Friday, April 14, 2017

Good Friday Thoughts: Christ's Sufferings

It was a lot of pain to bear, beginning with the betrayal, followed by the scourging at the pillar, the crowning of thorns, the hunger [1], carrying of the heavy wooden cross, the thirst [2], culminating in sweat, fatigue and exhaustion leading to the three falls, and ending with nails being pounded into His hands and feet and a sword going into His side before Christ took his last breath and died on the cross. Christ knew what was coming [3], but God would not take away it away from Him.  Why?

God did not say.  Therefore, one can only guess.

Based on a literal reading, one can say that the excruciating pain that Christ had to suffer had nothing to do with the forgiveness of sins since forgiveness comes from "[Jesus'] blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." [4]  Nor was the extent of Christ's pain necessary to triumph over death brought upon man by Eve and Adam's Original Sin since it was the resurrection of Christ that death was overcome: "just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." [5]

Although it could be assumed (based on what had happened) that the resurrection of Christ and the bringing of eternal life to man would not have been possible without the pain before and during Christ's crucifixion, but would it be correct to make that assumption?  Christ could have died a natural death and still resurrected, although this would not have been as dramatic and effective as rising from a crucified death that everybody knew about and coming out of a tomb (that was sealed and guarded) on the third day as foretold by Christ Himself. [6], [7]

It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the sufferings of Christ are unrelated to "[t]he Paschal mystery [which] has two aspects: by [H]is death, Christ liberates us from sin; by [H]is Resurrection, [H]e opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God's grace, 'so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.' Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: 'Go and tell my brethren.' We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection." [8]

The conclusion above eliminating the nexus between Christ's painful sufferings and the flow of holy blood that cleanses sins for the preparation of eternal life by way of Christ's Resurrection may appear to be correct but it is not.  It is the shedding of Christ's holy blood that cleanses man's wicked sins.  This would only have been possible with the scourging, the crucifixion and the sword into the side of Christ.  These events were needed to draw enough of Christ's holy blood to have an effective and lasting cleansing of sins that are continuously being committed, and Holy Week is an annual reminder that the cleansing of man's sins by the blood of Christ is on-going and is far from being finished.

Holy blood is required to wipe out Original Sin because what Eve and Adam had done in the Garden of Eden had hurt God tremendously.  Only a Heart that is born from the seed of purity and holiness of the Spirit of God can heal God's pain, and the only One with this Sacred Heart is the Son of God.  It is from the Sacred Heart of the Son that blood needed to flow out through the painful wounds of the Son's sinless flesh to restore the heart of God that Eve and Adam had pierced with their disobedience, in order that God can be whole when standing at the door to Heaven welcoming the repentant children of the first parents home.


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