14 April, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Death of Our Saviour

1. In the midst of His sufferings, Jesus forgets Himself and prays for His executioners. “Father,” He pleaded, “forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) Who were these people who crucified Him? We know well that they were not only the Jews, but all of us. The prophet Isaias had foretold this. “He was wounded for our iniquities: he was bruised for our sins... He was offered because it was his own will... (Is. 53:5-7) We are all the crucifiers of Jesus, therefore. He willed to suffer and to die for all of us, and when He was hanging on the cross He begged for forgiveness for us all. This should incite us to trust in God and to repentance for our sins. We should be sorry for our sins because they were the real cause of the voluntary death of Jesus. We should have confidence in Him, because He forgave us when He was dying on the cross and is ready to pardon us again, as long as we are sincerely repentant.

Let us consider how Jesus, even though He was derided and nailed to the cross, prayed for and forgave His executioners. How do we normally behave? Perhaps we fly into anger at the first word of offence or act of misunderstanding, or perhaps we nourish secret feelings of hatred in our hearts for our brothers in Jesus Christ? Let us kneel before the cross and tell Our Lord that we wish to be meek and humble of heart like him. We wish to be quick to forgive and to live in peace, and even, if it is necessary, to do good to those who offend us, or at any rate to pray fervently for them.

2. Quite apart from the most fearful physical torments, such as the scourging, the crowning with thorns, and the crucifixion, Jesus willed to endure extreme moral sufferings, such as the betrayal by Judas, the desertion by His Apostles in His hour of trial, and the denial by the Head of the Apostles himself. He willed to endure an even greater spiritual affliction than these, which was so mysterious as to be almost beyond our understanding. This was His abandonment by His heavenly Father. "My God, my God," He cried out in His last agony, "why hast thou forsaken Me?" His human heart elected to experience at that moment the removal of the inmost consolations and joys which flowed from His continual union with His heavenly Father. He was both man and God. His human nature was hypostatically united to the Word, and in this way even His human nature participated in His infinite happiness. As man, however, He chose to be deprived of this happiness. Being burdened with all our sins, He wished to endure not only the most frightful sufferings, but even abandonment by His heavenly Father. We shall be able to understand this if we have ever experienced moral affliction, which can be so much worse than physical pain. On these occasions we should console ourselves with the reflection that Jesus has walked this way of sorrows before us. Then we shall remain united in these trials to Him who is the only source of comfort and resignation.

3. Jesus had now come to the last moments of His earthly life. The blood had been drained from His body as a result of His fatal wounds and He felt a great thirst. "I thirst," He murmured in a weak voice. He expressed in these words not only His physical thirst, but also His spiritual thirst for souls. He had given everything for the eternal salvation of men, yet he realised with divine foresight that many would refuse to co-operate with His infinite love. His thirst was a burning love for us, and it was answered on the physical level by the vinegar which was given to Him to drink and in the moral order by our ingratitude. Seeing that His mission was fulfilled, with His last breath Jesus entrusted His soul to His heavenly Father. “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) Then, in order to show that His death was voluntary, He cried out in a loud voice: “It is consummated!” (John 19:30) Jesus was dead. Let us prostrate ourselves before His lifeless body, covered with sores and furrowed with blood. The infinite justice of God, which demanded an adequate reparation for our offences, has been satisfied by the goodness and infinite mercy of the God-Man. But the immense love of Jesus, as well as His sufferings and death, should prevent us from ever offending Him again and should make us love Him more sincerely.