The Sorrowful Mysteries - Meditations by Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo

The Agony in the Garden

The Gospel text, with surprising simplicity and rather laconically, tells of the Lord's agony, and thereby awakens deep compassion in the human soul and directs our attention to the mystery of the unspeakable pain that the Lord suffered for us. It was a moment when the Lord, crushed by the past, present, and future sins of the whole world, felt their immense weight upon Himself.
Three times He grew weak and asked that-if it were possible-the Father would remove this cup of sorrow from Him. Three times, because the torment of His soul was threefold: He suffered crushed by the sins of men, by the weight of the future sufferings of the Church, and by the foreboding of His approaching passion. He experienced the greatest suffering when He saw how humanity offends God and how ungrateful it is despite so many graces that God sends upon the earth. The agony of Christ was at the same time a sacrifice that He offered to the Father of Himself in full obedience to His will-a sacrifice so great that the poor human mind will never be able to understand it.

The Scourging at the Pillar

Before Pilate finally handed Jesus over to the executioners to be crucified, he ordered Him to be scourged, hoping that in this way he would satisfy the bloodthirsty crowds that demanded the Lord's death. Scourging was a cruel punishment: a man was tied to a low column-so that he was bent over and his back was arched. Then he was beaten with a rod or a leather whip, the cords of which had pieces of bone or lead balls attached to the end. The number of lashes should have been determined beforehand, but in practice this command was ignored, especially when the man was to be condemned to death.
Oh, if we understood the weight of the consequences of some of our sins, and even less serious offenses, we would never allow ourselves to join the ranks of Jesus' cruel executioners. For you, Christian soul, being in a human body, scourge the Savior every time you show your vanity and thus act against Him who loved you so much.

The Crowning with Thorns

The executioners dragged Jesus into the praetorium, that is, the inner hall of the governor's palace, where the soldiers and elders were gathered-in total five hundred or six hundred people. Then they took off the garments they had previously given Him after the scourging, and covered Him with a red soldier's cloak-a symbol of royal dignity.
It was a terrible sight when the barbarians amused themselves, mocking, spitting on Him, beating Him severely on the head. And Jesus remained silent and prayed that the sins of the leaders and the pride of the powerful of this world might be forgiven! By voluntarily submitting to the cruel tortures, He restored to man the crown of his dignity, and at the same time He Himself was crowned as the King of Love of all ages.

The Carrying of the Cross

It seemed that everything happening here was a great coincidence and aimed at condemning an Innocent man. Meanwhile, Jesus, with His most precious blood, marked a new path that all humanity will now travel. Just as He carried His cross, giving us redemption, so we too must carry it, filling up in our lives what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.
If He had not taken up and carried His cross, what feelings would arise in our hearts every time we ourselves have to go through difficult situations in life? And if Simon of Cyrene had not helped Him on the way to Golgotha, how would we have learned to carry, together with our Lord, either our daily cross or the greater sufferings that encounter us in this life?

The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus

At the moment when the Savior gave up His spirit, the curtain of the Most Holy Place in the temple was torn, which means that the era of the old Law ended, and heaven opened, of which the Most Holy Place had hitherto been a prefiguration. The earth shook, which was a sign of abhorrence at the deeds committed by the Jews, and the rocks began to split. Numerous tombs opened, and St. Matthew adds that after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, many deceased were seen. They came out of the graves that had been opened by the great earthquake, after which they entered the Holy City and appeared to many people to proclaim to them the truth about the Divinity of the Lord, and then together with Him they were taken up into heaven in glory.
Christ's victory over death bore the firstfruits of the resurrection: He released many deceased saints from the grave, and thereby they became a foretelling of the future resurrection of all people.