Lenten Meditations – 3 April – With Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900) Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“The Sacred Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ”
“Short Meditations for Lent”
From “The Devout Year”
By Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
Thursday after the Fourth Sunday in Lent—
The Crowning with Thorns
Read St.Mark xv:16-17
[16] And the soldiers led Him away into the court of the palace and they called together the whole band [17] And they clothe Him with purple and platting a crown of thorns, they put it upon Him. [Mark 15:16-17]
+1. Our Lord was covered with a scarlet cloak and crowned with thorns, as a travesty or caricature, of worldly honour.
He desired to exhibit it in its true light. The farce played by the soldiers was, in truth, no farce but, a reality. It was intended to show how empty and contemptible is all earthly glory. It is worth no more than the mock-respect of the ruffians who bowed the knee by way of insult to Jesus.
O Lord, by that mockery of honour, Thou didst undergo, grant that I may esteem human honour at its true value.
+2. Watch the soldiers at their cruel sport.
The Crown upon the Head of Jesus, is plaited of briers, the long thorns of which, pierce His Sacred Forehead as they press it down upon His Head; the drops of Blood and mingled Tears, blind His eyes.
One by one, they pass before Him and bow the knee and then, oh shame! they spit in His Sacred Face. Before that Sacred Face, Angels and Archangels fall in prostrate homage!
O Lord, in return for those insults, Thou didst endure, I will always bow before Thee in the Blessed Sacrament, with reverent love and adoration. I will seek to wipe the drops of Blood from Thine Eyes by denying myself the free indulgence of my senses, even in lawful things.
+3. What were the sins for which Christ especially atoned, in the Crowning with Thorns?
Evil thoughts and imaginations, uncharitable thoughts, proud thoughts, impure thoughts. It was these, rather than the thorns which pierced His Sacred Head and filled His Eyes with Tears of sorrow and of Blood.
AnaStpaul 