I begin this venture with great trepidation. Suffering is essential to our faith journey. Yet, let’s be honest only a saint or sadomasochist might pursue pain. Jesus didn’t seek pain, suffering or death but accepted it as a perfect expression of obedience and Love.

Jesus vanquishes the insidious hydra of sin and obliterates death. He does this by enduring unimaginable suffering with patience and humility. Jesus shows us the Way. Armed with His ever-ready help, we’re challenged to find a path through the complex maze of our aversion to suffering and nix our penchant for comfort. There’s nothing wrong with comfort but when it becomes an idol, consuming inordinate oodles of our time, energy, and attention in endless selfish pursuits, then it becomes an obstacle blockading the narrow road that leads to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

There’s some good news. Our Lord assures us that surrendering to life’s inevitable pain and suffering brings endless graces. We acquire heavenly treasures. We are our Lord’s servants and in His infinite Mansion there are many rooms. He entrusts the Kingdom of God – the Kingdom of Heaven – the Kingdom of Endless/Selfless/Perfect/Unconditional Love to us, His lowly, dirty, stinky, sheep servants.

Can we move past the trite truism of, “the human condition is replete with suffering” as a permissive cop-out for grinning and bearing it without reaping spiritual fruits? How does suffering sanctify us? Jesus invites us to enter the pathos of our exigencies and discover the illuminating Light of His Love in all our thoughts, words, actions, inactions, and intentions.

This first of our six Lenten reflections looks at Jesus’ physical suffering. Before we get going, I’d like to suggest two visionary mystics’ accounts of Christ’s Passion and death:

Saint Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824, Dülmen, Germany) was a stigmatic (she bore the wounds of Jesus’ crucifixion). From the back of my edition, “The Dolores Passion recounts with incredible precision the horrendous sufferings undergone by our Savior in His superhumanly heroic act of Redemption.” Here’s a link to an online .pdf version of the book or if you want a hard copy here’s a link.

For a shorter and prayerful step into imagining the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life on earth I can’t recommend enough Luisa Piccarreta’s (1865-1947, Bari, Italy) The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Here’s a link to an online .pdf version

Prophecies of Jesus’ Physical Sufferings

Sacred Scripture contains graphic details of Jesus’ suffering. Isaiah’s suffering servant passage is well known. God speaks through Isaiah 700 years before Jesus walked this earth. It’s humbling to realize the arc of God’s hand in salvation history. It begs the question: wasn’t 700 years enough time for us to be ready to receive God’s redeeming gift of Love?

Draw these words into the folds of your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate this passage in new ways for you…

See, my servant will act wisely;
    he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
   Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
    his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
    and his form marred beyond human likeness—
   so he will sprinkle many nations,
    and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
    and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
  He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
  He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

  Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
  But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

  He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.^[b]
  He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
  After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 52:13, 53:1-12

The level of detail in Isaiah’s prophecy is astounding. The visceral descriptions highlight details of Jesus’ passion and death that leave little room for any doubts as to their source

We begin our Lenten journey by imagining Jesus’ physical pain and suffering. Set aside either morbid curiosity or repulsive knee jerk reactions. We’ll enter the mystery of Christ’s suffering by exploring how Jesus transforms each excruciating atrocity into a virtuous reflection of God’s Goodness and Love. How can our actions – in this world today – be guided by the dueling dichotomies at the center of Jesus’ physical suffering?

We’ll use seven moments of pain as the basis of our reflection. It’s not meant to be an exhaustive treatment. It’s a prayerful step into spiritual moments frozen in life-giving time.

When I was praying at Adoration last night, the Lord asked me to voice His pain in the first person. I was incredulous. I asked Jesus several times to confirm what I was hearing in my heart. His voice was clear.

Jesus loves the psalms. They were at the nexus of Jesus’ human life of prayer. We’ll use the psalms to amplify Jesus’ voice. Our greatest teacher is Jesus’ response to pain. May we recognize Jesus’ response, ask Him for the grace to imitate His example, and bring it to the situations of our life.

Pain#1:  Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane
 
The night of Jesus’ passion doesn’t begin in pain; quite the contrary. Jesus celebrates the Passover seder with his disciples. This is an intimate dinner.

Jesus tenderly washes His friends feet as He gazes into their eyes. The food is yummy. The wine is flowing. Warmth, comfort, and security comingle. And the air is saturated with joyous prayers and victorious songs. John rests his head against the beating heart of Jesus. Jesus leaves the joy of the Passover celebration, enters the Garden of Gethsemane, and falls to His knees. What physical pain does He experience…

“My warmth is fleeing. I’m enshrouded in a deafening, dissonant, icy, chill, lustily suckling me. I feel my blood boiling from the crushing weight of a sea of hands shoving me to the ground. I cannot cry. My tears are frozen; not even my fiery bloody sweat can smelt my anguish.”

Jesus surrenders. He chains Himself to the infinite pains of sin and death in His human flesh. He enters the boxing ring in top form and lowers His gloves to an unworthy opponent to accept a relentless flurry of spiritual punches that assault His body. Our prize-winning Fighter rages a war against a ravenous opponent with docility and humility.

When you are in your prime… when you are strong… when you are the rightfully winner…

Pain #2: Jesus’ Arrest

Jesus rises from the ground. His body is drenched in sweat. His tremulous disposition is transformed. He exudes unshakeable peace. He has surrendered. He has given His, “Yes,” to the Father:

Jesus faces the murderous, cowardly regiment sent to arrest Him. They are riddled with fear. While they lack direct knowledge of Jesus’ divinity, their demon possessed souls, and black hearts know they are in the presence of God. Jesus stands His ground.

Then there is the kiss – the acerbic kiss that packs the punch of every person, across all time that uses their God given free will to reject the Mercy and Love of Jesus Christ.

Chaos ensues. The soldiers seize Jesus. Peter reacts. His impetuous nature gets the better of him. Peter draws his sword and cuts off the ear of Malchus, a high priest. Jesus kneels to heal him…

“I AM who I AM. My cheek is burning from Judas’ kiss. I will extinguish it with my Mercy’s blazing healing. I feel Malchus’ pleading eyes searching for mine. I kneel and grasp his arm. He accepts my touch with faith in my Kingship. My heart is gorging with Love. I am oblivious to the blows falling on me.”

Jesus’ healing is ignored. Although He hasn’t been tried and found guilty of any charges, the soldiers spare no physical expense in brutalizing Jesus. The soldiers and high priests are oblivious to the miracle. Evil is blind. Evil’s answer to Jesus’ Love is resentment, rejection, and retaliation. Jesus responds to the physical assaults of Himself and others with selflessness and servitude. No one is greater than the Master!

When you are in the throes of chaos… when you are threatened…when others are hurt and in need of healing…

Pain #3: Scourging

The soldiers and high-priest lead Jesus to Caiaphas for a sham trial. The calumnious clamor reverberates to this day. With ridiculous accusations – one more preposterous than the next and many of them contradicting each other – it was the big “B” word (blasphemy) that brought the mock Sanhedrin hearing to a raucous verdict. It’s late. Jesus’ face is bleeding, and He’s already battered and bludgeoned.

Jesus doesn’t fare any better in the morning. You know how it goes… Pilate sends Jesus to be scourged. His hands and feet are fastened to a pillar.

“Hostile stares are gnawing at me. My bare back is bristling in anticipation. I’m caught in a barrage of strikes ripping my flesh, and I cannot escape. My agonizing shouts are justified by the testimony of my blood soaking the ground. My mother’s tender tears caress my wounds.”

Evil exhausts itself. Jesus accepts constraints. In the scourging He submits to the physical constraints of being tied to a pillar. Jesus restrains from either invoking His Godly Power to take control of an out-of-control situation or give into human fearful responses such as resentment. Restraint is a common theme in Jesus’ ministry and in His passion. He doesn’t push away pain; He leans into it.

When you are restrained… when you are forced to accept limitations… when you are at the hands of people and situations intent on inflicting pain on you…

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2

Pain #4: Crown of Thorns
Pain #5: Carrying the Cross
Pain #6: Nailed to the Cross
Pain #7: Breathing on Cross