V. Adoramus te Christe et benedicimus tibi (We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee)
R. Quia per Crucem tuam redemisti mundum (For by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.)
The Lord’s suffering becomes increasingly acute. He has already walked the way that led Him to Calvary, accompanied by mockery and insults, but also by the compassion and consolation He experienced in the encounter with His Mother, with Veronica and with the women of Jerusalem.
His executioners, however, feel no compassion and carry out their task with cruelty. Now they nail Jesus to the cross, like a lamb led to the slaughter (cf. Is 53:7). Defenseless, they drive the nails through Him. The pain increases more and more.
But His ‘yes’ to the will of the Father, which He had pronounced resolutely in Gethsemane and which He deepened in the acceptance of each new suffering, remains firm.
The executioners do with Him as they please… and Jesus allows it! It is God Himself on whom all this pain is inflicted! The Father suffers in the Son.
“They have pierced my hands and feet –
I can count all my bones
they stare and gloat over me” (Ps 22:17b-18).
Ultimately, however, it is not the executioners who hold the reins in their hands, for the Father knows how to include in His plan of salvation the evil He permits. The evil one remains the deceiver who, by deceiving others, deceives himself.
The Father, on the other hand, accepts the humiliation of His Son in order to restore fallen man and raise him up again. And Jesus, from the cross, looks up to the Father.
Prayer: “Lord, graciously grant us salvation and peace, that your Church, having overcome all obstacles and errors, may serve you in full freedom, through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit and is God for ever and ever. Amen.”
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be