Roger Baxter

“ His love for you is infinitely beneficial to you; yours for Him is in no respect profitable to Him. Notwithstanding this, out of pure affection for you, and to gain your love, He has given you His own precious body and blood, and even His life on the cross, for your redemption. ”

“ Pilate from this took occasion to send Him to Herod, because, as a Galilean, He belonged to Herod's jurisdiction. Christ, therefore, bound as a malefactor, and guarded by soldiers, is led by the priests to Herod. Thus is our blessed Redeemer dragged from one tribunal to another, and exposed to the public view and scorn of the whole city. Good God, how insults and affronts thicken upon Thee, and how fully are verified the words of thy prophet: "All those who passed by the way have clapped their hands at Thee, they have hissed and wagged their heads"! ”

“ They consequently understood nothing of the mystery of the Cross, or of the advantages resulting from humility and patience under reproach. Divest yourself of all undue worldly affections if you desire to comprehend the divine secrets of the Cross. Ponder the severe rebuke which Christ gave to St. Peter when He dissuaded him from suffering the ignominy of His passion: "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art a scandal unto me, because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men." ”

“ Yet at the same time he pronounced sentence of death against Him. Thus many pretend by their actions to be innocent, but keep no restraint over their tongues; they do not offend against their neighbors by outward action, but make no scruple of injuring them by detraction. Listen to the embittered cry of the Jews: " His blood be upon us and upon our children." Observe how passion drives its votaries headlong to perdition and guard against its effects in yourself. ”

“ Discover the nature of the soil of your soul by a thorough self-knowledge. Destroy the briers and growing weeds of passion, and let the tears of compunction fertilize the aridity of your soul. In fine, " let your vineyard be before you, and it will bring forth its fruits in due season." ”

“ We justly condemn Judas for his hardness of heart, without reflecting that we are often guilty of the same crime, because we resist the inspirations of God, the remorse of conscience, or its voice, silently asking us, Will you, then, yield to the temptation, will you sin, will you offend God? ”

“ O amiable countenance of my Jesus, which the angels desire so much to behold, how hast Thou been insulted for me! How have I insulted Thee myself by my repeated sins! From this time I will insult Thee no more.
II. Consider the mildness and patience of our Lord. He is not moved to indignation; He does not revenge Himself, although He had it perfectly in His power, for He could in a moment have annihilated the wretch. ”

“ III. Soldiers are accustomed to take the military oath; so ought you to be sworn to your captain. This duty you have once performed in baptism by renouncing the devil and all his works and pomps. But how often have you deserted your colors! Surrender yourself again to your captain, renew your oath, and promise an exact obedience for the future. Banish from your heart whatever you suspect may have treacherously leagued with his and your enemies, and say with the psalmist, "Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord! teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God." ”

“ The author of life is condemned to death almost in the same breath that He is pronounced innocent and just. How criminal was the action of Pilate when he yielded to the unjust demands of the Jews! For your part, be steady and resolute in defence of justice, although a thousand deaths should threaten you. ”

“ II. What a cheerless and disconsolate life it is to be in continual darkness, without corporeal light! How much more so is it to dwell in spiritual darkness and mental blindness! "What manner of joy shall be to me," says the blind Tobias, " who sit in darkness and see not the light of heaven?" ”

“ Behold the man!" are addressed to you by the eternal Father, proposing his Son to you as an example of every virtue which you ought to imitate. "Behold the man, behold the servant whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul hath been well pleased." ”

“ I. The sufferings of Christ were various and numerous. He suffers in His external goods; for He is stripped of everything that He had, even of His very clothes, and He is suspended naked on the cross, in the presence of all the Jews. He suffers in His honor; for every species of reproach is thrown upon Him. His fame suffers; for He is variously traduced and calumniated: He is represented as a Samaritan, a man possessed by the devil, a glutton, a lover of wine, a blasphemer, and a seducer. His knowledge is insulted; for He is considered as a man without learning, and a madman. ”

“ I. Christ did not suffer for Himself, for He was incapable of doing anything that deserved punishment; but He suffered in order to reconcile mankind to His eternal Father, and to open to them the gates of heaven. He suffered in every manner, because in every manner men had offended their God, and because His object was to apply a remedy to every vice. To correct our covetousness, He chose to die naked; to reform our pride, He willingly suffered reproaches; he opposed his torments to our luxury, and He drank vinegar and gall to atone for our intemperance. ”

“ Now is the oracle of the prophet perfectly fulfilled, "I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. " (Ps. xxi. 7.) What are the opinions and judgments of this world? What wise man would place any confidence in them, or care whether he were an object of their censure or of their praise? As often as you sin mortally, you pass the same judgment as the Jews did, by preferring in your heart some momentary pleasure to an infinite good, some creature to the Creator, some Barabbas to Christ.
III. Pilate asked, " What shall I do then with Jesus?" ”

“ My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" A loud cry and a shrill voice are signs of excessive grief. Our Lord was left alone in His sufferings for a long time. He was destitute of every kind of comfort which might arise from the inferior part of His soul; He was forsaken by His own people, even by His disciples; He foresaw, besides, that the greater part of mankind would forsake Him, although He endured all these torments for their •salvation. At this awful moment the oracle of the prophet Jeremias was fulfilled, "Great as the sea is thy destruction; who shall heal thee?" ”

“ WITH WHAT AFFECTION DOES HE SUFFER?
!. His sufferings were prompted by a most sincere love for us; He earnestly wished beforehand for the hour in which His passion would commence. " I have a baptism," He says, " wherewith I am to be baptized; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!" (Luke xii. 50.)
II. His sufferings were endured with the most profuse liberality. One single pain, one drop of blood, would have atoned for the crimes of a thousand worlds, in consequence of the nature of the sufferer; but Christ shed all His blood. " With Him" there is " plentiful redemption." ”

“ I. After Christ had found His disciples asleep, and had left them in order to continue His prayer, " there appeared to Him an angel from heaven strengthening Him." (Luke xxii. 43.) Good God! is it possible that the eternal Son of God should borrow comfort from His creatures? Observe how the Father of lights at last sends comfort to those who persevere in prayer. Imagine what reasons the angel might use in comforting your agonizing Saviour. He probably represented to Him the necessity of His passion for the redemption of mankind, and the glory that would redound to His Father and Himself. ”

“ Meditate on this pitiful state of your Jesus; tell Him that you will not leave Him alone; that you will sympathize with Him; and that the just one shall not perish without your notice and condolence.
II. We can do nothing more pleasing to our Redeemer than to meditate frequently on His passion. He invites all mankind to this holy exercise by the mouth of His prophet: " O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to My sorrow." ”

“ III. Consider the circumstances attending this prayer of our suffering Saviour. Who addresses the prayer? One about to die a painful and undeserved death. To. whom does He address it? To one who is most able to avenge Him. When? When He is exhausted with long sufferings, and ready to expire. In what place? Nailed to a cross, and in utmost pain. In what terms does He pray? In few words, but they were full of affection, and mingled with sighs, tears, and blood. For whom does He pray? For sinners; for those very men who had placed Him in this cruel situation. What is the object of His prayer? ”

“ III. He who suffered was the great Lover of mankind. He had made Himself our Redeemer, Pastor, Physician, and Brother. If the son ought to feel sensibly the sufferings of his father, and the spouse to condole with her spouse in his afflictions, how much more reason have you to compassionate Jesus Christ in the sufferings which He has undergone for your sake! There is no character, however affectionate, and no title, however dear, that this man-God has not assumed in your regard. ”

“ O eternal God, behold the man who in the name and on behalf of all mankind offers Himself as an atonement for Adam's transgression. " He is the propitiation for our sins," therefore, "behold, O Lord! our protector, and look on the face of Thy Christ." (i John ii. 2 and Ps. lxxxiii. 10.) Say the same often to yourself, with feelings (1) of affectionate compassion for your suffering Saviour, (2) of gratitude for His numerous torments endured for you, (3) of confidence and hope in so much goodness, and (4) of an ardent desire to imitate His example, and of suffering for the love of your Redeemer. ”

“ The meditation of the mysteries which followed the resurrection of the Redeemer belongs to the unitive way. In these exercises the soul unites itself to God by making His will its own, and by adhering to the divine will as the rule of all good, according to the Apostle, " He who adheres to the Lord is one spirit." ”

“ All this care and vigilance He uses in your regard, to preserve you from evil. Oh what a happiness it is to rest under the protection of so powerful and so beneficent a guardian!
II. This guardian of yours will to-day enter the fortress of your soul, in the holy Eucharist, to strengthen and defend it against your mortal enemy the devil, who surrounds it day and night, seeking its destruction. This divine table, this holy banquet, is instituted chiefly as a means of defence against our enemies: "Thou hast prepared a table before me," says the prophet, "against them that afflict me." ”

“ He calls the attention of all mankind to His sufferings by the same prophet: " Remember my poverty," he says, "the wormwood and the gall." (Lament, iii. 19.) Reflect, and apply the case to yourself: if you had suffered any serious loss in your property or person in the defence of your friend, would you not justly expect that he should ever be grateful for your friendly kindness? How much more has Christ suffered for you! ”

“ Christ loves cleanliness even in the grave. Learn hence to purify your heart in the most perfect manner when you approach Him in the holy Eucharist. Christ wishes His mystical members — that is, the faithful — to be embalmed, as well as His corporal members, with the myrrh of mortification and penance, according to the Apostle, " Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus; that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies." ”

“ We were all subject to the tyranny of the devil and children of wrath in consequence of original guilt, and there was no created being able to atone for the crime. We should all have been lost forever, had not God sent His only begotten Son as "a redemption to His people." ”

“ I am He," to the virtuous and just soul. They import, I am your father, your protector, and your comforter, your sanctification and redemption. " Be of good heart, it is I; be not afraid." (Matt. xiv. 27.) The wicked have reason to fear; for to them they are words full of indignation and terror, threatening punishment. ”

“ Detest your tepidity and coldness in prayer, and your barrenness in devotion. Ponder the causes of so preternatural an effect, I. The clear apprehension of all His future torments, as if they were present. 2. His perfect foreknowledge of the sins that would be committed, and of the general ingratitude of mankind, for whom He was on the point of suffering so much and so ineffectually. Condole with your Saviour, and grieve that you yourself have been so great a cause of His pain and sufferings. ”

“ I. Consider the situation of your Redeemer, hanging on His cross. He receives no comfort either from those around Him or from His divinity, the operations of which He suspended for His greater suffering. If He moved His body, it was tormented afresh by the wounds in His hands and His feet, on which His whole body hung. If He moved His head, the thorns were pressed deeper into it. Not the least sigh or moan, however, was heard to proceed from Him. He offered all His sufferings to His eternal Father for your sins. ”

“ II. At first Christ is civilly entertained by Herod, because he expected to see Him work some miracle; but the pure Lamb of God, from abhorrence to His impure life, refused to gratify His curiosity, and would not owe His life, which He ardently desired to lay down for us, to the favor or courtesy of the Governor of Galilee. Although "the chief priests and the scribes stood by, earnestly accusing Him" (Luke xxiii. 10) , He refused to utter a word in His own defence. Admire and imitate the courage and constancy of His mind, which could not be overcome either by flattery or ill-usage. ”