Tag Archives: Suffering

The Second Sorrowful Mystery – THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Agony and Difficulty, Anxiety and Worry, Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Death and Dying, Fasting, Forgiveness, Holiness, Holy Week, Jewish roots, Lent, Penance and Reconciliation, Rosary, Sin, Spirituality, Suffering, ,

All three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) as well as John’s gospel tell of how Jesus was tortured in one way or another before being crucified, Matthew and Mark and John mention that Jesus was scourged, or flogged. Luke says that He was punished. The mention of the pillar is not in scripture, however, it was common Roman practice to strip a man before crucifixion and to tie him to a pillar and then to whip him. Also, Church tradition not only tells us that he was tied to a pillar, but the Church is in possession of the pillar that Jesus was whipped on. The Roman’s were very good at inflicting pain, and there is no doubt that Jesus suffered greatly here, even to pealing off of his back skin. The scourging was done with a flagrum, which is a leather whip with three or more leather tails that had plumbatae (small metal balls or sheep bones) attached to the end of each tail. These not only inflicted great pain, but also would rip open the skin. Jesus suffered greatly from this scourging.

When the Romans tortured Jesus, they did so in front of the public on the very streets that Jesus walked, teached and healed people. Mel Gibson, in his movie about the PASSION of Jesus, delivers the scourging scene that makes even the most hardened of hearts, cringe from the pain that Jesus suffered. There is no doubt that the pain that Jesus felt during this scourging was immense. On top of that immense physical pain, I can just imagine the emotional pain that Jesus felt. Here were the people that Jesus was dying for, now mocking him. Here were His children, whom He loved so much, giving Him terrible pain. He must have seen his own mother, Mary as well as His disciples gathered around watching Him be scourged. How difficult, emotionally, that must have been on Jesus.

Jesus knew that He was on the way to be crucified and how painful that was going to be. Now He had to suffer the agonizing pain of being scourged. We cannot forget that as painful as the actual crucifixion was, there was so much pain leading up to it. When we think about how Jesus was BOTH, human and divine, we have to realize that THE WORD, the second person of the Holy Trinity bore suffering for us. He suffered so that we could be saved and to show us the oceans of Mercy that He has for us. The Church is so right in asking us to do something special, every Friday (the day of the week that Jesus died) to help us remember His great love for us and the suffering that He endured for us. Before Vatican II we were asked to give up meat on Fridays, every Friday all year long. Vatican II took that obligation away, except for during Lent, BUT asked us to do something on our own to remember Friday as the day that Jesus suffered and died.

Questions to Ponder:

1 – Do I really appreciate all that Jesus did for me to give me His Salvation?

2 – When I have suffered either physically or emotionally, have I asked to unite it to Jesus’ suffering?

3 – Have I attended Stations of the Cross, during Lent?

4 – Do I thank God for all that He has done for me?

5 – Do I do something special every Friday to remember that Jesus suffered and died for me?

6 – Have I thought about the humanity of Jesus, as well as His Divinity?

7 – Do I do anything to help those who suffer throughout the world?

8 – Is there anything that I do that causes people to suffer?

9 – Do I attend mass regularly so as to be able to re-live what Jesus has done for me?

10 – Do I make use of the many resources the Church has, so as to learn more about Jesus?

The First Sorrowful Mystery – THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Agony and Difficulty, Anxiety and Worry, Community, Death and Dying, Forgiveness, Penance and Reconciliation, Prayer, Relationships, Rosary, Scripture, Sin, Spirituality, Trust, , ,

The agony in the garden is found in all three synoptic gospels (Matt 26: 36-46, Mark 14: 32-42 and Luke 22: 39-46 as well as John 18: 1-12). The gospels tell us that Jesus, and His disciples, went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus asked his disciples to sit while He took Peter and James and John with Him to go pray. The gospels also tell us that as He prayed, he became quite distressed and told Peter and James and John to wait and watch as He got up to move and go pray by Himself for a while. We are then told that Jesus fell to the ground and asked the Lord to take this cup away from Him, if possible, but also said that God’s will was to be done. After some prayer, He went back to His disciples, Peter and James and John and found them to be asleep.

Jesus seems to be quite disappointed in their falling asleep and asked Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch, and pray that you may not enter in to temptation; the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, Jesus went off to pray by himself. He came back to find the three sleeping again and He said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come; The Son of man is betrayed in to the hands of sinners. Rise and let us be going, see, my betrayer is at hand.” At that time Judas came, and sealed his deal with a kiss.

How difficult it must have been for Jesus to know what would be happening to Him the next day. He knew of the horrors of crucifixion and knew that He would have to endure those horrors. Also, how difficult it must have been for Him to see that His closest disciples could not even stay awake to watch with Him and to offer Him comfort. He also had to experience one of His own twelve, Judas, betray Him with a kiss. It was such a difficult night for Jesus. It was pure agony for Him.

When we hear Jesus’ words to Peter, (The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak), we can’t help to think of the many times in our lives that we experienced the same thing. How often were we weak and committed sin? To know that Jesus endured the agony that He did, for our own sins, weighs hard upon us. Jesus, who was so filled with LOVE, had to endure so much SUFFERING and BETRAYAL because of US. Also, to know that He asked the Father to remove this cup from Him, if possible, but desiring to do God’s will, gives us a great example of our prayer for facing hard times. There is nothing wrong with asking to avoid a difficulty, but also to trust that God’s plan is so much better than ours. The agony that Jesus suffered in Gethsemane was so intense, that the scriptures tell us that He actually sweat out drops of blood. Jesus endured all this pain and suffering and agony for us.

Questions to ponder:

1 – Do I truly understand how much Jesus suffered for all of us?

2 – Am I sincerely sorrowful for my sins?

3 – Do I attend the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) regularly?

4 – Am I truly sorry for the ways that I personally have made Jesus disappointed in me?

5 – Do I truly pray for God’s will to be done, no matter what?

6 – Do I do everything I can to make the spirit stronger to deal with my weak flesh?

7 – When I do endure suffering and agony, do I unite it to Jesus’s suffering and agony?

8 – Am I thankful to God for sending me the friends who do “watch” with me?

9 – Am I a good friend who spends time with my friends in their hours of need?

10 – Do I do whatever I can to overcome my “weak flesh” and sin no more?