Lenten Thoughts - The Many Pains Of Christ

The Dread Of Anticipating Pain And Death - You are in your early 30's, enjoying your work, your companions and your life and you know you are going to be crucified in a few days, imagine the fear, the hopelessness, the sadness and the heaviness of heart.

The Gut-wrenching Pain Of Betrayal - You have your group of closest buddies, you have known each other and lived with each other for years, you have trust in and love for each other, and you would go to great lengths to help and support each other and one of them throws away all that time that was spent cultivating a deep and abiding friendship, attacks the unspoken and supposedly unbreakable promise to be completely vulnerable to each other and betrays the bonds of trust and love for money.  Imagine the hurt caused by an invisible sword that has opened up an invisible wound that will hurt for as long as memory lives even as the pain is dulled with time and forgiveness.

The Piercing Pain Of Physical Torment - Most everyone has at one time or another experienced physical pain and perhaps even a bit of skin was torn and blood flowed from the wound.  Imagine it to be intolerably more painful and this part of Christ's pain is probably the most tolerable in relative terms.

The Anticipation of Physical Pain - The first whip with hooks that tear apart the flesh is painful enough.  Imagine hearing the sound of the whip while anticipating the next whip that will land on your body.  The thought of it is enough to make one weak in the knees.

The Pain of Humiliation - You have your dignity, your integrity, your truth but you are stripped of all of that and are taunted for the dignity, integrity and truth that were staged by and pinned on you by others to insult you and to make the world think that you are a pretender, a total fraud.  Imagine the pain of seeing your truth being buried in front of your eyes and seeing a mirror image of that truth turned on its head and have you wear that for all to see and jeer.

The Pain of Carrying A Cross Too Heavy - You are weak, you have no energy, your stomach is empty, you are thirsty, your gaping wounds hurt, you are whipped and yelled at as you are carrying a heavy wooden cross walking on rocky terrain with your bare feet all cut up,  you fall with the heavy wooden cross landing on you.  Imagine the suffering, to have to fall once, get up, carry on, fall again, get up, carry on, and fall a third time and get up and carry on.  Even with Simon carrying the cross for a while and with Veronica wiping the blood and sweat from the face of Christ, the burden of this cross of death, the death of Sin by the Sinless, has to be difficult to shoulder. 

The Pain Of Being Killed Alive Slowly - What must be unbearable pain -- the pain of crucifixion and of a big metal sword going into the side of the living body (Christ's fifth wound) is too intense to be imagined.

The Unspeakable Heartfelt Pain Of Parting In Death From And Seeing Your Earthly Mother In Tears and In Pain and In Helplessness Loving You - as you are suffering and dying on a cross.  Mother Mary could do nothing and she would be left alone all by herself on earth without her only child, Jesus. Imagine having to part with your beloved mother who raised you and placed her complete and unyielding faith in you and having to give your mother away to your friend to look after her while knowing that his love for your mother would never be equal to yours.

The Pain Of The Thought Of Abandonment - To His Father, Jesus asked in excruciating physical and mental agony that exceeds the capacity for a living human's tolerance, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"  Imagine how lonely and desperate you would feel when you are helpless and in pain and your loved one is nowhere to be seen or heard, a loved one whom you have come to rely on all of your human life who in your time of urgent need is late in showing up and you are left with a hurtful doubt if he/she would show up at all with each passing moment feeling longer and longer stretching toward an eternity as you breathe your every breath in utter pain from one seemingly endless second to another as you continue to long for his/her arrival.  These forever moments at tip of pain and the pit of loneliness are unbearable and only to God we are able to turn for help.