REPROACHES of THE PASSION Set 4: You Handed me over to the Chief Priests and Pilate

O my people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.

1. I led you out of Egypt, overwhelming Pharaoh in the Red Sea; you have delivered me to your high priests. (Reproach #5)
2. I went before you in a pillar of cloud; you have led me to the judgment hall of Pilate. (Reproach #7)

What was the Sin of the chief priests? It is not that they were priests - that was a special calling to minister in the temple of the Lord. In a way, they were to mediate between God and the people. That was not a sin. The problem with the chief priests of Jesus’ time was that they were liars; they gave lip service to God, but did not really seek His will; they dictated the law to others without actually living it themselves; they were, as Jesus pointed out, “Hypocrites and Unmarked Tombs.” They replaced the Pillar of cloud with their own judgment. Like Pilate, they were after self preservation and self righteousness instead of seeking to listen to God’s voice and follow in his ways.

Before we start pointing fingers at the “ordained priests” of our time, let me just remind all of us that by virtue of our baptism, we have been incorporated into the Royal Priesthood of Jesus. We are priests too, so maybe we are guilty of the sin of the Chief Priests in our day: we sit in judgment over others, yet we are guilty of the same charges we bring against them; we look so pious, yet we are very poor Christians; we appear very devout, but we are divorced from Christ; we keep the commandments, but we are cold and unsympathetic towards others.

Therefore, from the Cross, the Savior says to us: I went before you because I wanted to be your leader. I want you to follow Me, not the other way round. I want to light up your way with the radiance of My cross. I want to teach you the truth which will set you free. I want you to live your life for Me. I want you to be true to your calling to share in My Royal Priesthood. I want you to lead others to Me, to be a light for those in darkness, a guide for the blind, encouragement to the faint-hearted. I am the Crucified Savior because I chose the Cross. I want you to accept me as such, and help others find Me.

REPROACHES of THE PASSION Set 3: You handed Me over to be scourged

O my people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me. 

For your sake, I scourged your captors, and you have brought your scourges down upon Me.

The 10 plagues inflicted on the Egyptians before the Exodus was God's way of saying to Pharaoh, the Egyptians, and the Israelites: I AM THE LORD! Thanks to their hardness of heart, none of them really got the message. The Jewish people forgot the significance of those plagues. Hence the Crucified Savior complains about that:

The freed people became the persecutors; they held the Son of God in bondage and would not let Him go, even when Pilate (a pagan) tried to set Him free. They delivered their Savior to the scourges of the Romans (pagan people); like Pharaoh, they had hardened their hearts to the Voice of God in their midst. In Egypt, on the first Passover, God spared His people from the scourges he inflicted on the Egyptians; on this Passover, God did not spare His only Son from the Scourges. Jesus is the lamb without blemish, whose sacrificial blood saves us from captivity to sin.

From the Cross, the Savior says to us: See My broken flesh. I received these scourges for you; I didn't have to endure them, but I chose to for your sake. I did not lay aside My mission in order to appease the leaders and the elite of My time, and neither should you; I did not hide My identity just so I could get along with others and have a long life, and neither should you; I did not take the easy way out, and neither should you. I did not compromise my values and principles just so I don't offend others, and neither should you. Every time you fail to stand up for Me, you deal a fresh round of scourges on My already torn flesh.

Abby in the Abbey: Holy Week

Hi everyone!  It looks like it is time for me to write again!  The Sisters told me that this week is a very special week for everyone because it is called “Holy Week”.  I don’t really know what that means except that the Sisters get more serious and they pray even more than usual.  

Sr. K said that I have to be alone more during this week because they will be in the chapel pretty often and since I am not allowed there I have to be patient and wait for them.  

I was thinking…maybe that is what Holy Week is about…something called “patient waiting”.  Sr. K says that Jesus tried so hard to tell His message about forgiveness and being patient with each other but most people didn’t understand Him and didn’t want to understand either!  

Just like us dogs we want what we want and we want it now!  Us dogs have to wait until someone gets around to giving us what we want, but with people, they can kind of make their own decisions about being patient with things in their lives.  

So, the Sisters are patiently waiting for the Resurrection this coming Easter Sunday.  I only understand that I have to wait with them for all the good things that come with the Resurrection and lend a supporting paw when someone needs it.

 ~Abby~