Passion Sunday – 22 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
Passion Sunday
The Passion of Christ
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that, whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish but may have life everlasting.”
John iii. 14, 15
We may note here three lessons.
- The Figure of the Passion.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert.
When the Jews said, “Our soul now loatheth this very light food” (Num xxi. 5), the Lord sent serpents in punishment and afterwards, for a remedy, He commanded the brazen serpent to be made — as a remedy against the serpents and too, as a figure of the Passion.
It is the nature of a serpent to be poisonous but the brazen serpent had no poison — it was but the figure of a poisonous serpent.
So too, Christ had no sin — which is the poison but He had the likeness of sin.
“ God sent His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and of sin” (Rom viii. 3).
Therefore, Christ had the effect of the serpent against the movements of our desires. - The Mode of the Passion.
So must the Son of Man be lifted up. This refers to His being raised upon the Cross.
He willed to die lifted up,
(i) To purify the air – already He had purified the earth by the holiness of His Living upon it but it still remained for Him to purify the air by His Dying there;
(ii) To triumph over the devils, who in the air, make their preparations to war on us;
(iii) To draw our hearts to His Heart, by His Dying there, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to
Myself ” (John xii. 32). “”
Since, in the Death of the Cross, He was Exalted and since, it was there that He overcame His enemies, we say that He was Exalted rather than, He Died.
“He shall drink of the strrent by the wayside, therefore, shall He lift up His Head” (Ps. cix. 7).
The Cross was the cause of His Exaltation.
“He became obedient unto death, even to the Death of the Cross, wherefore God hath Exalted Him” (Phil ii. 8).
- The Fruit of the Passion – the Fruit is Eternal Life. Whence Our Lord says Himself, “Whosoever believeth in
Me, doing good works, may not perish but may have life everlasting ”(John iii. 16).
And this Fruit corresponds to the fruit of the serpent which foreshadowed Him.
For whoever looked upon the brazen serpent was delivered from the poison and his life was preserved.
Now the man who looks upon the Son of Man lifted up, is the man who believes in Christ Crucified and it is in this way that he is delivered from the poison of sin and preserved for the life which is eternal.
ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568
AnaStpaul 