The words. “Hail Rabbi.” What hypocrisy! “Friend, whereunto art thou come?” Christ still loved the wretch, and kindly wished to bring him back to his duty. That is the charity of my model. Is mine like His?
The actions. He receives the kiss of the traitor and shows no indignation. Then Christ lets Himself be seized and bound like a criminal, and He abandons Himself into the hands of His enemies, recognizing in them the executers of His Father’s will. “Then the disciples, all leaving him, fled”; and yet all of them had said with Peter that they were ready to go with Him even to death. It is not boasting, but praying we need.
Colloquy, thanking our dear Lord for His generous love for us, asking that we may know and love Him better and follow Him more perfectly.
Notice that the thoughts here expressed are only suggestions and need not be entertained. The exercitant is apt to be most benefited by what he discovers himself. And when a thought or sentiment strikes him, he should dwell on it as long as it gives him devotion, and not hasten on to other matters.
THE SECOND MEDITATION
On Christ’s Sufferings before His Judges
1st Prelude. Christ was dragged from court to court, everywhere loaded with false accusations; but He opened not His mouth. He was dressed in a fool’s garment, cruelly scourged and crowned with thorns, and bore all patiently. Exposed to the sight of the multitude, He saw a robber preferred to Him, was rejected by His people and condemned to the death of the cross.
2nd Prelude. Behold Christ with His hands tied like a criminal, standing before the tribunal of Caiphas.
3rd Prelude. My dear Lord, grant me deep sorrow for Thy sufferings and for my sins, by which I have repaid Thy infinite love.
POINT I. Christ is falsely accused. Consider:
The persons. The judges presume to sit in judgment on Him who has proved Himself to be the Son of God. Our sins, like theirs, are often far more serious than we are willing to acknowledge to ourselves. We blind ourselves. Caiphas did so by claiming that it was “expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not” (St. John xi, 50). This was true, but not in the sense the high priest gave to it. Do I ever judge my neighbor unjustly? perhaps even my superiors?