Blessed to Be Ben
Then he released to them Barabbas: and having scourged Jesus, delivered him unto them to be crucified.
-Matthew 27:26
William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
His flesh was torn from his back while his enemies looked on in derision. His Virgin Mother’s tears mixed with His Holy Blood on the floor. Every lash undeserved by Him. Every lash willingly absorbed for us.
He was tired. Betrayed. Hungry. Lonely. Denied by his best friend.
How often do you and I add to the sins beaten into his back? How many times do we ignore the cross we’re given to bear? The scourging he called us to take?
Even something as simple as waking up with a sore back and giving that to Jesus can shift your heart like the San Andreas Fault. Here’s a simple prayer that I use:
Oh my Jesus. Thank you for a warm bed to sleep in, a loving wife to sleep next to, healthy children that need to crawl into bed with me, and working muscles to feel sore. Please take this pain that I feel and join it to your pain on the cross, that it might reduce some of the temporal suffering in the world and in Purgatory. Amen.
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