Our innocent Lord heard himself sentenced to the humiliation and suffering of scourging. He was dragged to the place of punishment; saw the preparations and anticipated all its horror. How terrible must this fear have been to his sensitive nature! But he never wavered and went resolutely forward in bearing all for us.
How differently do we act! How often do we waver or actually shrink from carrying out our resolutions! And only because we are terrified by the anticipation (which usually exaggerates) of the trouble they would cost us. Such as, rising on time, doing an act of penance or mortification, or faithfully fulfilling a particular duty.
The horror of scourging is nondescript. Imagine yourself undergoing it -- clothes torn off, bloodied body bound to the pillar, while strong men armed with whips, straps, cords or iron spikes, scourge you till their arms drop with fatigue. Your whole body is sore, flesh torn, the ground covered with blood.
In all our troubles, of mind or body, let us fix our eyes on Jesus our King bound to the pillar. This sight will make all our sufferings seem nothing. We will then bear them with courage and with love.
It was a cruel and cowardly expedient for Pilate to appease the people and to save Jesus from death. Our Lord bore it out of his heroic love for us. He abandoned his body into the hands of the executioner, that he might expiate, in his innocent flesh, the countless sins by which men dishonor God.
If I have offended against holy purity even but once, I ought to say to myself -- ‘Here is my work! It is I who, by the hands of the executioners, have torn the body of Jesus, who have covered it with blood and wounds.’
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp138-40
On the grace of our vocation
“‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!’ The messenger greets Mary as ‘full of grace’. He calls her this as if it were her real name. He does not call her by her proper earthly name ‘Miriam’ (Mary), but by this new name: ‘Full of grace’. What does this mean? Why does the archangel address the Virgin of Nazareth in this way?
“In the language of the Bible ‘grace’ means a special gift which according to the New Testament has its source precisely in the Trinitarian life of God himself, of God who is love.” (cf 1 Jn 4:8) (John Paul II, “Redemptoris Mater”, 25 March 1987, 8)
Mary is called ‘full of grace’ to express her true being. Whenever God changes a person’s name or gives him or her an extra one, he destines him or her to something new or reveals to that person his or her true mission in the history of salvation. Mary is called ‘full of grace’, most highly favored, because of her divine Motherhood.
The angel’s announcement revealed to Mary her mission in the world, the key to her whole existence. For her the Annunciation was a most perfect light that filled the whole of her life and made her fully aware of her exceptional role in the history of mankind. “Mary is definitively introduced into the mystery of Christ through this event.” (Ibid, loc cit)
“The scene of the Anunciation is a very lovely one. How often have we meditated on this! Mary is recollected in prayer. ... using all her senses and her faculties to speak to God. ... in prayer ... she comes to know the divine Will. And with prayer she makes it the life of her life. Do not forget the example of the Virgin Mary.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 481)
Mary’s vocation is the perfect example for any vocation. We understand our own life and the events surrounding it in the light of our vocation. In our endeavor to fulfill this divine plan is the way to Heaven. Therein also lies our own human and supernatural fulfilment.
Vocation is not the choice we make for ourselves so much as that which God makes of us through the thousand and one events in which we are involved. We must know how to interpret these circumstances with faith, and with a pure and upright heart. “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” (Jn 15:16)
“Every vocation, every existence, is in itself a grace that encloses within it many others; it is a grace, a gift, that is given to us, that is bestowed on us without our having deserved it, without being evoked by any merit of ours, and with no right to it on our part. It is not necessary that ... the call to fulfil the plan of God, the assigned mission, be great or splendid.
“It is enough that God has wanted to employ us in his service, that He wants us to aid him, that he trusts in our cooperation. The fact that he wants our cooperation is in itself so extraordinary and magnificent, that an entire life spent in thanksgiving is not enough to repay him for such an honour.” (Federico Suarez, “Mary of Nazareth” [Sinag-Tala Publishers, Inc, Manila, 1988, pp20-21])
The 'yes' that God asks of each one of us, whatever our direction in life may be, lasts for the whole of our lives. Sometimes, it will be our reply to minor events, at other times to larger, more important situations.
Let us ask Our Lady for a great and true desire to perceive our own vocation in greater depth and for light so as to correspond to the successive calls God makes to us. Let us ask her to enable us to give a prompt and firm reply on each occasion. Our vocation alone is what can fill our lives and give them their full meaning.
Ref: cf Francis Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:182-7
Our Lady
“What humility, that of my holy Mother Mary! She’s not to be seen amidst the palms of Jerusalem, nor -- except that first one at Cana -- at the hour of the great miracles.
“But she doesn’t flee from the degradation of Golgotha: there she stands, ‘juxta crucem Iesu’ -- ‘by the cross of Jesus’ -- his Mother.”
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 507
Apparition of Our Lord to Our Lady immediately after his resurrection. — Alphonsus a Castro, c. 17. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
Apparition of Our Lord to Our Lady, as soon as He was risen from the dead (in accordance with original date). (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
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