The Crowning with ThornsThese meditations are taken from "The City of God", by Venerable Mary of Agreda (Spain) and are used with permission of JMJ Book Co. Necedah, Wisconsin, USA. Our Lady is alleged to have appeared to Venerable Mary daily over a period of approx. 10 years, instructing her to write the story of the lives of Jesus and Mary. A condensed version of the "City of God", which itself is 4 volumes, (over 1600 pages) is called "Divine Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary", and costs just $6.00. One of the best books on the Rosary that I have ever read.Following the Scourging, they took Jesus to the pretorium, where they cruelly stripped Him of His garments, so that they could dress Him in a much torn and soiled mantle of purple, in order to deride and mock Him before all the people as a counterfeit King. Instead of a King's sceptre, they placed in His hands a contemptible reed. They forced on His Sacred Head a cap woven of thorn branches in such a way that many of the hard and sharp thorns would penetrate into His skull, some of them to the ears and some to the eyes. Hence one of the greatest tortures suffered by the Lord was this Crown of Thorns. Then all of the soldiers, in the presence of the priests and pharisees, gathered around Him and heaped upon Him their blasphemous mockery and derision. Some of them bent their knees and mocked Him, some buffeted Him, some snatched the reed from His hands and hit Him on the head with it; others spat on Him and all insulted Him in different manners. Pilate, thinking that the sight of a man so bloodied and disfigured by the scourging and the Crown of Thorns, may pacify the Jews, ordered Jesus to be brought to the window in full view of the mob, but even then they cried:`CRUCIFY HIM!' |