Caput LXI. De Christo in cruce.
The Mediator on the Cross
Christ crucified as mediator unites heaven and earth, joining what is lowest with what is highest.
The mediator between God and humanity, suspended between heaven and earth, joins the lowest things to what is above and unites earthly things with heavenly ones.✦
Heaven Stunned, Earth Marveling
The cosmos itself is astonished at the cross, and the reader is confronted with a personal question.
Heaven is stunned, and earth marvels — but what about you?
Suffering with Christ
The reader is invited to share Christ's suffering, darkened with the darkened sun, torn with the torn rocks, and weeping with the weeping women.
It's no wonder that you're darkened when the sun is darkened, that you tremble when the earth trembles, that your heart is torn when the rocks are split, and that you weep when the women weep by the cross.✦✦✦1
Read the original Latin
Mediator Dei et hominum, inter coelum et terram medius pendens, ima superis unit, et coelestibus terrena conjungit. Stupet coelum, et terra miratur; quid tu? Non mirum si sole contristato, tu contristaris; si terra tremiscente, tu contremiscis; si scissis saxis, cor tuum scinditur; si flentibus juxta crucem mulieribus, tu collacrymaris.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Tim.2.5 — For there is one God and one mediator between God and humankind, the man Christ Jesus,
- ↩Matt.27.45;Luke.23.44 — Now from the sixth hour darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour. Luke.23.44 — And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.
- ↩Matt.27.51 — And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
- ↩Luke.23.27 — And a great multitude of the people followed him, and also women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him.
Notes
- 1 ↩The ablative absolutes (sole contristato, terra tremiscente, scissis saxis, flentibus...mulieribus) are rendered as parallel 'when' clauses to keep the modern flow; the logical force is concessive-causal — 'given that these things happen, your response is not surprising'.
De institutione inclusarum (A Rule of Life for a Recluse) companion
A rule only lives if you keep it daily
Chosen Portion gives your new rule its anchor: one free devotional portion every day.
Aelred built his sister's day around fixed times of prayer and meditation; Chosen Portion supplies the fixed daily portion that makes a modern rule of life keepable.
- Anchor your rule with a fixed 10-minute daily portion
- Practice Aelred's threefold meditation with guided daily prompts
- Review and adjust your one-page rule after 30 days of tracked practice