Meditatio de passione Domini in generali

The Call to Meditate on the Passion

The reader is invited to devote the whole heart and mind to meditating on Christ's Passion, with the promise that deep contemplation will transform the soul, enkindle love, and yield a foretaste of glory.

The time has now come for us to reflect on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, whoever desires to glory in the passion and cross of the Lord must, with diligent meditation of the heart, persist in that very devotion. For if its mysteries and all that took place around it were thoroughly examined by the mind's gaze, they would, I think, lead the one who meditates into an entirely new state.^✦ For when the passion is searched deeply, with profound heart and every fiber of one's being, many unforeseen sufferings present themselves. From these would arise new compassion, new love, new consolations, and as a result the soul would take on a certain renewed state — and from this the soul would seem to gain a foretaste and a share of glory. To attain this state, I would say — as one who is ignorant and stammering — the whole focus of the mind's attention must be directed there, with the eyes of the heart kept vigilant and all other external cares set aside. And one must present oneself fully and attentively to each and every event that took place around the Lord's own cross, his passion, and his crucifixion — receiving them with deep feeling, with care, with love, and with perseverance. I urge you, then: if you have paid careful attention to what was said earlier about his life, here apply your whole mind and all your strength with far greater vigilance. For it is here above all that his love becomes evident — that love which ought to set our hearts completely ablaze. Receive all of this with the usual qualification — namely, that these are things that can be meditated on in the way I will describe. For I do not intend to assert anything in this little work that is not affirmed or said through sacred Scripture, the sayings of the Saints, or approved opinions.

The Relentless Torment from Arrest to Crucifixion

From the night of his arrest until the sixth hour, Christ endured an unbroken chain of seizures, blows, mockery, false testimony, and violent abuse without the least rest.

It doesn't seem inappropriate to me to say that not only that painful, mortal crucifixion of the Lord, but also what preceded it, is a cause of the most intense compassion, bitterness, and astonishment. For what is it to consider that our Lord, God blessed above all, from the hour he was arrested in the night until the sixth hour of his crucifixion, was in continuous battle, great sufferings, insults, mockery, and torment? For he is not given even the least rest from his suffering. But hear and see in what kind of battle and conflict he was. One seizes that sweet, gentle, and faithful Jesus; another strikes him; another rises up against him; another shouts; another pushes him; another blasphemes; another spits on him; another harasses him; another throws a cloak around him; another questions him; another searches for false witnesses against him; another joins in the inquiry; another gives false testimony against him; another accuses him; another mocks him; another covers his eyes; another strikes that most beautiful face; another leads him to a pillar and strips him; another hits him as he is being led away; another yells out; another receives him with insults to torment him; another strikes him at the pillar; another charges at him; another whips him; another dresses him in purple to shame him; another crowns him with thorns; another places a reed in his hand; another takes it furiously to strike his thorn-crowned head; another kneels in mockery; another ridicules his kneeling; and they heaped many other insults on him. He is led away and brought back; he is spat on and rejected; he is shoved and bent this way and that like a fool, and like the weakest fool; but also like a thief and the most wicked criminal — now to Annas, now to Caiaphas, now to Pilate, now to Herod, and again to Pilate, and there now inside, now outside he is led and dragged. O God! What is this?

The Hostile Crowd and the Road to Calvary

The leaders, Pharisees, and thousands shout for crucifixion; Christ, already broken, is forced to carry his cross amid universal mockery and is driven with fury to the foul place of Calvary.

Doesn't this seem to you the hardest, bitterest, most relentless, and greatest battle of all? But wait a little while, and you'll see worse things: the leaders and Pharisees are standing against him resolutely, along with the elders and thousands of the people.¹ They are shouting for him to be crucified, all of them as one. The cross is laid on shoulders already broken and torn — the cross on which he is crucified. Citizens and foreigners run together from all sides, the prominent no less than the lowest drunks, not to grieve with him, but to mock him in the vilest way.²³ No one recognizes him; instead they violently smear him with mud and filth, and as he bears his disgrace, they sneer at him. He has become a byword among them.⁴⁵ Those who sat at the gate spoke against him, and those who drank wine sang songs to mock him. He is driven and tormented, dragged and hurried along — scourged, exhausted, completely wasted, and filled to the brim with insults. He is not allowed to rest, not even to catch his breath, until they reach the place of Calvary, the filthiest, most foul spot of all.⁶ And they did everything with violence and fury.

The Crucifixion as a Bed of Pain

At Calvary the war finds its 'rest' in crucifixion—a bed of pain harsher than the battle itself; the meditator is urged to linger on each detail, since Christ did not grow tired of enduring it.

But in that very place we're talking about, the end and the rest is set upon the war — and yet that rest is harsher than war: it is crucifixion, and a bed of pain. Look at what kind of rest it is. So you see how he suffered a long, harsh ordeal right up to the sixth hour. Truly, waters have entered right up to his soul, and many terrible, fierce, strong dogs surrounded him — an assembly of the malicious besieged him — who sharpened their tongues and hands against him like a double-edged sword. From what has just been said, then, the things that can be said about the Lord's Passion in summary seem to be covered in the first three hours — from the morning hour through the sixth — namely, the early morning, the first hour, and the third hour. But not like this — the bitterness and suffering of the Lord Jesus is not to be treated so lightly. That's why turn your eyes to it, and pay attention. For there remains a great and manifold meditation — deeply piercing and devout — as long as you present yourself, as was said. These things have been spoken in a general way. But let's look at each detail carefully. We shouldn't grow tired of thinking through what the Lord himself didn't grow tired of enduring.

Closing Mark

A single scribal or rubric marker closes the chapter.

Read the original Latin

Occurrit nunc, ut de passione Domini nostri Jesu Christi pertractemus. Qui ergo in passione et cruce Domini gloriari desiderat, sedula cordis meditatione debet in ipsa persistere, cujus mysteria, et quae circa eam facta sunt, si toto forent perspecta intuitu mentis, in novum, ut, puto, statum adducerent meditantem. Nam profundo corde et totis viscerum meduUis eam perscrutanti, multi adsunt passus insperati^ ex quibus novam compassionem, novum amorem, novas consolationes, et per consequens noviim quemdam statum susciperet, qu? e sibi praesagium et participatio gloriae viderentur. Ad hunc autem statum consequendum, credercm tanquam ignarus et balbutiens, quod totam illuc mentis aciem vigilantibus ocuhs cordis, oraissisque ahis curis extraneis, dirigi oporteret: et quod quis se praesentem exhiberct omnibus et singuhs, quae circa dominicam ipsam crucem, passionem et crucifixionem contigerunt, affectuose, dihgenter, amorose et perseveranter. Te ergo hortor, ut si vigilanter attendisti praemissa, quse de ipsius vita dicta sunt, hic multum vigilantius totum apponas animum, totamque virtutem: quia hic maxime apparet iha charitas ejus, quae corda nostra deberet totahter coucremare. Cuncta vero cum modificatione sohta accipe, scilicet qufe sic meditari poterunt, ut narrabo. Non enim in hoc opusculo ahquid affirmare intendo, quod non per sacram Scripturam, vel dicta Sanctorum, vel opiniones approbatas affirmatur, vel dicitur.

Videtur autem mihi non incongrue dici, quod non solum illa poenalis, et mortalis crucifixio Domini, sed ea quae praecesserunt eamdem, sunt vehementissimae compassionis, amaritudinis et stuporis. Quid enim est cogitare, quod ipse Dominus noster super omnia benedictus Deus, ab hora qua de nocte captus est, usque ad sextam crucifixionis suae horam, fuit iu bello continuo, doloribus magnis, opprobriis, illusionibus et tornientis? Non enim sibi datur vel modica re- Poenas quies. Sed in quali erat bello et conflictu, audi "'""^^ etvide. Alius ipsum dulcem, et mitem, et pium ciaistus Jesum apprehendit; alius hgat; alius insurgit, eg^Ttf et alius exclamat; alius impellit, alius blasphe- geaere mat; alius eipuit in eum, et alius vexat; alius ''^'^®"^^'circumvolvit, alius interrogat; alius contra eumfalsos testes inquirit, et alius inquirentes associat; alius contra eum falsum testimonium dicit, aliusque accusat; alius deludit, el alius oculos ejus velat; alius faciem ejus pulcherrimam alius colaphizat; alius eum ad columnam ducit, et alius expoliat; alius, dum ducitur, percutit, alius vociferatur, et alius eum insultanter ad vesandum suscipit, et alius ad columnam hgat; alius in eum impetum facit, et alius fiagellat; alius eum purpura in contumeliam vestit, et alius spinis eum coronat; ahus arundinemin manu ejusponit: alius furibunde accipit, ut spinosum caput percutiat; alius nugatorie genuflectit, aliusderidetgenuflexionem; et plura ci intulerunt opprobria. Ducitur, et reducitur; spuitur, et reprobatur; volvitur, etcircumflectitur huc alque illuc tanquam stultus, et stultissime imbecilhs; sed et tanquam latro, et impiissimus malefactor; modo ad Annam, rnodo ad Caipham, modo ad Pilatum, modo ad Herodem, et iterum ad Pilatum, et ibidem modo intus, modo foris ducitur et attrahitur. Deus raeus! quid est hoc?

Nonne tibi videtur hoc durissimum, amarissimum, et continuum, et magnum bellum? Sed expecta parumper, et duriora videbis: astant contra eum constanter principes, et Pharisaei, seniores, et milUa populi. Acclamatur ab omnibus unanimiter, ut crucifigatur. Crux humeris jam fractis et laceratis imponitur, in qua crucifigitur; concurrunt undique cives et advenae, tam majores, quam ribaldi vinique potatores, non ad compatiendum, sed vilissime deridendum. Nemo est qui eum agnoscat; sed luto et immunditiis impetuose eum commaculant et aflQigunt; et dum ignominiam suam portat, factus est i illis in parabolam. Contra eum loquebantur, qui sedebant in porta; et in eum psallebant qui bibebant vinum. Impellitur et anxiatur, trahitur et acceleratur: et sic flagellatus, fatigatus, totusque maceratus, et opprobriis saturatus usque ad summum, non sinitur requiescere, non esse in ofio; vix potest refocillare spiritum, quousque perventum est ad Calvarias locum, utique immundissimum et foetidissimum. Et omnia cum impetu fecerunt et furore.

In ipso autem loco, finis et quies bello imponitur, de quo tractamus; sed est illa quies asperior bello, et crucifixio, et lectus doloris. Ecce qualis quies. Yides ergo quomodo usque ad sextam horam passus est longum et durum bellum. Vere ^ intraverunt uquce usque ad suam animam, et " drcumdederunt eum canes multi, terribiles, fortes et feroces, et concilium malignantium eura obsedit, qui dire et ^" ut gladium bis acutum exacuerunt in eura Hnguas et manus. Ex his ergo, qua3 dicta sunt, expedita videntur, quae de passione,Domini dici possunt summatim in tribus horis primis, usque ad sestam, scilicet matutinali, prima, et tertia. Sed non sic, non est tanta amaritudo et pgena Domini Jesu sic leviter pertractanda: propter quod reflecte oculos, et intende. Magna enim et multiplex consideratio superest, multumque penetrativaet pia, dummodo, ut dictum est, exhibeas te praesentem: haec enim in quadam generalitate sunt dicta. Sed^ videamus singula diligenter: non euim debet nos taedere ista cogitare, quae ipsum Dominum non tseduit tolerare.

Scripture echoes

↩Gal.6.14 — But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Notes

1 ↩milUa is a manuscript corruption, likely of milia ('thousands'). The translation reads the intended sense; the form is uncertain.
2 ↩ribaldi is a low-register term of uncertain precise force; rendered as 'lowest drunks' to capture the contemptuous tone and the contrast with majores.
3 ↩compatiendum is a medieval gerund form; sense rendered as 'to grieve with / sympathize,' but the form is uncertain.
4 ↩aflQigunt is a manuscript corruption, almost certainly for affligunt ('they afflict/strike down'). The translation reads the intended sense.
5 ↩The form i is uncertain in the manuscript; likely a corruption of a numeral or pronoun. The translation reads the most plausible intended sense ('he has become').
6 ↩ofio is a manuscript form of uncertain reading, possibly otio ('rest/repose'). The translation reads the intended sense of 'rest' from the context of requiescere.

Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion

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