The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ

“Two things,” say Cicero, “make us know a lover-that he does good to his beloved, and that he suffers torment for him; and this last is the greatest sign of true love.” God has indeed already shown His love to men by many benefits bestowed upon him; but His love would not have been satisfied by only doing good to man, as says St. Peter Chrysologus, if He had not found the means to prove to him how much He loved him by also suffering and dying for him, as He did by taking upon Him human flesh. Saint Alphonsus says also of Jesus: “That is the hour of the lvoer, in which he suffers for the object beloved: because suffering for the beloved is the most fit way of discovering the lvoe of the lover, and of captivating to ourself the love of the beloved.” We are beloved by God and He showed this through His holy Passion! Further on we read: “St. Denis, the Areogapite, says that love always tends toward union with the object beloved. And because food becomes one thing with him who eats it, therefore our Lord would reduce Himself to food, in order that, receiving Him in Holy Communion, we might become of one substance with Him.” This work contains meditations on the Passion for each day of the week and for the last fifteen days of Lent. Much time is devoted to a consideration of the various events of the Passion and drawing wonderful resolutions from them. Saint Alphonsus quotes Saint Thomas Aquinas as says: “Devotion consists in being read to accomplish in ourselves whatever God demands of us.” And we also read: “Yes, Lord, all grown-up persons who are saved must either be martyrs in blood or martyrs in patience, in conquering the assaults of hell and the inordinate desires of the flesh. Bodily pleasures send enumerable souls to hell, and, therefore, we must resolve with courage to despise them. Let us be assured that either the soul must tread the body under foot, or the body the soul.” Saint Alphonsus quotes Saint Teresa as saying: “He who drags the cross along with ill-will feels its weight, however small it is; but he who willingly embraces it, however great it is, does not feel it.”