Third reflection of the fifth week of Lent

In the fifth week of Lent, we allow ourselves to be challenged by the words of Blessed Anna Katharina Emmerick, inspired by visions of the sorrowful Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ; visions on which the film The Passion is based and which… cannot leave us indifferent.

Jesus is crucified

Jesus, the true image of sorrow, was laid out by the executioners on the bed of his death. After raising his right arm, they placed his blessed hand over the hole made in the arm of the cross and tied it tightly there. Then one of the two crucifiers placed his knee on the Lord’s most sacred chest and, while holding open the hand that was contracting, the other immediately drove a thick, long nail with a sharp point into the palm of that same hand. Then he struck it repeatedly with heavy hammer blows. A sweet, clear groan of pain escaped the venerable mouth of the Savior, and his blood spurted onto the executioners’ arms.
The executioners’ mallets were made of iron; they were roughly shaped like carpenters’ hammers, but larger and made as a single piece with the handle. The nails, whose size had made Jesus tremble, were very long, with broad, flat heads; when driven into the Redeemer’s hands and feet, they protruded through the wood of the cross.
After nailing Jesus’ right hand, the executioners realized that the other hand did not reach the hole made in the left arm of the wood of the Cross. So they tied a rope to Jesus’ left arm, braced their feet against the cross, and pulled him with all their strength until his hand reached the level of the hole. Under those tortures Jesus suffered immensely because they had completely dislocated his arm.
Then the crucifiers knelt on the Lord’s arms and chest and drove the second nail into his left hand, from which a jet of blood spurted, while his groans of pain accompanied the sound of the heavy hammer blows.
The Most Blessed Virgin shared in body and spirit the pains of her Son’s terrible crucifixion; her face was pale as wax, and she could not restrain the uninterrupted cries of pain that trembled from her lips. Compassionate people led her farther back, beside the devout women, to spare her the insults hurled at her by the henchmen and Pharisees.
Mary Magdalene was as if she had gone mad; she scratched her face, and her eyes and face were covered in blood.

At the base of the cross, about one-third of the way up, a wooden footrest had been placed to support Jesus, so that he would be more standing than hanging on the cross, and also so that the bones of his feet would not break when they were nailed. A hole had been made in that piece of wood for the nail that was to pierce the feet. A recess had been carved into the wood of the cross to support the heels, just as other cavities had been made at various points of the cross, so that the body would remain suspended for a long time without coming loose under the pull of its own weight.
I saw that the executioners stretched out the Lord's legs and tied them with ropes, because they had drawn back toward the body due to the violent tension in the arms. Unable, however, to bring the feet to the wooden support meant to hold them, they renewed their blasphemies against him. Then some of the crucifiers, inclined to make new holes for the nails driven into the hands, intervened, because it seemed difficult to move the wooden footrest that was supposed to support the feet; others, however, shouted mockingly: «He doesn't want to stretch out? Well, we'll help him!».
Having said this, they tied the right leg with ropes and pulled it with cruel force until it reached the wooden footrest; in doing so, they inflicted a terrible tear on Jesus. The tension throughout his body was so extreme that Christ's chest became covered in cracks; groaning, he exclaimed: «My God! My God!». They had tied his chest and arms so that his hands would not come loose from the nails. Then they tied the left foot over the right, took a nail much longer than those used for the hands, and drove it into him, hammering it deep into the wood of the cross. I felt that I was standing nearby and watched that nail pierce both of the Lord's feet and the wooden support. Nailing the feet was the most cruel of all because of the tension in the body.

Am I willing to die to myself for the sake of goodness and to break the cycle of violence?

I'll be waiting for you tomorrow morning to continue reflecting together!