this thought thou mayest understand how evil would the lot of a Christian who felt no pity for the sorrows of Christ, seeing that His Judge even believed they were sufficient to rie hearts so fierce as those before im.

Then when Pilate saw that these punishments which he had caused to be inflicted on that most Holy Lamb, were not sufficient to assuage the fury of His enemies, he went into the Praetorium, and, seating himself on the judgment-seat, pronounced final sentence in the case. Already at the doors stood the Cross prepared for Him ; already had been written the accusing Title which they would place over His Head. Then, when the cruel sentence had been declared, His enemies added a new cruelty to the others, which was to lay upon those shoulders so bruised and torn with the scourge the heavy timber of the Cross. Nor did the pitying Lord refuse this burden, upon which lay all our sins, but, with fullest charity and obedience, embraced it for love of us !

So, then, the innocent Isaac anew, went forth to the place of sacrifice, with this heavy burden upon His shoulders so worn with suffering, much people following Him, and many devout women with their tears E irang Him. Who would not have tears when seeing the King of Angels l Wend His way step by step under that heavy burden, with trembling knees, bent Body, eyes dimmed, and Face all bleeding from that thorn-garland on His Head, with all those shameful cries and imprecations which they were uttering against Him? And then, my soul, let thine eyes fall upon another spectacle apart from this, for a while. In this procession to the Hill of Suffering, see the Virgin-Mother, Lady of Sorrows, following her Divine Son, and think of her hearing all she heard said of Him that day, seeing all she saw. Who can picture all the sorrow of the Blessed Mother on that day of days ? And, yet, it is with such thoughts upon the sorrows of the way to Calvary we shall be the better prepared for the sympathy and the penitence due from us, when we come to the Hill of Suffering itself.