Both Anne Catherine and Maria sharply condemned the wickedness of the historical figures who took part in the torture and murder of Jesus. The sacrifice of the Lamb of God, they knew, was a sacrifice for all time (Hebrews 9:26-28). His Blood, like His steadfast love and His faithfulness, extends to all generations, because all generations are in desperate need of its power (Psalm 100:5; Romans 5:18-19). Reflection on Our Lord's passion blossoms into contrite confession, which in turn bears fruit-not of self-hatred, but of divine pardon, and a renewed resolve to live as Jesus lived.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with His stripes we are healed. - Isaiah 53:3-5

With excerpts from:

• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (https://bit.ly/3kaeP6l)
• The Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda (https://bit.ly/3IhySaO)

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Jesus did not suffer unspeakable torments so that we could live comfortably. He did not die a horrible death so that we could live a life wasted in petty pursuits. No. Jesus, "suffered all this so He could bring us into the eternal glory of God the Father as true sons and daughters" (Hebrews 2:10). The destiny He intends for us is nothing less than to "be like Him" when at last we "see Him as He is. Grace costs us everything, but in the end it makes us whole. Maria's vision warns us against notions of cheap grace and calls us to embrace the Cross.

Then Jesus told His disciples, "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." - Matthew 16:24-25

With excerpts from:

• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (https://bit.ly/3kaeP6l)
• The Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda (https://bit.ly/3IhySaO)

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Our Lord's suffering had at last come to an end. But the graces flowing from His passion had only just begun to flood the world. Since ancient times, the Church fathers have seen in this "blood and water" the font of two life-giving sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist. In Anne Catherine's vision, a Roman officer comes to symbolize the power of the sacraments in the Church to come. Grace prompts him to approach the Body of Christ; grace heals and enlightens him through the Blood and Water and these gifts he has received he will share them with the world.

One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. ... For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled ... "They shall look on Him whom they have pierced." - John 19:34-37

With excerpts from:

• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (https://bit.ly/3kaeP6l)
• The Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda (https://bit.ly/3IhySaO)

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Maria's vision takes us to the moment, as Jesus was dying, that the hosts of hell finally realized who Christ was: the Word made flesh, the Redeemer of the world. Despite their maniacal rage at having been outwitted and defeated, they were powerless to resist divine judgment. God's justice snatched them out of this world and cast them into an eternal torment of their own making. At long last, the human race could be free.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, [Christ] Himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. - Hebrews 2:14-15

With excerpts from:

• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (https://bit.ly/3kaeP6l)
• The Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda (https://bit.ly/3IhySaO)

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Jesus' last words on the cross are a shout of triumphant faith. The earlier cry of abandonment has now given way to a declaration of supreme confidence in God. In Matthew's account especially, we find evidence that these last words were less the last gasp of a Victim than the trumpet of a victorious Warrior King preparing to return home from battle. Anne Catherine's vision focuses on this militant aspect of Our Lord's death. The earth trembles beneath her Lord's advance, the saints of old are released from prison, and the ancient Enemy is at last utterly overthrown.

Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!" And having said this, He breathed His last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, and said, "Certainly this man was innocent!" And all the multitudes who assembled to see the sight, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. - Luke 23:46-48

With excerpts from:

• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (https://bit.ly/3kaeP6l)
• The Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda (https://bit.ly/3IhySaO)

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Before Jesus gave up His spirit to the Father, He cried out: "I thirst" and "It is finished." St. John hints at their inner unity. Only when Our Lord knew "that all was now finished," the evangelist writes, was He able to declare "I thirst," receive the vinegar, and pronounce the consummation of His life's work. Maria explored this mysterious connection. Christ's most profound thirst, she said, was His passionate longing for the salvation of the human race. He did indeed drink it, and at last He was satisfied. In "I thirst," we hear the groan of divine desire; in "It is finished," a cry of desire fulfilled.

After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, "It is finished!" - John 19:28-30

With excerpts from:

• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (https://bit.ly/3kaeP6l)
• The Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda (https://bit.ly/3IhySaO)

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Jesus' cry from the cross that God had forsaken Him is perplexing. How is it possible that God the Father could have abandoned God the Son? Some have speculated that, since Christ bore our sins in that moment, a perfectly holy God turned His face away as part of the punishment Jesus suffered in our place. Anne Catherine envisions: Christ, she said, was speaking on behalf of all those who in their hour of death are tempted to despair. He has walked the way before them, borne their desperate hopelessness, and earned for them a sure and certain hope.

About three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" - Matthew 27:46

With excerpts from:

• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (https://bit.ly/3kaeP6l)
• The Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda (https://bit.ly/3IhySaO)

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We may find it startling to hear Jesus address Mary, not as "Mother," but as "Woman," in His last words to her before He died. Commenting on this situation, Maria insisted that in calling the Virgin "Woman," Our Lord was alluding to her perfect womanhood, her status as the exemplar for all women. Anne Catherine perceives yet another layer of meaning in the word, seeing in it a reference to the woman who would crush the serpent's head through her seed (Genesis 3:15). The Woman became on that day the mother of the Church.

When Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing near, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. – John 19:25-27

With excerpts from:

• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (https://bit.ly/3kaeP6l)
• The Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda (https://bit.ly/3IhySaO)

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GET THE BOOK - The Passion: Reflections on the Suffering and Death of Jesus Christ by Paul Thigpen (https://bit.ly/3IiSNpM)