Excerpt from the Book the Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ- from the vision of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
“Jesus trembled and shuddered as he stood before the pillar, and took off his garments as quickly as he could, but his hands were bloody and swollen. The only return he made when his brutal executioners struck and abused him was, to pray for them in the most touching manner: he turned his face once towards his Mother, who was standing overcome with grief; this look quite unnerved her: she fainted, and would have fallen, had not the holy women who were there supported her. Jesus put his arms round the pillar, and when his hands were thus raised, the archers fastened them to the iron ring which was at the top of the pillar; they then dragged his arms to such a height that his feet, which were tightly bound to the base of the pillar, scarcely touched the ground. Thus was the Holy of Holies violently stretched, without a particle of clothing, on a pillar used for the punishment of the greatest criminals; and then did two furious ruffians who were thirsting for his blood begin in the most barbarous manner to scourge his sacred body from head to foot. The whips or scourges which they first made use of appeared to me to be made of a species of flexible white wood, but perhaps they were composed of the sinews of the ox, or of strips of leather.”
“Our loving Lord, the Son of God, true God and true Man, writhed as a worm under the blows of these barbarians; his mild but deep groans might be heard from afar; they resounded through the air, forming a kind of touching accompaniment to the hissing of the instruments of torture. These groans resembled rather a touching cry of prayer and supplication, than moans of anguish.”
“The cruelty of these barbarians was nevertheless not yet satiated; they untied Jesus, and again fastened him up with his back turned towards the pillar. As he was totally unable to support himself in an upright position, they passed cords round his waist, under his arms, and above his knees, and having bound his hands tightly into the rings which were placed at the upper part of the pillar, they recommenced scourging him with even greater fury than before; and one among them struck him constantly on the face with a new rod.”
”The body of our Lord was perfectly torn to shreds,—it was but one wound. He looked at his torturers with his eyes filled with blood; as if entreating mercy; but their brutality appeared to increase, and his moans each moment became more feeble.”
“The dreadful scourging had been continued without intermission for three quarters of an hour, when a stranger of lowly birth, a relation to Ctesiphon, the blind man whom Jesus had cured, rushed from amidst the crowd, and approached the pillar with a knife shaped like a cutlass in his hand. ‘Cease!’ he exclaimed, in an indignant tone; ‘Cease! Scourge not this innocent man unto death!’ The drunken miscreants, taken by surprise, stopped short, while he quickly severed the cords which bound Jesus to the pillar, and disappeared among the crowd. Jesus fell almost without consciousness on the ground, which was bathed with his blood. The executioners left him there, and rejoined their cruel companions, who were amusing themselves in the guardhouse with drinking, and plaiting the crown of thorns.”
“Our Lord remained for a short time on the ground, at the foot of the pillar, bathed in his own blood, and two or three bold-looking girls came up to gratify their curiosity away in disgust, but at the moment the pain of the wounds of Jesus was so intense that he raised his bleeding head and looked at them. They retired quickly, and the soldiers and guards laughed and made game of them.”
“During the time of the scourging of our Lord, I saw weeping angels approach him many times; I likewise heard the prayers he constantly addressed to his Father for the pardon of our sins—prayers which never ceased during the whole time of the infliction of this cruel punishment. Whilst he lay bathed in his blood I saw an angel present to him a vase containing a bright-looking beverage which appeared to reinvigorate him in a certain degree.”
“The archers soon returned, and after giving him some blows with their sticks, bade him rise and follow them. He raised himself with the greatest difficulty, as his trembling limbs could scarcely support the weight of this body; they did not give him sufficient time to put on his clothes, but threw his upper garment over his naked shoulders and led him from the pillar to the guardhouse, where he wiped the blood which trickled down his face with a corner of his garment.”
“At the termination of the scourging, Mary came to herself for a time, and saw her Divine Son all torn and mangled, being led away by the archers after the scouring: he wiped his eyes, which were filled with blood, that he might look at his Mother, and she stretched out her hands towards him, and continued to look at the bloody traces of his footsteps.”
I googled scourging at the pillar for this reflection but there is none, that could befitting to atleast symbolize how brutal it was. I cannot help but cry at how my King suffered and how loving He really is.
He, being scourged, forgives and still loves. Oh my Lord, how many are the souls who are willing to drink the bitter cup You had, how often do I complain of how hard my life is, when in-fact it is incomparable to the life that You had.
How many times have we heard this up for debate, “if He is a truly good God why does He allow suffering”, when we asked that question, did we remember how our God suffered, innocent He is and yet suffered for us.
And the crowds voice until now we hear, “if He is God why He did not save Himself”, I still hear that these days.
Jesus told St. Faustina, that ungrateful souls are much more painful than His passion, He said, If they dont believe in my words, then atleast believe in my wounds, when I read that, I wept, how ungrateful I was, sorry will never be enough, as I'm writing this I am weeping.
How sad it is that His death are not enough for us, seeing the world now, seeing me now, Jesus was slaughtered then and now and I’m a participant on that. Oh, how ungrateful I am.
How many among us took their time to really reflect on what Jesus did during His passion? Most of us don’t, we settled in on lent season as vacation, how many of us complains on fasting on Fridays and can’t even fast, but eats less to have a bikini bod, I did that.
How many of us, so busy on searching for new palettes of make-up, lipstick, but cannot lift a finger to pray? We say we have no time but so busy scrolling the feeds looking for something new, something to entertain us then we say oh, its morning, tomorrow Lord, I’ll pray but goes on repeat, right?
May we remember this moment to reflect on our life, how did I respond on the sacrificial love my God did for me? Did I live my life grateful for what He had done by my deeds? Or Did I live my life in accord to my own wishes.
Let us try to examine our lives this lent, try to ask ourselves, how did I respond to His sacrificial love for me? Have I made sacrifices in my life? May God grace us to see clearly, have I been grateful or ungrateful of His love?
P.S. photo not mine
If it brought you good fruit, please share as it may potentially (hopefully) bring good fruit to some. If not please kindly send me an email correcting my fault, please let us walk hand in hand in this narrow road ahead of us.
May Christ the King, my King, reign in everyones hearts!
-Shalom❤️
Before you do any task, put it at the foot of the cross of Jesus, surrender it all to Him, by that you allow Him to be with you with your tasks. He is doing it with you side by side with the Blessed Virgin Mary, try everytime you wake up to kiss the foot of His cross and thank Him for His love for you and before you sleep, I am doing it and it changed everything. Just give it a try for a week even just by kissing His foot at the cross will make a huge difference. May God bless you. ❤️❤️
I often find myself wondering how,to explain offering some tasks I have to do,but prevent me from spending quality time with Jesus,before the enthroned Altar of the Sacred heart of Jesus and Immaculate heart of Mary in my home.