The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. - documenta ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerich110111contemptuously away, shaking their heads at him, avoiding his compassionate embrace, and hurryingon to the abyss where they were finally swallowed up. He saw countless numbers of other menwho did not dare openly to deny him, but who passed on in disgust at the sight of the wounds ofhis Church, as the Levite passed by the poor man who had fallen among robbers. Like unto cowardlyand faithless children, who desert their mother in the middle of the night, at the sight of the thievesand robbers to whom their negligence or their malice has opened the door, they fled from hiswounded Spouse. He beheld all these men, sometimes separated from the True Vine, and takingtheir rest amid the wild fruit trees, sometimes like lost sheep, left to the mercy of the wolves, ledby base hirelings into bad pasturages, and refusing to enter the fold of the Good Shepherd whogave his life for his sheep. They were wandering homeless in the desert in the midst of the sandblown about by the wind, and were obstinately determined not to see his City placed upon a hill,which could not be hidden, the House of his Spouse, his Church built upon a rock, and with whichhe had promised to remain to the end of ages. They built upon the sand wretched tenements, whichthey were continually pulling down and rebuilding, but in which there was neither altar nor sacrifice;they had weathercocks on their roofs, and their doctrines changed with the wind, consequently theywere for ever in opposition one with the other. They never could come to a mutual understanding,and were for ever unsettled, often destroying their own dwellings and hurling the fragments againstthe Corner-Stone of the Church, which always remained unshaken.As there was nothing but darkness in the dwellings of these men, many among them, instead ofdirecting their steps towards the Candle placed on the Candlestick in the House of the Spouse ofChrist, wandered with closed eyes around the gardens of the Church, sustaining life only by inhalingthe sweet odours which were diffused from them far and near, stretching forth their hands towardsshadowy idols, and following wandering stars which led them to wells where there was no water.Even when on the very brink of the precipice, they refused to listen to the voice of the Spousecalling them, and, though dying with hunger, derided, insulted, and mocked at those servants andmessengers who were sent to invite them to the Nuptial Feast. They obstinately refused to enterthe garden, because they feared the thorns of the hedge, although they had neither wheat with whichto satisfy their hunger nor wine to quench their thirst, but were simply intoxicated with pride andself-esteem, and being blinded by their own false lights, persisted in asserting that the Church ofthe Word made flesh was invisible. Jesus beheld them all, he wept over them, and was pleased tosuffer for all those who do not see him and who will not carry their crosses after him in his Citybuilt upon a hill—his Church founded upon a rock, to which he has given himself in the HolyEucharist, and against which the gates of Hell will never prevail.Bearing a prominent place in these mournful visions which were beheld by the soul of Jesus, I sawSatan, who dragged away and strangled a multitude of men redeemed by the blood of Christ andsanctified by the unction of his Sacrament. Our Divine Saviour beheld with bitterest anguish theingratitude and corruption of the Christians of the first and of all succeeding ages, even to the endof the world, and during the whole of this time the voice of the tempter was incessantly repeating:‘Canst thou resolve to suffer for such ungrateful reprobates?’ while the various apparitions succeededeach other with intense rapidity, and so violently weighed down and crushed the soul of Jesus, thathis sacred humanity was overwhelmed with unspeakable anguish. Jesus—the Anointed of theLord—the Son of Man—struggled and writhed as he fell on his knees, with clasped hands, as it62
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerichwere annihilated beneath the weight of his suffering. So violent was the struggle which then tookplace between his human will and his repugnance to suffer so much for such an ungrateful race,that from every pore of his sacred body there burst forth large drops of blood, which fell tricklingon to the ground. In his bitter agony, he looked around, as though seeking help, and appeared totake Heaven, earth, and the stars of the firmament to witness of his sufferings.Jesus, in his anguish of spirit, raised his voice, and gave utterance to several cries of pain. The threeApostles awoke, listened, and were desirous of approaching him, but Peter detained James andJohn, saying: ‘Stay you here; I will join him.’ Then I saw Peter hastily run forward and enter thegrotto. ‘Master,’ he exclaimed, ‘what has befallen thee?’ But at the sight of Jesus, thus bathed inhis own blood, and sinking to the ground beneath the weight of mortal fear and anguish, he drewback, and paused for a moment, overcome with terror. Jesus made him no answer, and appearedunconscious of his presence. Peter returned to the other two, and told them that the Lord had notanswered him except by groans and sighs. They became more and more sorrowful after this, coveredtheir heads, and sat down to weep and pray.I then returned to my Heavenly Spouse in his most bitter agony. The frightful visions of the futureingratitude of the men whose debt to Divine Justice he was taking upon himself, continued tobecome more and more vivid and tremendous. Several times I heard him exclaim: ‘O my Father,can I possibly suffer for so ungrateful a race? O my Father, if this chalice may not pass from me,but I must drink it, thy will be done!’112Amid all these apparitions, Satan held a conspicuous place, under various forms, which representeddifferent species of sins. Sometimes he appeared under the form of a gigantic black figure, sometimesunder those of a tiger, a fox, a wolf, a dragon, or a serpent. Not, however, that he really took anyof these shapes, but merely some one of their characteristics, joined with other hideous forms. Noneof these frightful apparitions entirely resembled any creature, but were symbols of abomination,discord, contradiction, and sin—in one word, were demoniacal to the fullest extent. These diabolicalfigures urged on, dragged, and tore to pieces, before the very eyes of Jesus, countless numbers ofthose men for whose redemption he was entering upon the painful way of the Cross. At first I butseldom saw the serpent; soon, however, it made its appearance, with a crown upon its head. Thisodious reptile was of gigantic size, apparently possessed of unbounded strength, and led forwardcountless legions of the enemies of Jesus in every age and of every nation. Being armed with allkinds of destructive weapons, they sometimes tore one another in pieces, and then renewed theirattacks upon our Saviour with redoubled rage. It was indeed an awful eight; for they heaped uponhim the most fearful outrages, cursing, striking, wounding, and tearing him in pieces. Their weapons,swords, and spears flew about in the air, crossing and recrossing continually in all directions, likethe flails of threshers in an immense barn; and the rage of each of these fiends seemed exclusivelydirected against Jesus—that grain of heavenly wheat descended to the earth to die there, in orderto feed men eternally with the Bread of Life.Thus exposed to the fury of these hellish bands, some of which appeared to me wholly composedof blind men, Jesus was as much wounded and bruised as if their blows had been real. I saw himstagger from side to side, sometimes raising himself up, and sometimes falling again, while theserpent, in the midst of the crowds whom it was unceasingly leading forward against Jesus, struck63
Page 1 and 2:
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Je
Page 3 and 4:
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18: The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Je
Page 67: The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Je
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
show all

The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. - documenta ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?