Through Thine agony and Passion, Jesus, deliver us.
The word “agony” comes from a Greek root that refers to the struggle of battle. In His agony and Passion, Jesus went into battle for us. He suffered beyond what we can imagine, immersed in the deepest physical, mental, and spiritual pain. But He did it because He wanted to, because He loves us. He chose His suffering. He chose the battle. And ultimately, He won.
Through Thy cross and dereliction, Jesus, deliver us.
When Jesus told His disciples that they must take up their cross and follow Him, they must have been shocked. We are so accustomed to the expression that it has often lost its power for us. But the disciples likely struggled greatly with the idea of taking up, even embracing, the most horrible instrument of torture the Romans could come up with. But Jesus embraced His cross. He did it for us, and He made it the instrument of our salvation.
As for dereliction, we do not use this word much these days, but it refers to abandonment. First, Jesus was betrayed by Judas. Then ten more apostles abandoned him. His own people reviled Him, yelling for His crucifixion. Only Mary, Mary Magdalene, John, and a few more women stood beside the cross. Everyone else, even Peter, who had vowed to die with Jesus, was gone. There was even a moment when Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He knew that the Father was still with Him, but He descended to the very depths of suffering, of dereliction, and He did it for us.
Through Thy sufferings, Jesus, deliver us.
Spend a few minutes this week meditating on a crucifix, and reread the Passion narratives in the four Gospels, reflecting on the depth of Jesus’ sufferings. Jesus entered all the way into the suffering of our human condition even though He never sinned. And He imbued our suffering with deep meaning when we join it to His. In fact, He gave our sufferings redemptive power because we can offer them to Him to obtain great graces for ourselves and others.
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