12 October, Antonio Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery

The Crucifixion

1. At last Jesus reaches Calvary, breathless and reduced to utter exhaustion. The instrument of torture is taken from Him and laid upon the ground. Our divine Redeemer suffers acute pain as He is again stripped of His garments, which have stuck to His wounds. Now he is stretched, an innocent victim, on the altar of sacrifice, the Cross. One of the executioners grasps His hand, pierces it with a large nail, and attaches it to the wood. Then he does the same with the other hand and with the two feet. His Mother is close at hand. She feels in her heart the blows of the hammer which lacerate the living flesh of Jesus. Jesus remains silent, “as a meek lamb that is carried to be a victim.” (Jer. 11:19)

Now the executioners raise up the Cross and fix it in the hold already prepared for it. The shock of this impact sends a shudder of pain through the Victim’s members and entire frame. Behold Him now, suspended between Heaven and earth, the mediator between God and humanity, the victim of expiation for the innumerable sins of men.

Come near to the Cross and kiss the bloodstained feet. While the Jews are insulting Him and most of the Apostles have abandoned Him, let us tell Him how we love Him. Let us tell Him of our sorrow for our sins and of our determination to make amends for our faults and for our ingratitude by living in accordance with His teachings and example.

2. Jesus had only one consolation in the midst of His terrible sufferings. His mother Mary was beside the Cross along with His beloved Apostle and the holy women who had always followed Him. Mary loved her Son with a love greater than that of any mother, which is the greatest love possible on earth. She loved Jesus with the heart of a Mother and of a Virgin; He was her only treasure. Moreover, she loved Him not only as her Son, but also as her God. Precisely because she loved Him as her God, her love was in perfect harmony with the divine will.

She understood the mystery which led Jesus to accept death on the Cross – the mystery of the Redemption. “He was offered because it was his own will.” (Is. 53:7) He was offered on our behalf as a voluntary victim to His heavenly Father.

In the same way, Mary freely offered herself to God as a victim of expiation along with her Son. She saw on one hand the child of her womb dying in frightful agony, and on the other sinful humanity in need of redemption from its iniquity. She did not hesitate; even as she pronounced her Fiat when the Angel told her that she was to be the instrument of the Incarnation, so now she repeated her acceptance of her part in the Redemption. By her first Fiat she became the Mother of God; by her second Fiat she became the loving Mother of poor sinners and our co-redemptrix in Jesus and for Jesus. “Woman, behold thy son,” (John 19:27) the Redeemer said, referring to John and to the entire human race as represented by him.

3. Be our Mother, O Mary, for you have borne us spiritually on Mount Calvary at the foot of the Cross. Deign to obtain for us through your intercession that we may love Jesus as you loved Him and follow Him faithfully as you followed Him unto death.