09-19-2026, 08:10 AM
Chapter XIV. Of the Constant and Many Sufferings Which Christ Did Bear in Divers Ways
His third companion was that of the which He had the most experience and which did endure continually. This was supreme suffering, the which did instantly afflict His soul when it was joined unto His body. For in that moment wherein His soul was united with His human body it was instantly filled with supreme knowledge. Wherefore was Christ possessed of understanding even in the womb of the Virgin mother. He did instantly begin to feel the utmost suffering; He possessed a universal and singular knowledge, foresight, consideration, and understanding of all the pains which His soul and body were presently to undergo, and bear for our sake, and, as though nigh unto death, He was filled with such agony and sadness that His body did give forth a bloody sweat which dropped even upon the earth, foreshowing the bitterness of death, and His soul did lament in its great affliction, albeit His body felt not so great a suffering as when it was more nigh unto its Passion. That holy soul did foresee the knives of those most evil tongues, and the sharp and cutting words of each especial tongue. He knew and did constantly consider by whom, and when, and how, and in what degree He was to be afflicted, scoffed at, put to death and slain, and for this end He knew that He was born into the world, and therefore could not escape suffering. He did foresee how He should be sold, betrayed, taken, bound, denied, forsaken, derided, beaten, accused, reviled, cursed, scourged, judged, rejected, and condemned, how He should be led to the Cross like unto a thief, divested of His raiment and left naked, crucified and done to death and pierced with a spear.
He did know, moreover, of all the blows and scourgings, the holes of the nails and the drops of blood, and how many tears He should shed; He knew of the sighs and weeping and dolorous lamentations of Himself and His mother; all things were foreseen by that sacred soul of Jesus Christ. All this lay before Him and He did meditate thereon, which meditation could doubtless not be without exceeding great sadness and supreme suffering both of heart and mind. Wherefore was the whole life of Jesus Christ filled with the utmost suffering, sadness, and affliction.
Beside all this, the Lord Jesus Christ, veritable Book of Life, did endure countless other sufferings. For when He was born He was not washed, neither cradled upon feathers nor wrapped in skins; but He was laid upon straw in a stable, He did lie in a hard manger betwixt beasts of burden. Thus from the moment of His birth did the young and tender infant begin to endure the afflictions of the body. He wandered forth with the sweet and tender Virgin, His mother, and with the old man Joseph. He was carried even into Egypt by way of a great desert, wherein the children of Israel sojourned forty years without food prepared by human hands. Afterwards He did appear in the Temple according unto the law, walking thither on foot whiles He was yet a child, for His dwelling was in Nazareth, distant two days' journey from Jerusalem. When He became a man He received baptism before He did begin to preach; then He entered into the desert, where He fasted forty days and forty nights, and where He hungered so greatly that the devil did think by means of His hunger to persuade Him into sin, and thereby did he first tempt Him.
He journeyed throughout the villages, hamlets, and cities, enduring hunger and thirst, rain and heat and cold, sweating and weariness, and at last the torture of a bitter death. And all this weariness did He endure in order that He might preach the way of truth, and cast out the falseness of demons and their vain worship, that He might prove unto men how profitable is repentance, and lead them thereunto, showing them how in the enduring of pain and affliction lieth man's true happiness, good, and glory, and that He might furnish them an ensample for the bearing of the aforesaid things.
No tongue sufficeth to describe, no heart can imagine the sufferings which He endured at the time of the Passion; for Christ did bear ineffable sorrow in many ways. There was a most deep and sharp sorrow caused by the compassion He did feel for the human race, which He loved with a surpassing love, and not as man loveth. He did lament for the whole human race, lost, cast down and condemned, but He did also bestow especial compassion and love upon each person in particular. And not only did He lament for the sins of all persons in general, but likewise for each especial sin, according to its sum and nature, and for the punishment which He knew of a certainty that each one had deserved, or would deserve hereafter. Howsoever many men there have been, therefore, and whether they be now sinners or will be hereafter, and however many grievous sins each man hath committed or hath yet to commit, so many sorrows hath Christ borne, which sorrows proceeded from His surpassing mercy and compassion. And seeing how that the number of men and their sins and the punishments they must endure or have already endured is infinite, it is manifest that He beareth a most supreme and infinite sorrow for love of us.
Christ did of a certainty love His elect with a deep and ineffable love, continually feeling within Himself, according unto the measure of each one, the offences they had committed or were hereafter to commit, feeling likewise the punishment they should suffer for such offences. Wherefore did He lament for them, taking compassion on them, and all the while bearing their pains with the utmost grief. With such great grief and compassion was the most sweet Jesus afflicted for our sake that He was thereby constrained to bear the torments of the Cross, a horrible death and infinite suffering, in order that He might offer satisfaction for our offences, that He might redeem us and liberate us from punishment.
Without doubt Christ did likewise endure sorrow for Himself, deeply bewailing Himself because of the dolorous and unspeakable pains which He did clearly behold coming upon Him without fail, and because He beheld Himself sent into the world by the Father unto this end, that in His own person He might bear the grief and pain of all His elect; nor was it possible for Him to escape the bearing of the aforesaid pain and grievous sorrow. If any person did know of a certainty that exceeding great and unbearable grief and suffering was about to fall upon him and that he would have such suffering without intermission ever before his eyes, without doubt he would feel compassion for himself; and the greater he expected the suffering to be, and the more clearly he did understand and know it, the greater would be his misery. All this did Christ feel, more deeply than we can describe, but this example hath been given in explanation because of the dulness of the human understanding.
Christ did, moreover, suffer grief for His most merciful Father, the Lord of mercy and of all pity, whom He loved with an infinite love. He saw that God His Father, whom He so greatly loved, was moved to such compassion and mercy for us that He was willing to send His dearly beloved Son to suffer death for our sake. Christ did suffer for His exceeding great grief, and therefore, in order that the Father's will might be fulfilled, He did humiliate Himself and was obedient even unto the death of the Cross.
Suffering like unto this cannot by any means be explained. Therefore I can only say that the unspeakable suffering which Christ did endure was conceded, permitted, and assigned unto Him by the ineffable wisdom of the Divinity, which divine dispensation, unspeakable and eternal, unspeakably and eternally one with Christ, did ordain that He should endure this supreme suffering. And the more admirable this divine dispensation, the sharper and more intense were Christ's sufferings, wherefore hath there never been any mind so great that it was able to understand these sufferings.
This divine dispensation was the true cause and origin of all suffering, wherein it all beginneth and endeth. And just as it is impossible for any mind to comprehend the infinite charity of Christ (here made manifest), because, by His own death, He hath redeemed us, so is it impossible to comprehend the infinite suffering which He had to endure and for which He did lament. And this suffering did proceed from the ineffable light with which He was filled. It is certain that by this enlightening, Christ, by making Him one with this divine dispensation, and transforming Him with divine illumination in His sufferings, this divinity and ineffable light did inflict upon Him such pain that no words can suffice to describe it.
Christ likewise suffered pain because of His compassion for His most sweet mother, seeing that He loved her above all other creatures. He had been born of her virgin body, and she did bewail her most sweet Son more deeply than did any other creature. Wherefore Christ had compassion upon her when He beheld her weeping and lamenting exceedingly with body and heart and soul. Before all things His mother did bewail the sufferings which Christ endured in Himself and which were ordained by the divine dispensation.
Christ did also suffer because of the Father's anger, seeing that He loved Him (as hath been said) with a surpassing love. For He perceived that in crucifying his Lord and Creator, man had deeply offended God the Father with a greater sin than had ever been before or would be hereafter, the sin of slaying and crucifying the Son of God, and consequently God's anger was greater than ever before, for the which Christ did lament without measure.
Thus moved by grief and compassion, alike for the offended Father and offending man, Christ spake these words, *Pater ignosce illis quia nesciunt quid faciunt*, that is to say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Perchance the Father would have condemned the whole human race for this deed if Christ, almost forgetting all His other sufferings, had not in His death appeased His Father with this gracious prayer, offered unto Him with tears, and with love. Likewise did He endure sorrow for His disciples, knowing how they and the women who had followed Him from afar were lamenting with exceeding deep grief, and seeing how that He loved them with a great love, He did grieve that they were scattered apart and in tribulation.
Beside these sufferings Christ did also endure many others.
His third companion was that of the which He had the most experience and which did endure continually. This was supreme suffering, the which did instantly afflict His soul when it was joined unto His body. For in that moment wherein His soul was united with His human body it was instantly filled with supreme knowledge. Wherefore was Christ possessed of understanding even in the womb of the Virgin mother. He did instantly begin to feel the utmost suffering; He possessed a universal and singular knowledge, foresight, consideration, and understanding of all the pains which His soul and body were presently to undergo, and bear for our sake, and, as though nigh unto death, He was filled with such agony and sadness that His body did give forth a bloody sweat which dropped even upon the earth, foreshowing the bitterness of death, and His soul did lament in its great affliction, albeit His body felt not so great a suffering as when it was more nigh unto its Passion. That holy soul did foresee the knives of those most evil tongues, and the sharp and cutting words of each especial tongue. He knew and did constantly consider by whom, and when, and how, and in what degree He was to be afflicted, scoffed at, put to death and slain, and for this end He knew that He was born into the world, and therefore could not escape suffering. He did foresee how He should be sold, betrayed, taken, bound, denied, forsaken, derided, beaten, accused, reviled, cursed, scourged, judged, rejected, and condemned, how He should be led to the Cross like unto a thief, divested of His raiment and left naked, crucified and done to death and pierced with a spear.
He did know, moreover, of all the blows and scourgings, the holes of the nails and the drops of blood, and how many tears He should shed; He knew of the sighs and weeping and dolorous lamentations of Himself and His mother; all things were foreseen by that sacred soul of Jesus Christ. All this lay before Him and He did meditate thereon, which meditation could doubtless not be without exceeding great sadness and supreme suffering both of heart and mind. Wherefore was the whole life of Jesus Christ filled with the utmost suffering, sadness, and affliction.
Beside all this, the Lord Jesus Christ, veritable Book of Life, did endure countless other sufferings. For when He was born He was not washed, neither cradled upon feathers nor wrapped in skins; but He was laid upon straw in a stable, He did lie in a hard manger betwixt beasts of burden. Thus from the moment of His birth did the young and tender infant begin to endure the afflictions of the body. He wandered forth with the sweet and tender Virgin, His mother, and with the old man Joseph. He was carried even into Egypt by way of a great desert, wherein the children of Israel sojourned forty years without food prepared by human hands. Afterwards He did appear in the Temple according unto the law, walking thither on foot whiles He was yet a child, for His dwelling was in Nazareth, distant two days' journey from Jerusalem. When He became a man He received baptism before He did begin to preach; then He entered into the desert, where He fasted forty days and forty nights, and where He hungered so greatly that the devil did think by means of His hunger to persuade Him into sin, and thereby did he first tempt Him.
He journeyed throughout the villages, hamlets, and cities, enduring hunger and thirst, rain and heat and cold, sweating and weariness, and at last the torture of a bitter death. And all this weariness did He endure in order that He might preach the way of truth, and cast out the falseness of demons and their vain worship, that He might prove unto men how profitable is repentance, and lead them thereunto, showing them how in the enduring of pain and affliction lieth man's true happiness, good, and glory, and that He might furnish them an ensample for the bearing of the aforesaid things.
No tongue sufficeth to describe, no heart can imagine the sufferings which He endured at the time of the Passion; for Christ did bear ineffable sorrow in many ways. There was a most deep and sharp sorrow caused by the compassion He did feel for the human race, which He loved with a surpassing love, and not as man loveth. He did lament for the whole human race, lost, cast down and condemned, but He did also bestow especial compassion and love upon each person in particular. And not only did He lament for the sins of all persons in general, but likewise for each especial sin, according to its sum and nature, and for the punishment which He knew of a certainty that each one had deserved, or would deserve hereafter. Howsoever many men there have been, therefore, and whether they be now sinners or will be hereafter, and however many grievous sins each man hath committed or hath yet to commit, so many sorrows hath Christ borne, which sorrows proceeded from His surpassing mercy and compassion. And seeing how that the number of men and their sins and the punishments they must endure or have already endured is infinite, it is manifest that He beareth a most supreme and infinite sorrow for love of us.
Christ did of a certainty love His elect with a deep and ineffable love, continually feeling within Himself, according unto the measure of each one, the offences they had committed or were hereafter to commit, feeling likewise the punishment they should suffer for such offences. Wherefore did He lament for them, taking compassion on them, and all the while bearing their pains with the utmost grief. With such great grief and compassion was the most sweet Jesus afflicted for our sake that He was thereby constrained to bear the torments of the Cross, a horrible death and infinite suffering, in order that He might offer satisfaction for our offences, that He might redeem us and liberate us from punishment.
Without doubt Christ did likewise endure sorrow for Himself, deeply bewailing Himself because of the dolorous and unspeakable pains which He did clearly behold coming upon Him without fail, and because He beheld Himself sent into the world by the Father unto this end, that in His own person He might bear the grief and pain of all His elect; nor was it possible for Him to escape the bearing of the aforesaid pain and grievous sorrow. If any person did know of a certainty that exceeding great and unbearable grief and suffering was about to fall upon him and that he would have such suffering without intermission ever before his eyes, without doubt he would feel compassion for himself; and the greater he expected the suffering to be, and the more clearly he did understand and know it, the greater would be his misery. All this did Christ feel, more deeply than we can describe, but this example hath been given in explanation because of the dulness of the human understanding.
Christ did, moreover, suffer grief for His most merciful Father, the Lord of mercy and of all pity, whom He loved with an infinite love. He saw that God His Father, whom He so greatly loved, was moved to such compassion and mercy for us that He was willing to send His dearly beloved Son to suffer death for our sake. Christ did suffer for His exceeding great grief, and therefore, in order that the Father's will might be fulfilled, He did humiliate Himself and was obedient even unto the death of the Cross.
Suffering like unto this cannot by any means be explained. Therefore I can only say that the unspeakable suffering which Christ did endure was conceded, permitted, and assigned unto Him by the ineffable wisdom of the Divinity, which divine dispensation, unspeakable and eternal, unspeakably and eternally one with Christ, did ordain that He should endure this supreme suffering. And the more admirable this divine dispensation, the sharper and more intense were Christ's sufferings, wherefore hath there never been any mind so great that it was able to understand these sufferings.
This divine dispensation was the true cause and origin of all suffering, wherein it all beginneth and endeth. And just as it is impossible for any mind to comprehend the infinite charity of Christ (here made manifest), because, by His own death, He hath redeemed us, so is it impossible to comprehend the infinite suffering which He had to endure and for which He did lament. And this suffering did proceed from the ineffable light with which He was filled. It is certain that by this enlightening, Christ, by making Him one with this divine dispensation, and transforming Him with divine illumination in His sufferings, this divinity and ineffable light did inflict upon Him such pain that no words can suffice to describe it.
Christ likewise suffered pain because of His compassion for His most sweet mother, seeing that He loved her above all other creatures. He had been born of her virgin body, and she did bewail her most sweet Son more deeply than did any other creature. Wherefore Christ had compassion upon her when He beheld her weeping and lamenting exceedingly with body and heart and soul. Before all things His mother did bewail the sufferings which Christ endured in Himself and which were ordained by the divine dispensation.
Christ did also suffer because of the Father's anger, seeing that He loved Him (as hath been said) with a surpassing love. For He perceived that in crucifying his Lord and Creator, man had deeply offended God the Father with a greater sin than had ever been before or would be hereafter, the sin of slaying and crucifying the Son of God, and consequently God's anger was greater than ever before, for the which Christ did lament without measure.
Thus moved by grief and compassion, alike for the offended Father and offending man, Christ spake these words, *Pater ignosce illis quia nesciunt quid faciunt*, that is to say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Perchance the Father would have condemned the whole human race for this deed if Christ, almost forgetting all His other sufferings, had not in His death appeased His Father with this gracious prayer, offered unto Him with tears, and with love. Likewise did He endure sorrow for His disciples, knowing how they and the women who had followed Him from afar were lamenting with exceeding deep grief, and seeing how that He loved them with a great love, He did grieve that they were scattered apart and in tribulation.
Beside these sufferings Christ did also endure many others.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre