“Therefore courageous men must be sought not only on battlefields, but also in hospital wards or on a bed of pain.” (Thomas J. Olmsted, “Manual for Men” at page 99).
Have you ever really reflected on the Crucifixion?
I do not mean reflected in a theoretical manner, but reflected on the practicality of the Crucifixion itself…
The Crucifixion and in fact the actual Passion and Death of Christ is a truly miraculous thing.
And I say that with utter reverence.
You see, Christ was tortured and killed. The night before His death, He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and said, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done.” (Luke 22:42).
And I have been reflecting on that prayer. You see, Christ was actually asking for the strength – in His Perfect Human Nature – to be able to remain on the Cross and to endure the Crucifixion.
And that in itself is a miracle that I could spend eternity pondering.
You see, the nature of that miracle lies in the amount of pain involved in the death of Christ. Not only the physical pain to endure the horrific mutilation of His Human Body and His dignity, but – perhaps the even greater pain of His Immortal Soul. You see, when He was dying on the Cross, Christ experienced ALL SINS that had been, were being and would be committed from the moment the world began until the end of the world. And this meant that His soul was assaulted with such affronts (as Sin is an affront, a rejection) of God.
And so, when Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was praying for the strength to endure and to remain – with FORTITUDE – on that Cross… You see, Christ is God. When He was on that Cross, He could have removed Himself at any moment. He could have chosen to destroy the world for the affronts to His Body and Soul that day.
In fact, remaining on that Cross, would be the same as me holding my hand in a fire long after the fire had burned away all my flesh and refusing to flinch. You see, unlike any other human being, Christ could have removed Himself from that Cross that day. Unlike me, He had full command over the entire universe. It would have just taken a moment of His wavering fortitude for Christ to come down and for Salvation to be lost to humankind…
And this is the reason that the Blessed Virgin did not plead with Him to come down. For she supported His mission from the moment of His conception. And she would not do anything to weaken the resolve of God Made Man…
And I read the words of Thomas J. Olmsted in his text “Manual for Men” at page 99 today,
“The virtue of fortitude always calls for a certain overcoming of human weakness and particularly of fear. Man, indeed, by nature, spontaneously fears danger, affliction and suffering. Therefore courageous men must be sought not only on battlefields, but also in hospital wards or on a bed of pain. Such men could often be found in concentration camps or in places of deportation. They were real heroes.”
And it seems to me that such heroes are truly the children of God…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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