Evening Devotions: Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Lent

Jesus Is Crowned with Thorns.

Jesus came into the world to expiate our offences, and bear the pain of them. Man’s head is the source of all sin. It is here that he conceives thoughts of ambition, impurity, injustice, and revenge. It was to make satisfaction for these sins that Jesus desired to be crowned with thorns, that is to say, with ignominies and sufferings.

II.

Jesus is a victim who desires to offer himself a holocaust to the Father, and be consumed in the fire of sufferings. His body is covered with wounds. From the crown of his head to the sole of his foot there is not a sound place in him. He was crowned with thorns that there might remain no part of his body that was not penetrated by severe sufferings and to verify what he had said: That his kingdom was not of this world.

Christian, behold your King! Do you recognize this crown, this sceptre, and this purple robe? The Jews renounced him; do you, also, renounce him? If you are a child of God you must be mocked, torn, and crucified with his divine Son. It is necessary to wear two crowns, one of gold the other of thorns. If you wear the crown of gold in this life in the life to come you will be crowned with thorns. If your crown is of thorns in this world you will be crowned with glory in the world to come.

III.

The crowns of the world produce thorns; the thorns of Jesus produce the flowers of unfading and eternal joys. Who would wish to be crowned with glory and pleasures seeing their King crowned with sorrows and ignominies? How can a member of a thorn-crowned head be exempt from suffering?

There are three sorts of thorns on earth which grieve and afflict souls—thorns of sin, thorns of temptation, and thorns of penance. Sin is a thorn that pierces and kills the soul; temptation is a thorn that troubles and torincuts the spirit; penance is a thorn that afflicts the body. The thorn of sin is cruel, bloody, and mortal; the thorn of temptation is dangerous; the thorn of penance is salutary and produces the flowers of peace and joy at all seasons.

Resolution: Today I will perform some act of penance especially in reparation for the sins of thought I have committed.

Prayer: My Jesus, crowned with thorns and mocked for my sake, I repent of all my sins. Never let me offend thee in the time to come. Grant that I may love thee always and think always on the suffering thou didst bear for my sake. O Mother of Sorrows, let the passion of thy Son be always in my heart.