9 October, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Second Sorrowful Mystery

The Scourging

1. Think about the manner in which Jesus was scourged. His chaste body is stripped by the jeering soldiers, His hands are tied and He is bound to a pillar. The soldiers come forward with their whips and begin to beat Him mercilessly. As His blood flows freely to the ground, Jesus quivers with pain and emits a half-suppressed groan. But fresh blows continue to rain down on His bruised flesh. So the prophecy is fulfilled in which Isaias described the punishment of the chosen people, whose sins and whose chastisement the divine Redeemer has chosen to take on Himself. “For the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores…” (Isaias 1:6)

By means of this fearful torment Jesus willed to offer satisfaction in a special manner for the sins of the flesh. In ancient times sins of impurity provoked the anger of God so much that they were blotted out by the universal deluge. Now these sins are still numberless both in the pagan and, unfortunately, in the Christian world, but they are washed away by the saving blood of Jesus Christ, Who came on earth to make reparation for all the iniquities of men.

Kiss the wounds of Jesus, bleeding and suffering. Ask for pardon if you have on occasions failed to preserve the purity of your body, the dwelling of your immortal soul and the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. Resolve to die rather than stain again with impurity the soul which was redeemed and sanctified by the precious blood of the Redeemer.

2. The Saints voluntarily imposed on themselves floggings and other severe penances, which would make us shudder in modern times, in order to control their bodily impulses and to expiate along with Jesus the sins of their fellow-men. Today the pleasure-loving world cries out against such barbaric folly and extravagance. But you who are a Christian, educated in the school of Christ crucified, know that suffering has a mission in your life, that mortification is necessary for the control of the body.

We must make sacrifices in order to combat our evil impulses. We should avoid weakness and self-indulgence. Let us always remember that we are followers of Christ crucified and should therefore be prepared to chastise our bodies, even to the point of undergoing martyrdom, if this is necessary in order to avoid sin and to preserve our chastity.

3. Tradition holds that Mary followed Jesus through the various stages of His passion. It is impossible to believe that she would have abandoned Him in these tragic hours. She must at least have known of the cruel flogging which He endured, and while His body was being torn by lashes she was, most probably, not far away, participating by her maternal sorrow in her Son’s torment. Here, then, was a double martyrdom – the martyrdom of blood and the martyrdom of tears. Life demands the shedding of blood and the shedding of tears.

What are the motives which cause you sorrow in life? Are yours the tears of unsated ambition, of frustrated caprice, or of discouragement in time of trouble? Such tears are not worthy of a Christian. His should be tears of repentance for his sins and tears of love for Jesus and Mary.