Friends at Corut.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 14, 5 April 1900, Page 7

Friends at Corut.

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR. (Written for the N.Z. Tablet.) , April 8, Sunday.— Palm Sunday. „ 9, Monday. — St. Yen. Edward Oldoorne, Priest and Martyr. „ 10, Tuesday. — St. Guthlac, Priest and Hermit. „ 11, Wednesday.— St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor. „ 12, Thursday. — The Last Sapper. „ 13, Friday.— Good Friday. „ 14, Saturday.'-Holy Saturday.

THE PASSION OF OTJB LOBD.

1 Upon the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept when we remembered Sion' (JPs. oxxxri). Aooording to the remarkable explanation which Cornelius a Lapide gives of this text, Sion in ruins is a striking figure of the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ. This holy and learned commentator of the Scripture says, moreover, ' that the Jews were wont even in his dayß to visit Jerusalem every year, and calling to mind her ancient splendour and her magnificent temple, Bat and wept over the ruins.' But if the prophet Jeremias, with the captive Israelites, during the Babylonian bondage, and their still more unhappy descendants after the seoond destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and Vespasian, wept so bitterly over that which was only a figure of the dead Christ, surely His disciples could not shed too many tears when they come to gaze in spirit upon the mutilated oorpse of the Son of God, slain for man's redemption from sin and hell, especially when they call to mind the Saviour's former splendour of body and soul, and the adorable divinity that shone from His sacred countenance. Jesus Christ Himself was indeed the first to liken the temple of Jerusalem to His own sacred body in these words to the Pharisees : ' I will destroy the temple, and in three days build it up again,' and the Church of Christ, prefigured by Jeremias, invites everyone daily and hourly to commemorate the Man-God'tt crucifixion, agony, and death whioh took place nearly 2000 years ago. What Jesus suffered in His sacred passion may be comprised tinder two kinds of suffering : His external sufferings, whioh He Himself called a baptism wherewith He must be baptised, and His internal sufferings which He denominated a chalice. With regard to the internal sufferings, the Divine Redeemer underwent all kinds of torment. In external thiagß, because He was stripped of His garments, whioh were divided among the executioners, and He was publicly crucified nakedly. In is honor, because He was divers ways traduced. In His wisdom, because He waa considered illiterate, and condemned as a madman and a fool. In His miracles, because He was treated as an impostor, a magician, and one who worked wonders through Beelzebub. In His body, because He endured torments which in themselves were the greatest of all, and which increased on account of the extreme delicacy of His frame. In His friends, because He was either deserted by them in the hour of distress, or because He suffered on account of what they underwent, but especially on account of the dolors of His moßt heartbroken Mother.

You must also bear in mind that Jesus Christ suffered equally with regard to external torments. He suffered from His journeys, or stations, wnioh were seven in number. From the supper-room He went into the Garden, where He was sorrowful even unto death, prayed for three hours and sweated drops of blood. From Gethsemani, where He was apprehended, He went to the house of Annas. From the house of Annas, He was dragged to the tribunal of Caiphas. From the tribunal of Caiphas He was led to Pilate's hall. From Pilate's hall, He walked to the palace of Herod, and from Herod's palace, back to the hall of Pontius Pilate. Thence after His condemnation, hungry and thirsty, bleeding and fainting, He carried the Cross to Mount Calvary, under the heavy weight of which three times He fell. He suffered in each of His senses : in His eyes, by beholding the actions and gestures of those who mocked and derided Him, also by seeing the tears of those who loved Him. His eyes, moreover, Buffered by being disfigured with spittle, blinded with blood, worn out by tears, and cruelly blindfolded ; His ears, by being horrified by listening to the blasphemies, the false testimonies, and the unworthy accusations made against Him ; His smell, by being offended by the foetid effluvia of Golgotha, the place of skulls and death ; His taste, by suffering from burning thirst, and from the vinegar and gall given Him to drink ; His sense of feeling, for He waa tormented in all His members— on His shoulders, by the scourges and the weight and roughness of the Cross ; in His head by the Crown of thorns, and in His hands and feet by the cruel nails. As the whole of man was wounded by the fall, so the Divine Redeemer wished to suffer in everything in order that He might apply a suitable remedy for each vice. He suffered for His enemies, even for His very cruciflers, that He might obtain pardon for them from His Heavenly Father, and therefore, He prayed, when dying, in these words : — ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' Finally, He suffered for the salvation of mankind in such a manner as to offer up His torments to His Heavenly Father for each of the human race. Let us turn our eyes to gaze on the dead Christ in His Mother's arms. In agonies of pain she contemplates His lacerated flesh and disfigured beauty. One by one, with trembling hands, she gently draws out the cruel thorns deeply rooted in His head. She wipes away the blood and counts His wounds, then, with indescribable tenderness and love, she fondly kisses His head, His hands, His feet, and as she does so, she weeps bitter sighs of sorrow, and bathes His wounds with her tears. Well may this blessed Mother exolaim now, ' All you who pass by the way, come and see if there be sorrow like my sorrow.'