Fourth Article
“Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried.”—Let us here meditate on the dolorous mysteries of our dear Redeemer’s passion, crucifixion, death and burial. To show the greatness of his love for us, and the plenteous redemption which he brought us, he was pleased to suffer every kind of torment with which human nature could be afflicted. “What was sufficient for our salvation,” says St. Bernard, “was not sufficient for his charity.” When he could have saved us with a single drop of his blood, he redeemed us with a deluge thereof, after a painful life of thirty-three years. His passion began in the garden of Gethsemani, at the foot of Mount Olivet, near Jerusalem, and ended only on Mount Calvary; Tiberius being then emperor of Rome, and Pontius Pilate governor, or president, of Judea. He suffered in his soul, and in his body, in his senses, and in all his members, from the sole of his foot, to the crown of his head. He was buffet ted and spit upon; he was mocked and insulted; he was scourged; he was crowned with thorns; and at length his hands and feet were pierced and fastened with gross nails to an ignominious cross; and after hanging alive thereon, between two thieves, in the most excruciating pain, for the space of three long hours, he expired, and gave up his blessed soul into the hands of his eternal Father. After his death, his sacred body being taken off the cross on Good-Friday, in the afternoon, and being embalmed, according to the custom of the Jews, by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, it was wrapped up in linen cloth, and laid in a new monument, hewn out of a rock, near Mount Calvary. O let us not then repay the boundless love of our crucified Redeemer with sin and ingratitude, but let us rather make the best return we are able, of love and gratitude to him, who suffered so much for our sake; devoutly saying, “Our Father,” &c. “Hail, Mary,” &c.