Devotion for today; the wound of misunderstanding

Today will continue our Saturday reflections on the sorrowful mysteries.

The Second Sorrowful Mystery: The Scourging at the Pillar

“He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed (Isaiah 53:4).

When we look at the Sacred Host we are reminded of the sacrifice Jesus made for us ‘to be the very life of our soul’ because the Eucharist flows from our Lord’s passion. It is the sweet fruit of all his sufferings.

Jesus chooses to come to us in this most Blessed Sacrament under the appearance of bread, as a constant reminder to us of how much He loves us, for like wheat which is beaten, broken and crushed before it becomes bread, Jesus, our divine wheat, was willing to be crushed at the pillar, broken in heart and crushed in humiliation that He may become for us “the living bread come down from heaven.” For He said, “THE BREAD THAT I MAY GIVE IS MY FLESH FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD.”

 Therefore, who could tell the sorrow, who could measure the bitter pain, of what Jesus felt when he came before Pilate? For there the people preferred a hardened criminal to the gentle Jesus, shouting: “Give us Barabbas! Crucify Him!” because they did not understand the depth of His love, and failed to recognize God in the form of man, as today so many fail to recognize the Presence of Jesus in the Sacred Host.

With Mary we offer to Jesus any misunderstanding we may suffer in our own life, in order that all men may come to know and understand this tremendous love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Blessed Sacrament Prayer

Jesus, by the physical wounds You suffered at the pillar,
help us to overcome the inclinations of the flesh that we may live in Your Spirit AND PREFER YOUR LOVE to all other loves.
Through Mary we pray that we may be pure in thought and deed. Through Mary we pray for a deep understanding of Your personal love for us in the Holy Eucharist; that, like her, we may respond to You with our whole heart.

(This selection is taken from Come to Me in the Eucharist, written by Fr. Vincent Martin Lucia, Apostolate for Perpetual Adoration).