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The Passion of Christ

This prayer experience will be based on The Crucifixion of Jesus, John 19:17- 30. We will be doing what St. Ignatius called the application of the senses or praying with your senses. We’ll start first with the sense of sight. As we read through this passage try to allow yourself to see everything that is happening. Try to allow yourself to see this great love, the greatest act of love that ever happened for us; Jesus giving his life.

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So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself. Try to imagine him carrying the cross out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. He’s carrying it up to the top of Golgotha. See the heaviness of it? See the pain and the anguish he’s going through, the humiliation? But also see the great love in his eyes. He’s doing it for you. He loves you so much, he loves all of us so much, he loves the world so much, he loves the Father so much; that he embraces the cross. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. So imagine him on the cross with two others by his side. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.” Try to see this inscription with your own eyes, right above his head. Is it on wood? Is it on cloth? What is it written on? Is it painted? Is it inscribed? Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews. Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. Have you seen any of those languages? Can you picture what they look like, the lettering the words? So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’ Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written. “When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. Watch as the soldiers laugh and jealously take his clothes. They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down. So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be,” in order that the passage of Scripture might be fulfilled that says: “They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.” Imagine them now kneeling down, casting lots,rolling the dice. This is what the soldiers did.

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. You see the three women right there by the cross. Now you watch as Jesus saw his mother and the Disciple there whom he loved. Imagine you are the Disciple and he looks down at you from the cross, he looks at his mother and says to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he looks you deeply in the eyes with great love, giving you the gift of his Mother and he says to you, “Behold, your mother.” Then you turn your eyes and you look to Mary and Mary’s crying. But she looks at you through her tears, just knowing that although she may lose her only son, she now gains you as a son or daughter. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine, so they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. Imagine the sponge being lifted, and the hyssop, all the way to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he says, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. Watch now as he says “it is finished;” his lips pronounced the last words he will ever speak. His head drops. He hands over his spirit. Spend some time now in silence, and just try to visualize this whole scene. Try to play it out before you like a movie. Try to see everything in the scene and try to do it all from your visual memory. And then spend some time in silence and journal your experience.

The next step of praying with the senses is to hear. We’ll just focus on some of the noises, some of the sounds, some of the voices. Especially pay attention to the voice that Jesus speaks to you. Imagine him carrying the cross as he goes through the city of Jerusalem, up to Golgotha, and the crowds are jeering, they are screaming out, throwing things at him, they are humiliating him, they are persecuting him. You hear Jesus continue to take steps. As they crucify him, you hear the hammers strike the nails. You hear him scream out in pain and agony. You hear the creaking of the cross in the wood as they lift him up. You hear the voice of Pilate say “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.” You hear the soldiers taking his clothes and dividing them into four shares, one for each soldier. You hear their voices saying “let’s not tear it but cast lots for it to see whose it will be.” Then all is silent as you realize you’re standing right there at the foot of the cross. As Jesus is suffering, you hear him moaning in agonizing pain. You’re standing there with the three women: with Jesus’ Mother Mary, with Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdala. You see Jesus again look at his mother. Listen to him say. Close your eyes and hear him say this. “Woman, behold, your son.” He says it with such joy that he can give you as a gift to Mary. Then he says to you; “Behold, your mother.” The next words he says in order that Scripture might be fulfilled is; “I thirst.” “I thirst.” “I thirst.” Imagine them bringing the vessel filled with common wine, you can hear the wine swishing around, them soaking it on a sponge with hyssop and putting it up to his mouth. You can hear his mouth, his dry lips taking some of the wine. He says; “It is finished” and there is silence. Spend time in silence now meditating upon what you have heard, and journal your experience.

The third step is smell. This can often be a difficult sense to try to imagine. Especially with this scene, the smells probably aren’t so pleasant. The smell of a crucifixion, the smell of flesh being torn open, the smell of death in the air, of people dying on the crosses. You smell the wine and the wine overtakes you. Spend some time now just allowing yourself to enter into Calvary, to enter into Golgotha, to enter into that smell of death. Meditate upon the sense of smell and spend some time in silence with that. When you are ready, journal your experience.

The fourth step is taste. The part in this passage that is so strong with taste is when Jesus tasted his final thing: the wine. He has just said on the crucifix, “I thirst.” And there was a vessel of common wine, so it wasn’t good wine. They put it on a sponge and soaked it and put it on hyssop and brought it to his mouth. This is a final gesture of kindness to the Lord as he takes the common wine. This God who has made himself man for us, this God who is humbled himself for us time and time again; and the final thing that he tastes is common wine. What does it taste like? Spend some time now in silence just meditating upon taste and try to really have the experience of tasting that wine in your mouth. When you are ready, journal the experience.

Finally, the last step – touch. With the crucifixion, touch will be a painful experience. There are times of pain but there are also moments of tenderness. Try to imagine as the crucifixion as happening. You can feel his pain. You can feel the nails being driven through your hands and your feet. What’s it like to hang there in agony on the cross, just waiting to die? What does it feel like to thirst so bad that you scream out your final words “I thirst”? And you feel the warm wine in your mouth and all you feel behind you is the wood of the Cross, the nails, and the cold wind blowing on your body. Maybe you are the beloved Disciple standing at the foot of the cross and you can feel the closeness and the tenderness of the women that are there caring for him. Especially Mary, the Mother of God, who is now your mother. What does it feel like to embrace her? To take her into your arms? To love her like a mother? To be loved by her like a son? Spend some time now in silence with the sense of touch until that final moment when Jesus says “It is finished” and bowing his head, he handed over his spirit. When you are ready, journal your experience.

The above homily is one of the types of prayer that you will experience in Pray40Days

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One Comment

  • R Tait says:

    Pray40days is a wondrous experience. This day we focused on the crucifixion.
    I fell to both knees while entering the church. My hands and knees felt pain & thought they’ll feel worse tonight.
    That thought quickly changed to Jesus struggling to carry a heavy cross uphill, the heartbreak of being tortured by those he loves & forgives,, his mother and loved ones helplessly watching, the horror of the crucifixion.
    Pray40Days is highly recommended, because You’ll be present with a wealth of info on prayer, the Mass, and so much more. One might say, “”I didn’t know that. ” repeatedly.