The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ
by
Father Walter Farrell and Father Mattin Healy
Based on the writings of "The Summa of Saint Thomas Aquinas"
His Passion and Death
The Glory of Christ in
His Body, and the Glory that is to come to all Men at the End of the
World, are Purchased with a Great Price. Before the Body of
Christ could be Confirmed in the Glory of
His Sanctified Soul, before Men could have any chance to Emulate
His Glory,
Christ had to win Redemption for Mankind by
His Passion and His
Death upon the Cross of Calvary.
Christ did not Suffer and then
Die upon the Cross because
God was under any 'Compulsion' to demand so Great a Recompense for the Sins
of Men. God could have simply 'Condoned' Men's
Sins and granted them Pardon when they
Repented of their Sins. Nor was Christ
Himself under any 'Compulsion' to Suffer and
Die for the Sins of Men. He
Offered Himself Freely and Voluntarily as a Sacrifice
for Men. But Christ Suffered for Men because
this was the Will of God. God Willed that
His Only-Begotten Son should become Man to Suffer
and Die for the Salvation of Men. This
Divine Decision manifests both the Justice
and the Mercy of God. It manifests
His Justice, because it shows that God has
actually Demanded Satisfaction for the Sins
of Men against Him. It manifests His Mercy,
because no one but a God-Man could have offered a Suitable
Satisfaction for the Sins of Men. Because
He was God, Christ could
offer God an Infinite Satisfaction for the
Infinite Malice of Sin. Because
He was Man, Christ could offer a Man's
Satisfaction for Man's Sin.
The Wisdom of God's Plan in the
Passion and Death of
Christ is shown, too, by the other purposes which God accomplished in this
way. Christ Suffered and
Died to win God's Pardon for the Sins
of Men. But His Suffering did more than this.
In the First Place, since He was both
God and Man, His
Suffering was a Staggering Proof of God's Love for Men. Could
God do more for Men than Suffer and
Die for them? Secondly, in His
Passion and Death
Christ gave to Men an 'Example' of the Perfect Virtue which will lead Men to
Heaven:
Obedience to God's Will,
Humility,
Constancy in following God's Will,
Fortitude in the face of Death,
A Love of Justice even unto Death, and so on.
Thirdly, by His
Suffering, Christ Merited Grace and
Glory for Men, and so made it possible for Men to attain their Real Happiness.
Fourthly, by Suffering and
Dying for all Men, Christ gave to Men a Strong Additional Motive for
avoiding Sin. If a father sold all his possessions in order to Pay the Foolish Debts of his
son, would not the son have a Strong Reason for behaving Prudently in the Future? If the
Son of God Suffered and Died
because of the Sins of Men, to Pay the Debt of
Men's Sins, should not all Men have a Good Reason
for Avoiding Sin in the Future? Lastly, the
Passion and Death of
Christ are a Divine Tribute to the
Dignity of Man. Man had Destroyed himself by
Falling Victim to the Devil in the Garden of Paradise. Through
Christ, a Man Conquers the Devil and Restores
Mankind to the Friendship of God. Men can Point to
Christ with Honest Pride and say that their Brother Man has
Saved them.
Passion Scenes - by DUCCIO di Buoninsegna, from Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena
In His Passion and
Death Christ endured Extreme
Suffering. He Suffered at the
hands of both Men and Women. A Man Betrayed
Him; a Woman Betrayed His
Apostle Peter; the Sanhedrin Condemned
Him; His own People cried out for
His Blood; Herod and Pilate Washed-their-Hands of
Him; Pilate delivered Him over to
Scourging and the Crucifixion on the
Cross; the Soldiers and Servants Mocked
Him and Spat upon Him and Beat Him;
He was Abandoned by His Apostles and Friends;
His Reputation was Destroyed by the Ignominy
of His Trial and
Death as a Criminal; His
Soul was Sad and
Weary at the Prospect and the Reality of Suffering and
Death; His Sensitive Nature
flinched from Suffering and Death;
His Hands and
Feet were Pierced by Nails; His
Brow was Crowned with Thorns;
His Whole Body was Torn with the
Lashes of the Scourging. And because
He had a Perfect Human Nature,
He felt this Suffering all the more keenly.
It is True that the Higher Part of His Soul
continued to Enjoy the Vision of God. But the Lower Part of
His Soul, His Power to feel
Sensitive Joy or
Pain, was Inundated with the Anguish of
His Torments. Christ allowed
His Human Nature to experience the 'Length' and the 'Breadth' and the 'Depth' of Human
Suffering. Because He
Suffered to Atone for the Sins of all Men,
He allowed Himself to endure the Fullness of Human
Pain. In Him the words of the Prophet Isaiah were
Fulfilled:
"There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness: and we have seen Him, and there was no sightliness,
that we should be desirous of Him; despised and the most abject of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity: and His
look was as it were hidden and despised. Whereupon we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows;
and we have thought Him as it were a Leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities; He was
bruised for our sins. The chastisement of our Peace was upon Him; and by His Bruises we are Healed"
(Isaiah 54:2-5).
The Sublimity of Christ's Love
for Men is shown by the fact that He did not have to
Suffer and Die. Because He
was God, He could have Prevented
His Enemies from doing
Him any Injury. Because
His Soul had Perfect Control
of His Body,
He could have prevented the Wounds from Achieving their Normal Effect. But,
in Obedience to the Will of
His Father, He submitted
Himself to the Violent Hands of His
Enemies. God and
Christ Himself, out of Love for Men, delivered
Christ to the hands of His Torturers
and Executioners. But it was these Latter who
Scourged Christ,
Crowned Him with Thorns,
Nailed Him to the
Cross and so Killed Him.
His Own People handed Him over to the
Romans to be put to Death, and the Romans
Crucified Him. In this way
Christ Suffered both from the Jews and from
the Pagans of the World. Since He came to
Save not only the Jews but also the Rest of Men, it was
Natural that He should Suffer at the Hands
of both.
The Guilt of those who brought about the Death
of Christ varies with their Knowledge of what they were doing.
Least Guilty of all were the Pagan Soldiers
Who Tortured and Crucified
Christ. They had no Knowledge of the fact that
Christ was the Savior of Mankind, nor the fact that
Christ was God, the Son of
God. More Guilty than they was Pilate who, though
he also was Ignorant of the True Identity of Christ, nevertheless, out of
Cowardice, Condemned an
Innocent Man to Death. Next
in the Mounting Scale of Guilt comes the Multitude of Simple People at Jerusalem
who were Misled by their Leaders. They had seen the Wonderful Works of Christ and so might
have believed in Him. But their Leaders Deceived them and made them Doubt
Christ. Most Guilty
of all were the Arch Conspirators among the Leaders of the people. They knew that
Christ had Fulfilled in His Person and Life
the Signs foretold by the Prophets. But they were unwilling to accept Christ as their
Savior. They deliberately Blinded their Eyes to the Evident Signs of
His Divinity. God was ready to give them
Faith in Christ, but, in the
Hardness of their Hearts, they Refused to Accept it. Because their Ignorance of
His True Identity was Deliberate, it does not excuse their
Sin. They Committed the Most Grievous of Sins. They delivered their
Savior and their God to
Death at the Hands of Pagans.
Christ Suffered and
Died on the Cross of Calvary. As
He hung there, suspended between Earth and Sky, with His Life's Blood
draining-away in Agony, His
Enemies Mocked Him. "If Thou be the
Son of God", They said, "come down from the Cross". As Saint
Paul has said, the Crucified Christ
is "unto the Jews indeed a Stumbling-Block, and unto the Gentiles, Foolishness"
(1Corinthians 1:23). Did God 'Fail' on the
Cross? Was His Life among Men a Magnificent but Futile Gesture?
Saint Paul gives us the answer: "But unto them that are Called, both Jews and Greeks,
the Crucified Christ is the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God. For the Foolishness of God is Wiser than Men".
(1Corinthians 1:24-25). On the Cross,
Christ seems most Helpless. But it is on the Cross that
He accomplished His purpose, the
Salvation of Men.
As Christ hung on the Cross,
He Willingly offered His Human Life and the
Sufferings and Death of
His Body for the Salvation of Men. In the
Plan of God, Christ was the
New Adam, the New Head of the Human Race. Because
He offered His Life Willingly out of
Charity and Obedience to
His Father, His Human Will
Merited from God the
Salvation of Mankind. Because He
Suffered and Died out of Love
and Obedience, Christ gave
God more than was required to Compensate for the Sins of the
whole Human Race. He Satisfied or Atoned
for Men's Sins. He offered
His Life to God to Honor God
and to Appease Him for the Sins of Men.
His Passion, therefore, was a
Sacrifice Most-Pleasing to God. The Life which
He so Willingly laid-down for Men was the Price Paid to
God for the Sins of Men and the
Punishment due to those Sins. By Paying the
Price of Men's Sins Christ Redeemed all
Men. Christ did all this --- He Merited Salvation,
He Atoned for Sin,
He Sacrificed Himself
to God for Sin, He
Redeemed Men --- in Obedience to the Will of
God. His Human Nature was the Instrument
of His Godhead, the Instrument which the
Son of God used to Save Men. Because it was
the Instrument of His Godhead,
Christ accomplished what He had come into this World to do.
Because Christ is God, as well as Man,
His Passion delivered Men from
Sin and from the Power of the Devil.
It Freed Men from the Penalty of
Sin, Death and the
Loss of the Vision of God.
His Passion Reconciled Men
to God and Reopened the Gates of Heaven
to all Mankind. His Passion
Merited for Himself the
Exaltation of His Own Human Nature. Because
He was put to Death
Unjustly, God Raised Him from
the Dead. Because His
Body had Suffered the Humiliation of
Burial, He Ascended into Heaven.
Because He had Endured the Mockery of Men,
He now sits at the Right Hand of the Father
in Heaven. Because He had been delivered over to the
Power of Men, He has been made the Judge of all Men in the World to come. In the
Passion of Christ the Weakness of
God is Stronger than Men. Through the Human Death
of Christ the Divine Life is
Restored to Men.
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Descent of Christ to Limbo
by ANDREA DA FIRENZE
from Cappella Spagnuolo, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
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Christ really Died on the
Cross. His Human
Soul was Separated from His Body.
But His Divine Personality remained United to both
His Body and His
Soul. For this reason the Dead
Body of Christ was still
Infinitely Precious. Because it was still United to the Person of
the Son of God, any Indignity inflicted upon
it by the Soldiers who lowered it from the Cross, any Gesture of
Reverence paid to it by His
Mother or the Holy Men and Women who Reverently buried it, was of Infinite Value
for the Salvation of Men.
As soon as He Died, the
Soul of Christ descended into
Hell. The Hell of which we speak here is
Limbo, the Place in which the Souls of the
Just were Awaiting Deliverance. He hastened
to Limbo to announce to the Just the Reopening of the Gates
of Heaven. Through His Passion,
He had made it possible for them to find Glory
in the Vision of God. He did not descend
into the Hell of the Devils and the Lost Human
Souls. There was nothing He could do for them.
By their own Free Decision, they had cut themselves off from God forever. Only
Those United to Himself in
Faith and Charity could obtain the
Benefits of His Passion.
His Resurrection
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Polyptych of the Resurrection
by TIZIANO Vecellio,
from Santi Nazaro e Celso, Brescia
|
On the Third Day after His
Death Christ Rose-again.
His Soul was Reunited with
His Body and
He Rose from the Tomb Glorious and
Immortal. He waited Three (3)
Days to convince everyone that He had really
Died. He Rose from the Grave to Confirm our
Faith in His Divinity. Because He
has Risen, we can also Hope to Rise again at the End of the World. Because
He has Risen from the Grave, the New
Life of Grace is given to our Souls. Because
He was God, He gave to
His Body and
Soul the Power to Unite with one another again. By the
Power of God Christ, Who had
Died on Calvary, Rose again on the
First Easter Sunday.
Christ Rose again in His Own
Human Body. His
Body still Bore the Scars of His
Passion. He could have removed these
Scars, if He had wished. But
He chose to retain them. In this way He could
Prove to Men that it was really Himself Who had Risen. Besides,
He was to Ascend into Heaven to plead with
His Father for the Salvation of Men. In
Heaven His Scars would be a Perpetual Reminder to the
Father of His Suffering
for Men. In Heaven, too, the Marks of His
Wounds would be an Everlasting Trophy of His Triumph
over the World, the Devil and Sin.
But though He still Bore the Marks of His
Wounds, His
Risen Body was Glorified. It was
Immortal. He could never Die
again. The Glory of His
Soul, United to God in the
Beatific Vision, flowed over
into His Body and made it Shine with a
Divine Light. His
Body was completely under the Control of His Soul.
After His Resurrection He appeared to His
Mother, His Apostles and to
His Disciples. He walked with them, talked
with them, ate and drank with them. In this way He gave them convincing Signs of the Reality
of His Resurrection. Through their Testimony the
Truth of His Resurrection has been given to the World. Those who believe
in Him and in His Resurrection can
Hope to Rise-again also.
The Resurrection of Christ is the Cause of the
Resurrection of all Men. Only God has the
Power to make Men Rise again. But Christ is
God. And God intends to make the Resurrection
of Christ the Efficient Cause of the Resurrection of all Men. At the End
of Time it will be the Risen Christ Who will make all Men Rise-again.
His Risen Human Nature will be the Instrument by which
His Divine power will Reunite the Souls of all Men to their
Bodies.
The Resurrection of Christ is also the Model or Pattern according to which the
Souls of the Just shall rise on the Last Day.
Christ will make Sinners rise, but to
Their Condemnation. Because they have no Faith
in Him nor Love for
Him, they can have no part in His Glory. But the
Just will Rise in the Likeness of Christ.
His Body is now Glorious
and Immortal. The Bodies of those who had
Faith in Him, who
Loved Him and kept His Commandments, will be
Glorious and Immortal, too. The
Resurrection of Christ is both the Pledge of the Future
Resurrection of Men, and the Model of the Resurrection of the
Just Who Die in the
Grace of Christ.
Forty (40) Days after His Resurrection Christ
Ascended into Heaven. He went to
Heaven to receive the Glory which was due to
Him. There He pleads with
His Father always for the Souls of Men. In
Heaven He sits at the Right Hand of God. As
God He is equal to the Father and to the
Holy Spirit. As Man, as the Perfect Man, possessing the Absolute
Fullness of God's Grace, and as the Glorious Head
of the whole Human Race and of the Angels, He
sits at the Right Hand of His Father, that is, He
has been given the Power to Judge all Men and Angels.
At the General Judgment it will be
Christ Who makes the Final Truth
known --- the True Character and the True
Meaning of the Actions of Men and Angels. At this Judgment it is
Christ Who will give the Final Decision. At His Word the
Damned will go into Hell Forever to Satisfy
the Justice of God, and the Good will enter
Forever into the Bliss of Heaven to Manifest the Mercy of
God.
The Human Race today needs a Savior. Men are seeking
Salvation in Ideas, in Fascism, in
Nazism, in Communism. Men are seeking
Salvation in Science, in Electronics, in Atomic Fission, in Dreams of Flights to the Moon or Mars. Men look for the
Promise of Strength in Dictators or Military Geniuses or Financial Wizards. But there is no
Salvation for Man except in Christ the
Savior. It is Christ Who has Re-established Order in the World. Man
introduced Chaos into the World by Disobedience
to God. Christ has Reintroduced the Principle of
Obedience to God. By
His Obedience He has Opened the Floodgates of Heaven to the World
of Men. Because He Died on the
Cross out of Love and
Obedience, the Living Waters of God's Grace are ready to Quicken
the Parched Souls of Men. Because
He was Humble, even unto
Death, Men can be Raised-up to the Dignity of Sons of
God. Because He Loved both
God and Man, it is possible for Men to Love God and one another.
But Christ Saves no one against his Will.
He can give Salvation only to those who
Believe in Him,
Hope in Him and Love Him.
He has Merited
Grace for all Men. But Men must Freely accept this Grace and use it
for their Salvation. We are all Saved in
Christ, our Head and our
Savior. But only on Condition that we Freely Unite our Minds
and Hearts with His.
Christ is not a Dictator.
He does not bend Men to His Will with
Guns and Secret Police and Concentration
Camps and Slave Labor. He is
a Loving Savior. He compels no one to
March with Him or for Him.
The Crucifixion - by GRÜNEWALD, Matthias - from Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar
He hangs on a Cross between Earth and Sky,
between Men and God. He has nothing to
recommend Him but Humility and a great
Love. Yet His outstretched Arms are big
enough to Hold the World. The Road to Happiness lies through
His Cross. If any Man will Save his Life, he
must First lose it. He must Deny himself and follow
Christ.
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Pay the Debt of Men's Sins;