The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-12-09
"Hls sUFFERiNes."

{ "tilS SUFFERiNGs."
For He Suffered under Pontius Pi-
late, was crucified, died, and was
buried"
The eyer-recurring question of the
reason for the pain and sorrow We
find everywhere about US, and the inr
evitable law of suffering to which in
some degree we must all submit. is
an enigma that has puzzled the minds
of ages and which defy solution if we
disregard the enormity of the offense
which has made us subjects of such
an memorable law and which has ex-
acted such an awful retribution. So,
too, to the minds of thinking individu-
ais must the sufferings and death of
our divine Lord have presented a diff
ficulty, unless by the aid of faith and
reason they have gone back to their
first cause and discovered for them
selves the enormity of sin and its hid
eousness in the eyes of an all-holy
God. In the answer to the one is found
the solution of the other.
The pain and sorrow of the in
fancy, the childhood, and the hidden
life of the Savior are to be known
from the meager details we have of
the story, of His birth, His circum-
cision, the flight into Egypt and His
labors in the holy home of Nazareth.
But the great measure Of His pain
and suffering was not in these early
years, but in the later hours of His
soiourn among the children of men.
After a public ministry of three years
in which, to use the scriptural ex-
preston, "He went about doing good"
from human point of view His work
was a. failure Anticipating the ter
rible sufferings of the morrow, He
betook Himself to the garden of Geth-
semane where, deserted even by His
most intimate companions, He entered
upon that awful struggle with agony
and death that was to be suffered to
the last. In tone of the utmost sor-
row, He declared to His disciples,
My soul is sorrowful even unto
death" Though the purpose Of His
retirement was to pray for strength
and consolation, it but brought Him
to- a fuller realization of the great
sacrifice He was about to consummate.
The darkness of the night, the in!
tense loneliness of the situation, the
knowledge of the ingratftude of those
for whom He had done so much, the
perfidy of one of His chosen apostles,
and the certainty of what the coming
day was to bring to Him, oppressed
His humanity with an agony that
knew no bounds, so that We read that
the veins were unable to contain with
in themselves the precious blood
which streamed from every pore, sat
urated His garments, and fell upon the
ground on which He lay PROSTATE be-
meath the weight of His sorrow. a
The Agony of Love.
What an agony of soul when the
Son of God should be forced to cry
out, "My Father, If it be possible, let
this chalice pass from Me; neyerthe-
less not as I will but as Thou wilt"
What wealth of love that should
prompt Him to forego that which His
suffering soul craved and for the re-
demption of an ungrateful people to
submit to the will of His Father!
Rise, let US go; behold, fhe is at
hand that. will betray Me-" And i'm
mediately band of soldiers and ruff
fans led by the arbitrator, Judas.
manifesting their cowardice by the
swords and weapons they carried to
protect themselves against the power
that Jesus had SO often displayed in
the working of His miracles, seized
upon Him who had been betrayed by
the kiss of friend. Carried before
the priests, Anpas and Caiphas, where
He was struck and spat upon; mock.
ingly forced to submit to trial that
knew no justice; scourged at the pill
lar by the Roman soldiery; presented
to crowd Of Knockers by the COW.
ardly PLATE; falsely accused by lying
witnesses: and unjustly condemned
to felon's death. the suffering Savior
was forced to place the heavy cross
upon His torn shoulders; to pass
through a screaming, crying crowd,
but too DESTROYS for His death; and to
wend His weary way to. Calvary.
There amid the jeers OF the Scribes
and the Pharisees, and the hooting
mob, He was stripped of His garments
which took the torn flesh with them;
was nailed to the cross; and between
two thieves was suspended between
heaven and earth for three long hours
of the most terrible agonies of soul
and body, until, amid the blasphemies
Of those at His feet. He breathed forth
His soul to His eternal FatherEa holo-
caust for the sins of the world.
ITO be concluded next week.