Latest / Into the Mysteries of the Rosary / The Scourging at the Pillar | Into the Mysteries of the Rosary Ep 13 | Fr. James Brent, O.P.

Transcript

The Scourging at the Pillar | Into the Mysteries of the Rosary Ep 13 | Fr. James Brent, O.P. · Into the Mysteries of the Rosary

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Brothers and sisters, welcome to Into the Mysteries of the Rosary, a mini series of the podcast contemplata.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: We come now to the second sorrowful mystery, the scourging at the pillar.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: In each of the previous mysteries, we had an extended passage of Scripture to meditate upon.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: But now, when it comes to the scourging at the pillar, Scripture is very brief.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Saint John's Gospel simply says Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: The key thing to remember is that Jesus freely chose to endure his passion, and therefore he freely chose to endure the scourging.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: The Roman scourging was a practice so brutal, so humiliating, and so violent that the Romans themselves could barely stand the sight of it.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: It can only be called a form of torture.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was the preliminary step to crucifixion, and essentially the beginning of the execution.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: One ancient eye witness describes a man being whipped to the point his bones showed.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Another eyewitness described a scourging so severe the man could no longer even cry out in pain.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Excavations have unearthed the ancient Roman phogrum.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: It had a wooden handle holding multiple leather thongs.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: At the end of the thongs were lead balls or shards of bone.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: It was intentionally designed to lacerate flesh and lacerate it deeply.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: One blow from a Roman scourge would send you or me to the emergency room for shock treatment and innumerable stitches.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: But Jesus endured many more blows than one.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Under Jewish law, scourgings were limited to thirty nine lashes, but under Roman law there was no limit.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we have no way of knowing just how many times Jesus was lashed, but we know by faith that he freely endured every blow of the scourge out of love for you and me.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: By his stripes we have been healed.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: In a Roman scourging, the typical practice was to strip the man naked, tie him up by his hands, and whip him all over his back, buttocks and thighs, alternating back and forth, first a blow from one side, then a blow from the other.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: The ordinary result was massive blood loss, and perhaps even broken ribs, exposed bone and muscle, or shredded internal organs?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: The result was a shock to the system so traumatic that the man was severely weakened, perhaps even at the brink of death.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Could you imagine if the scourge accidentally came down on the back of your neck and landed in your spine?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Or what about the blows all over your kidneys and lower back?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Would you have any kidneys left at all?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now whenever Catholics begin to meditate or discuss horrifying details like these, people normally raise criticisms.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: What is the point of meditating on such gruesome details?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: The answer is simple.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: The passion of the Lord is body language.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: For in his passion, our Lord was deliberately deploying his body for a specific purpose.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: He was freely offering himself and sacrifice to the Father.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: He was freely doing penance for your sins and mine.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: The secret intentions of his heart are the key to interpreting the meaning of his physical suffering.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: The depths of his suffering reveal the depths of his love.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Every drop of blood our Lord shed in his scourging was a manifestation of his love for us.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: For behind every drop of his blood was his intention to die for us, to set us free from our sins.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: His intention to die for us permeated his whole body, and made every drop of his blood a real proof of love.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: In his scourging at the pillar, though, our Lord shed more than a few drops of blood.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus shed his blood profusely.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a river of blood gushing out.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Saint Catherine of Siena understood well the meaning of his bloodshed.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: She also had a special confidence in the power of his blood to save us.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: The blood, the blood, she would exclaim, consider his burning love for you, which made him pour out his blood from every part of his body.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: The mystery of our Lord's precious blood is so great that it deserves a special devotion all its own.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Holy Mother Church commends to us the litany of the precious blood, with partial indulgences attached to it.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: The whole month of July is traditionally dedicated to the precious blood, and on the Fridays of July, Dominicans frequently offer votive masses of the precious blood.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Votive masses of the precious blood certainly deserve more widespread celebration everywhere in the church.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Let us all meditate at length on the precious blood of Jesus.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: For no honor ever shown to the precious blood of Jesus ever went unnoticed in heaven.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And heaven knows well how to reward those who venerate the mystery of our Lord's precious blood.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yet there are other ways to meditate on the scourging at the pillar.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: In the Book of Wisdom, chapter two, it tells the story of the righteous man.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: The righteous man styles himself a child of God, and calls God his father.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: His adversaries, though, will hear nothing of it.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: They gather together to plot against him.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let us see whether his words be true, they say.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Let us find out what will happen to him in the end.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: With violence and torture, let us put him to the test, that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: The scourging at the pillar is truly a fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus was the righteous man.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Those Pharisees and Sadducees who opposed him were his adversaries indeed.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: They plotted to put Jesus to the ultimate test.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: The scourging at the pillar tried our Lord's patience beyond measure.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And what became clear to all was just how good and gentle Jesus really is.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: For just a few hours after the horrors of the scourging, as he hung on the cross, our Lord Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: To forgive the very people who scourge you is an ineffable victory of love.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: But the full magnitude of our Lord's victory came three days later.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: What happened to him in the end?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: The empty tomb, the resurrection.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: The light of the risen Lord Jesus is greater than all the tortures ever devised by wicked men.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And for this reason, Sacred Scripture tells us simply Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to this episode of Contemplata.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends wherever you listen to podcasts.